1 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:10,199 The countdown is on to fight time. This is Big Fight Weekend. Now 2 00:00:10,519 --> 00:00:16,879 here is your host, DJ leaves Well, we get ready for a weekend 3 00:00:16,879 --> 00:00:19,719 that has more action, some of it in England, some of it in 4 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:24,760 Inglewood, California, in the United States. We have a Hall of Famer 5 00:00:24,839 --> 00:00:28,679 coming up on the podcast. We've got other news, We've got nostalgia, 6 00:00:28,679 --> 00:00:31,239 We've got all kinds of things going on. It is the Big Fight Weekend 7 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:35,799 Preview. Hello, and welcome back into another edition. However you have found 8 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,000 us, Thank you for doing so. I am merely a somewhat capable host. 9 00:00:39,039 --> 00:00:44,280 He is our insider from his Fight Freaks Unite substack, Bigfight Weekend dot 10 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,719 Com. Always in a cheery mood, but especially when he gets to spend 11 00:00:47,719 --> 00:00:50,719 some time with Oscar de la Hooya. Hello, who's going to be on 12 00:00:50,759 --> 00:00:54,719 the pod in a little bit, Hello, Dan Rayfield. I don't know 13 00:00:54,759 --> 00:00:56,479 if I can say I'm always in a good one. When I talked to 14 00:00:56,520 --> 00:00:58,920 Oscar, and Oscar be the first onemit that him and I over the years 15 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:00,759 have had a few ups and downs, mostly good. I like Oscar. 16 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:04,159 I was saying, in general, you're generally cheery, and there might have 17 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:10,040 been a tinge of sarcasm in that, but especially when you got Oscar conversation 18 00:01:10,159 --> 00:01:12,519 coming up, which the peoples want to stand by for here a little bit. 19 00:01:12,879 --> 00:01:17,239 Its a good conversation. I mean, you know, I'm in touch 20 00:01:17,239 --> 00:01:19,319 with the Oscar on a regular basis, but this was the first time I 21 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:22,319 said, I jokingly said to him, I said, you know, Oscar, 22 00:01:22,359 --> 00:01:26,519 I've probably interviewed a thousand times over the probably almost twenty five years I 23 00:01:26,519 --> 00:01:27,640 have known him, but this the first time he's on our podcast. So 24 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:30,760 you know, I was happy to get him on. And there's plenty of 25 00:01:30,799 --> 00:01:34,640 Golden boy action to talk about, and we covered it all. I love 26 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:38,319 it all right, So we got plenty to get to here on the program, 27 00:01:38,359 --> 00:01:42,599 including unfortunately, it's now official what we've been talking about, but since 28 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,840 we were last on this podcast feed with the fight for each unit substack, 29 00:01:46,879 --> 00:01:51,280 it's now official. That's it for showtime boxing. And as we often use 30 00:01:51,359 --> 00:01:53,640 the silly cliche on board games, do not pass go, do not collect 31 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:59,959 two hundred dollars. It's over like Monopoly that I'm making reference to for show. 32 00:02:00,159 --> 00:02:01,319 We'll talk more about that in a few minutes. There's fight news. 33 00:02:01,439 --> 00:02:06,920 There are a couple of fight cards of significance. The Dezone show in Liverpool, 34 00:02:06,959 --> 00:02:10,759 England features Jack Catterall against the veteran Jorge Lenaries and then Alexis Rocha. 35 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:15,639 This is one of the reasons why Dan got Oscar on the explosive welterweight is 36 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,599 the main event fighter for the Dez owned Golden Boys show. That's all the 37 00:02:19,599 --> 00:02:22,400 way out in California. You're a long way from Liverpool, England. If 38 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,400 you're in Inglewood, California, those aren't close together. We're gonna cover both 39 00:02:25,439 --> 00:02:30,360 continent to continent here and we've got fight news. We got nostalgia about the 40 00:02:30,439 --> 00:02:35,520 Hitman, Tommy Hearns and the real deal Holy Field lots to be with us 41 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,759 about. Thank you for finding us social media link If you found this Big 42 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,560 Fight Weekend website, Dan substack his newsletter. Thank you for finding us, 43 00:02:42,599 --> 00:02:46,280 Follow or subscribe and rate us and review us. For goodness, say give 44 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,639 us a five star review. It takes like ten seconds for you to say 45 00:02:49,759 --> 00:02:53,599 ray Field is a handsome man and hit five stars. Do that it will 46 00:02:53,599 --> 00:02:57,520 help us with the algorithm. More people find us that way. It moves 47 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,879 us up in the rankings again by the tens of thousands of you. You 48 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:04,919 have found us and you're listening to our stuff. Tell them that you enjoy 49 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:07,000 it. Tell others that you enjoy it by rating us and reviewing us on 50 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:12,560 the podcast platforms on Apple, on Spreakers, Spotify, wherever you get your 51 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,039 podcasts. Give us a rating and review all good stuff. So we got 52 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:17,960 to begin on a little bit of a downer. First of all, I 53 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,879 want to publicly again say thank you to you. You joined me a couple 54 00:03:22,879 --> 00:03:27,759 of days ago as we released this podcast Thursday night into Friday on the Last 55 00:03:27,759 --> 00:03:31,080 Word on Sports Media podcast, which is a media podcast. One of my 56 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,719 many hats, I probably have too many hats. Rayfield looks at my hats 57 00:03:34,719 --> 00:03:37,360 every week when we're talking on the show on the video hookup. I do 58 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,879 have too many hats, but figuratively. And Lindley, but that podcast, 59 00:03:39,919 --> 00:03:45,280 you did a great job just in a short form of talking about the what 60 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:49,800 what had happened where on Tuesday the announcement was made, So we covered a 61 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:53,199 lot of the what and we teased then we would have more full forum on 62 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,840 our boxing podcast for you to elaborate. So you did a great job. 63 00:03:57,879 --> 00:04:02,919 Thank you again publicly talking the what about Showtime shutting down on the previous one. 64 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:06,719 So it's now official. It's a downer. It's settled in for a 65 00:04:06,719 --> 00:04:10,599 couple of days. Give me your thoughts and what else you've been able to 66 00:04:10,599 --> 00:04:14,520 glean and find out here moving forward, after the announcement has been made, 67 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:16,959 they're out of the boxing business after thirty seven years. At the end of 68 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:21,120 this year, Dan, nothing really new has changed, except I'm just even 69 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,480 more depressed now than I was when the news happened. You know, when 70 00:04:24,519 --> 00:04:28,600 the first announcement came, you know, you spring into action. You know, 71 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:30,800 you got to write a story about it. So you trying to gather 72 00:04:30,879 --> 00:04:33,560 the facts, you know, make sure your stuff's right about what they're historical 73 00:04:34,879 --> 00:04:38,759 specifics are. You know, you get the comments, you know, you 74 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,959 get the statement from Paramount Global, which is the parent company. I had 75 00:04:42,959 --> 00:04:46,160 a lengthy conversation with Steven Espinoza from you know, the president of Showtime Sports, 76 00:04:46,199 --> 00:04:48,639 and talk some of the folks on the PR team to help me out 77 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,279 with a couple of small things, and you know, you just you do 78 00:04:51,319 --> 00:04:54,439 what you gotta do, and then you start thinking about it and you're sort 79 00:04:54,439 --> 00:04:57,279 of like, man, I just can't believe they're not going to be around 80 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:00,199 it because it's so ingrained, you know, even more so with the exit 81 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:04,600 of HBO five years ago, they were the only premium cable out there involved. 82 00:05:04,639 --> 00:05:09,720 And as I have said repeatedly since this occurred a few days ago, 83 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:14,040 I don't know a time in my life as a boxing fan that did not 84 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:18,120 include either HBO, Showtime or both SO and and. And not only did 85 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:23,600 it include both, but they were the dominating way in which I watched and 86 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,439 became a boxing fan. Yes, when I was growing up, my original 87 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:33,800 fandom was forged by watching afternoon network television CBS, ABC and NBC. But 88 00:05:34,439 --> 00:05:40,480 to be to become a diehard, it really meant later on HBO and and 89 00:05:40,519 --> 00:05:44,319 onto a smaller degree, ESPN fights that were on at that time, USA 90 00:05:44,399 --> 00:05:46,319 Tuesday night fights was a big part of it. But for the big time 91 00:05:46,399 --> 00:05:51,480 fights in uh, you know, it was HBO and Showtime and that was 92 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:55,279 that was the main thing. Sure. And to think of a world where 93 00:05:55,319 --> 00:05:57,959 neither one of them is going to exist now I understand change. I mean, 94 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,920 we all change. I mean, I mean I went from spending my 95 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:05,040 first bunch of years as a as a journalist with my material appearing on a 96 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:09,759 printed piece of newspaper that landed on your doorstep in the morning and then transitioned 97 00:06:10,079 --> 00:06:12,839 to you know, ESPN, which was only a website. I still remember 98 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,399 having the conversation with the friend of mine about, you know, I'm gonna 99 00:06:15,399 --> 00:06:18,240 be writing, but there's no there's no there's no clipping, there's no newspaper, 100 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:20,600 there's no it's just on a TV on a screen. It's like so 101 00:06:20,639 --> 00:06:23,720 it was like getting used to that. But yeah, you adjust with the 102 00:06:23,759 --> 00:06:26,920 times. I mean, one of the reasons I've always thought that that Bob 103 00:06:26,959 --> 00:06:31,600 Aram and Top Rank have thrived compared to say, Don King's promotion company that 104 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:36,680 did not thrive, is because Bob embraced the change. When things went from 105 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:42,160 closed circuit to pay per view. He adjusted. When it went from pay 106 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:46,639 per view and streaming became or the Internet started to grow, he embraced it. 107 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:48,399 When it became streaming, his team embraced that. He you know, 108 00:06:48,439 --> 00:06:54,800 he surrounded himself with younger people that that had had an understanding of those particular 109 00:06:54,959 --> 00:06:59,040 aspects of the business, and that's why they still are on top and and 110 00:06:59,079 --> 00:07:00,560 Don never adjusted. So it's sort of like adapt or die, is the 111 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:04,040 way I look at it an year. So I'm perfectly happy to adapt. 112 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:08,199 I've been doing it for many years on different things related to boxing. But 113 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:13,920 that doesn't mean that the demise of this great franchise doesn't hurt, and doesn't 114 00:07:13,959 --> 00:07:16,399 resonate, and doesn't make me sad and doesn't upset me in and make me 115 00:07:16,519 --> 00:07:20,079 nostalgic, you know, as they say. So it's disappointing. They have 116 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:25,759 had in a remarkable history. They started in nineteen eighty six, not with 117 00:07:25,839 --> 00:07:29,360 a live event, but with they they had the rights to do a replay 118 00:07:29,639 --> 00:07:32,519 about four or five days after Top Rank had done a closed circuit event that 119 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:38,319 was headlined by a great fight between then undisputed midway champion Marvin Hagler and what 120 00:07:38,439 --> 00:07:41,079 was the second to last fight of his career against John the Beast Mugabi. 121 00:07:41,519 --> 00:07:46,560 And from that moment until the Canelo fight that we just had, you know, 122 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:50,720 a few weeks ago, they have done and this includes Showbox pay per 123 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:55,439 view and all the events that they have done, almost seven hundred and fifty 124 00:07:55,439 --> 00:08:01,560 boxing events, almost two thousand bouts, wow, around six hundred and fifty 125 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:05,480 world title matches, and they also on top of that, now we all 126 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:09,000 thought about HBO as like the behemoth and pay per view, and they've done 127 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:13,480 tons and tons of pay per views over their history, billions of dollars in 128 00:08:13,519 --> 00:08:16,439 revenue. But when you cut down to it at the bottom line, because 129 00:08:16,439 --> 00:08:18,160 Showtime been around a little bit longer, they had Floyd in the big contract. 130 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:22,600 In the end, Showtime has achieved sales that are four of the top 131 00:08:22,639 --> 00:08:26,199 five pay per views of all time. Now, granted, two of them 132 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:31,720 are in conjunction with HBO. That's Mayweather pac Yo and Mayweather No maybe yeah, 133 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:35,960 that Mayweather pac Yo and those that was the one that was the joint 134 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:37,399 pay per view, But the other ones are ones that they did on their 135 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:43,720 own, you know, Connor McGregor and Mayweather, Mayweather and de la Hoya 136 00:08:43,799 --> 00:08:46,879 is the one that's the HBO pay per view. Mayweather Canelo was the other 137 00:08:46,039 --> 00:08:50,759 Showtime one, and of course number five the infamous Byte fight with the Vander 138 00:08:50,759 --> 00:08:56,240 Holyfield and Mike Tyson. So they leave behind at just a phenomenal legacy And 139 00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:01,000 basically I think I actually talked about this with Dela Hoya on our podcast. 140 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:03,639 I love that when we got into the Showtime stuff. If you take a 141 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:07,720 look at the thirty seven years of boxing on Showtime at one time or another. 142 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:11,679 Pretty much every single major fighter that you could think of with you know, 143 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:15,159 a few exceptions either appeared on Showtime or Showtime Pay Review, and the 144 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:20,679 one that didn't was Oscar because all of his big fights he never fought on 145 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:22,759 show ten. They're all his notable fights are on HBO or HBO pay p 146 00:09:22,799 --> 00:09:28,000 Review. But everybody else, whether it's Lennox Lewis or it's many packet even 147 00:09:28,039 --> 00:09:31,519 because of the one fight with Shane Moseley, plus the Mayweather fight, and 148 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:35,200 you know, on and on, there's guys that may have had one fight 149 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:37,799 on show, but at least had one. They had everybody at least one 150 00:09:37,799 --> 00:09:41,639 time or another, just like HBO did. So they've it's been the cornerstone 151 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:46,159 of boxing in this country, at least in North America anywhere, and they've 152 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:50,799 been responsible for helping put on like the literally the biggest fights in the history 153 00:09:50,799 --> 00:09:56,480 of the sport. And to now have them go into the dustbin of history 154 00:09:56,519 --> 00:10:01,200 in the next couple of months, it's a new frontier and you know, 155 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:03,200 we'll see how they finish up. They've got a November twenty fifth event with 156 00:10:03,919 --> 00:10:09,799 Demetrius Andre and David Benavidez on a pay per view, and then according to 157 00:10:09,919 --> 00:10:11,759 my sources, and I've written about this a little bit, there's the prospect 158 00:10:11,799 --> 00:10:16,879 of two other events, a Showtime Championship Boxing, possibly another pay per view, 159 00:10:16,919 --> 00:10:20,879 possibly with some different fights that we've talked about. No more show Box. 160 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:24,879 You know. Unfortunately they don't get the send off episode like they should 161 00:10:24,879 --> 00:10:28,759 have. Their last one was a few weeks ago, and you know they 162 00:10:28,759 --> 00:10:31,840 were around that that series around twenty one years, you know, Showtime Championship 163 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:35,320 Boxing thirty seven years. So I don't know what else to say except you 164 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:41,200 know, I hope they do a great montage of highlight reel the way HBO 165 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:43,840 when they closed out their their franchise, at least they left us with an 166 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:48,159 incredible highlight reel of like a ten to fifteen minute thing with the proper sendoff 167 00:10:48,519 --> 00:10:52,320 that I spine myself to this day. I don't watch day or anything, 168 00:10:52,399 --> 00:10:54,320 but I watch it like, you know, every every you know, every 169 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:56,919 couple of months, every month, whatever, just for back of it, 170 00:10:58,159 --> 00:11:01,720 because it's so well done and and Showtime and the Showtime fans and their staff 171 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:05,759 and the fighters deserved that because they have that rich history. It is amazing, 172 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,639 and for the people that have lost their jobs, unfortunately, it's awful. 173 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:11,600 Hopefully they'll bounce back. More on that in a couple moments. So 174 00:11:11,639 --> 00:11:13,480 you gave me a lot there, I'll fill in a couple of things. 175 00:11:13,799 --> 00:11:20,200 I still remember that March of nineteen eighty six replay in my youth. I'm 176 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:22,840 a teenager with the same age I'm sixteen years old. I had just turned 177 00:11:22,879 --> 00:11:26,840 sixteen years old, and I remember we take that and I must have watched 178 00:11:26,879 --> 00:11:31,279 that Hagler Mugabi fight like five times in and around when it happened. It 179 00:11:31,279 --> 00:11:35,000 was that good of a fight, that exciting of the fight. For this 180 00:11:35,159 --> 00:11:37,279 reason, I was living here. We had moved here my family to the 181 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:41,320 Tampa Bay area about three years before, right at the height of the rise 182 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:46,639 of John the Beast Bugabi as a junior middleweight and eventually a middleweight contender, 183 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,039 and so it was a big deal locally here that he was challenging Marvin Hagler 184 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:56,600 on this pay per view and that the replay was going to be on showtime. 185 00:11:56,639 --> 00:11:58,679 So I vividly remember the first one, and then you've got so many 186 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:03,200 out in between. I remember I joked with you the pay per view at 187 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:07,039 my house for the first Tyson holy Field fight. I had a house full 188 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:11,600 of screaming people. I had just gotten married earlier that year. My wife's 189 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:13,799 looking at me, like, what have we gotten ourselves into with all these 190 00:12:13,879 --> 00:12:18,240 idiots that are over here watching that one in ninety six? And on and 191 00:12:18,279 --> 00:12:22,080 on down the list for all the great showtime fights and the people, I 192 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:24,600 want to say publicly too, thank you to them. Some of them will 193 00:12:24,639 --> 00:12:28,639 obviously hear this at some point. Thank you to them for being good to 194 00:12:28,759 --> 00:12:33,399 me, to the initiative of Big Fight Weekend, the website and the podcast. 195 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,919 When I created this back five years ago, they were kind of lukewarm 196 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,559 who are you? But then after a few weeks and a few months of 197 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:46,159 me hustling and chasing and them offering fighters and me interviewing them, we started 198 00:12:46,519 --> 00:12:50,600 a great partnership, a great relationship of being able to get fighters on etc. 199 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:56,440 On the podcast, cover their fights on Big Fight Weekend dot com. 200 00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:00,600 So they've been great, they've been great. This is unfortunate. I just 201 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,279 wanted to say publicly thank you to them, because, especially back in twenty 202 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:07,200 eighteen and twenty nineteen, they didn't have to help as much with the website 203 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,639 and the podcast. But they were great people to help. I'm going to 204 00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:15,360 publicly say to Chris Deblasio, to Steve Pratt, to all those stabs of 205 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:18,519 pr people that were willing to help and go along with it. I'm grateful 206 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:24,200 for that because it sustained the site. It's sustained the podcast enough until some 207 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:28,879 guy named Rayfiel could come in with the Hammer of four and help out. 208 00:13:28,919 --> 00:13:33,120 That's got all the contacts, etc. As you did about a year and 209 00:13:33,159 --> 00:13:35,960 a half ago in our relationship. So I just want to get that out 210 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:37,039 there too. Yeah, listen, I mean, the showtime folks have always 211 00:13:37,039 --> 00:13:39,519 been a pleasure to deal with. I've been dealing with them for my whole 212 00:13:39,519 --> 00:13:43,879 career. A lot of them are the same people that I started with, 213 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:48,240 or you know, certainly have been many of them long term people, you 214 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:50,919 know, you name it. The people you mentioned obviously Espinoza and Gordon Hall, 215 00:13:52,039 --> 00:13:56,600 and all the Announcersmorrow and Al Bernstein and Brian Custer and Abner Marris presently 216 00:13:56,759 --> 00:14:00,440 and Jimmy Lennon, the ring announcer is you know, one of the best 217 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:01,759 in the business, one of the best of all time, uh, you 218 00:14:01,759 --> 00:14:05,879 know, and other other guys that were on the crew over the years. 219 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:09,679 You know, Steve Forard, you know, does he's not on the screen 220 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:11,919 anymore, for all those Jurish showbox I mean I was friendly with Nick Charles 221 00:14:11,919 --> 00:14:16,200 back in the day before he passed. Obviously, Barry Tompkins. I mean, 222 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:18,000 I'm sorry I forgot somebody, but I mean there's just a lot of 223 00:14:18,039 --> 00:14:22,960 tremendous people Manalo as well Carling the fights now, yeah, absolutely, uh 224 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,840 and you got the you know, like I like you said, the whole 225 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:28,399 PR team. But I'm just I'm gonna run down a few, you know, 226 00:14:28,399 --> 00:14:31,519 because the main thing, of course is the fighters and the fights that 227 00:14:31,559 --> 00:14:33,240 they've done. That's what we remember. Mostly. We have relationships with some 228 00:14:33,279 --> 00:14:37,840 of those folks behind the scenes. I'd be remiss not to mention my pal 229 00:14:37,919 --> 00:14:39,120 Jim Gray, who I become friendly with over the years. You know, 230 00:14:39,639 --> 00:14:43,080 uh, the tremendous at what he does. First of all, first and 231 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:50,360 foremost, Showtime Championship Boxing was the broadcaster that helped make this fight possible. 232 00:14:50,399 --> 00:14:52,559 And it turned out they didn't know it at the time, but of course 233 00:14:52,679 --> 00:14:56,799 you know it now. What many considered to be the greatest, if not 234 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,120 certainly one of the greatest, if not the greatest fight of all time. 235 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:03,360 I'm not trying to be exaggerating, because you can argue that it's the greatest 236 00:15:03,399 --> 00:15:07,600 fight of all time. At least let's say that was recorded, because we 237 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:11,600 don't know what happened before television. We didn't see fights in the nineteen twenties 238 00:15:11,639 --> 00:15:16,159 and tens and eighteen hundreds. But the night on May seventh, two thousand 239 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:20,639 and five, I was fortunate to be ringside at Mandalay Bay when Diego Corrals 240 00:15:20,639 --> 00:15:24,080 and Jose Lewis Castillo met for the first time to unify two of the lightweight 241 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:28,240 world titles and put on one of the single greatest dramatic sports events in the 242 00:15:28,279 --> 00:15:31,399 history of sports, not just boxing. This is as dramatic as it gets. 243 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:33,720 It's the best fight I've ever covered. It's the best fight I've ever 244 00:15:33,759 --> 00:15:37,840 seen. It's not a hard pick to make, and Showtime made that possible. 245 00:15:37,919 --> 00:15:41,759 So that's one of the most important things that they ever did in boxing. 246 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:43,559 But they had other huge things. I'm going to run down a couple 247 00:15:43,559 --> 00:15:46,720 of things just to job people's memories. What we're talking about. What we're 248 00:15:46,759 --> 00:15:50,200 losing here, for better for worse. Both the Vander Holyfield might Tyson fights. 249 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,519 The first fight an incredible fight and a great upset by Evander to win 250 00:15:54,559 --> 00:15:58,279 the WBA heavyweight title, and then of course the ignominy of the second fight 251 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:02,039 where Vander Holyfield had his ear bit off by Tyson who got disqualified. But 252 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:06,279 they did both of those fights and plenty and plenty of other Mike Tyson fights 253 00:16:06,279 --> 00:16:11,320 in Evander Holyfield fights that are memorable for lots of different reasons. Their biggest 254 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:17,600 move on a commercial basis probably was besides I think that actually goes above that. 255 00:16:17,639 --> 00:16:21,519 They of course signed Mike Tyson back when he had his problems and him 256 00:16:21,519 --> 00:16:23,399 and King had their issues with HBO, and they left and went and went 257 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,360 to Showtime. He did a couple of fights before he wound up in prison, 258 00:16:26,399 --> 00:16:30,480 but then had his post prison fights on Showtime, So that was big. 259 00:16:30,519 --> 00:16:33,039 But the bigger one, in my estimation, was when they signed Floyd 260 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:37,320 Mayweather away from HBO in twenty thirteen, which led to a whole series of 261 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:41,120 megafights that became the ones that broke all the records on pay per view, 262 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:45,720 including of course the fight they combined with HBO to do, which was the 263 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:48,559 biggest money fight of all time at disappointment in the ring, nonetheless, but 264 00:16:48,639 --> 00:16:51,399 the money was there and people wanted to see. It was of course the 265 00:16:51,399 --> 00:16:53,759 big fight with Manny Pakia. They also were the partner with HBO, and 266 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:59,480 without them it was it wouldn't happen. And likewise, without HBO the biggest 267 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:03,200 heavyweight fight of my time, which I covered, Lennox Lewis against Mike Tyson 268 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:07,880 for the heavyweight championship. This was in you know, a time when the 269 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:11,119 notion that these two companies would work together was alien. I mean Jay Larkin, 270 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:17,400 who ran Showtime Boxing for many many years before he was unceremoniously fired and 271 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:19,079 then a few years later died from brain cancer, who was a very close 272 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:22,519 friend of mine for a number of years, had one of the great quotes 273 00:17:22,559 --> 00:17:26,319 of all time. Before they ended up making Lewis versus Tyson, he said 274 00:17:26,319 --> 00:17:30,119 in an interview with The New York Times that that that fight would happen, 275 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:33,920 that that HBO and show Time would work together when when pork chops grow on 276 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,240 the palm trees of Tel Aviv. And Jay of course was Jewish and if 277 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:38,880 you understand what that means, you know, that's absolutely hilarious. You have 278 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,039 shared that with us before, but they did get along, they did make 279 00:17:42,039 --> 00:17:45,960 that happen. They also were the host network and put these fights together and 280 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:49,720 bankrolled them, made them happen. All four of the fights between the great 281 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:56,039 Warriors Israel Vasquez and Raphael Marquez, the second and third fight, which were 282 00:17:56,039 --> 00:17:57,960 both for junior featherweight, the junior featherweight world title of the WBC belt, 283 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,160 but also the lineal title, were both the fights of the year in two 284 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:03,079 thousand and seven, in two thousand and eight, and as I like to 285 00:18:03,079 --> 00:18:07,799 say, if two thousand and seven did not contain the first fight and the 286 00:18:07,839 --> 00:18:10,559 second fight, you know, talking about all three fights being the fight of 287 00:18:10,559 --> 00:18:11,960 the air, but the first two took place in the same calendar year, 288 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,000 and so the second fight got the nod over the first fight. We kind 289 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:21,799 of disavowed the fourth fight. They were the network that brought to you the 290 00:18:21,839 --> 00:18:26,519 fight between Julio Sazar Chavas and Greg Hougan, which drew the all time biggest 291 00:18:26,519 --> 00:18:30,839 attendance in the history of boxing period, indoor, outdoor, pick a country, 292 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,240 whatever. I still remember watching the Showtime replay of that, not the 293 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:36,599 pay per view. I did not see the pay per view, but It 294 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:41,079 is just staggering to go back and watch how many people were at that fight, 295 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:45,680 I Hagen, It's unreal. The official attendance for that fight was one 296 00:18:45,759 --> 00:18:51,119 hundred and thirty two thousand, two hundred and forty seven at Astecha Stadium in 297 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:53,799 Mexico. And besides that Chavs fight, they did a whole series of Chavaz 298 00:18:53,839 --> 00:18:57,920 pay per views with Don King, who was a very, very significant person 299 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:00,359 in terms of putting on their events. They had an output deal with him 300 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:03,440 for many years. But they did great cards like Revenge, the rematches with 301 00:19:03,559 --> 00:19:07,519 King, and of course the fights between Chavez and Frankie Randall, and just 302 00:19:07,559 --> 00:19:11,519 a whole bunch of fights, and you know other Tyson fights, Felix Trinidad 303 00:19:11,519 --> 00:19:15,759 fights, you name it. They were also a partner with HBO, but 304 00:19:15,759 --> 00:19:18,279 they had the live rights to show it live, whereas HBO had the tape 305 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:21,440 rights. That same day, the twenty seventeen Fight of the Year in front 306 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:26,359 of ninety thousand people at Wembley Stadium in London between Anthony Joshua retaining the three 307 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:30,319 heavyweight belts Againstvladimir Klitico. One of the great events I've ever been ringside for 308 00:19:30,319 --> 00:19:33,480 in my entire career, absolutely phenomenal. They put on which at the time 309 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:38,680 and still to this day, a very very interesting situation. They put themselves 310 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:42,519 in a innovative thing they did with the World of the Super six World Boxing 311 00:19:42,519 --> 00:19:47,759 Classic, where they took the six top guys in the super middleweight division and 312 00:19:47,759 --> 00:19:51,119 did a round robin tournament that produced quite a bit of interesting fights over the 313 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:52,880 years that dragged out a little longer, I think than people wanted it because 314 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:56,680 of injuries and different things, but it was it was well received at the 315 00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:00,400 time, and of course this year it three huge fights. They got fights 316 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:03,480 done that we all wanted to see, and that's what makes the loss of 317 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:06,799 showtime so, you know, so ironic in the sense that they had one 318 00:20:06,799 --> 00:20:08,400 of their bigger years in terms of maybe not on the network in terms of 319 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,480 the fights they did, but at least in terms of the PA per reviews. 320 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:14,079 I'm talking about Tank Davis and Ryan Garcia, which you know is the 321 00:20:14,079 --> 00:20:15,880 biggest pay per view in a long time, over a million buys, and 322 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,839 then the two huge other fights that that were that we were well received in 323 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,160 popular fights of course, you know, the fight we all wanted to see 324 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:26,960 for a long time between Crawford and Eryl Spence and then you know the two 325 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:32,400 one disputed champions fighting each other, Canelo Alvarez and Jermale Charlow. So you 326 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:34,599 know, for them to go out like that, it's it's what. I 327 00:20:34,599 --> 00:20:38,000 can't say anything other than it's a bummer and I wish everybody there good luck 328 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,559 in the fright. Two other things that will cover that, I promise. 329 00:20:41,599 --> 00:20:45,000 We're moving on to the preview of the fights this weekend. Oscar Dala Hoya 330 00:20:45,079 --> 00:20:48,799 coming up stand by with Dan on a bunch of different subjects, including the 331 00:20:48,839 --> 00:20:53,279 Alexis Rocha main event for Golden Boy. As we go into the weekend that 332 00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:57,039 is Saturday night in Inglewood, California, stand by for that. So I 333 00:20:57,079 --> 00:21:02,599 want to put this to you because now getting into the dynamic of what happens 334 00:21:03,039 --> 00:21:07,400 next. So for Premiere Boxing champions who's had the deal with Showtime, they're 335 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:10,359 displaced. They got to figure out what to do. I'm going to give 336 00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:11,640 you a little bit of my opinion here because we go back and forth. 337 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:17,519 I think it's going to be a very hard go for them coming up because 338 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:22,680 Showtime has been able to lay out money. From what you've told me and 339 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:26,000 what I understand about the business and help them make money, and I don't 340 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,240 know that that same money is going to be there with whatever other streaming service 341 00:21:30,279 --> 00:21:32,640 or whatever other deal. I don't know what they're going to end up with, 342 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:36,160 but I'm very curious. I will say this from this standpoint, and 343 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:41,799 I was much more on board with PBC years ago than now. They contributed. 344 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,720 It was not the only reason. They contributed to a big part of 345 00:21:45,759 --> 00:21:48,480 the problem of the interest and what's going on by a lot of their fighters 346 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:53,279 not fighting frequently enough and people not caring enough. To me, I don't 347 00:21:53,319 --> 00:21:56,599 know if it would have saved showtime, but it would have made a stronger 348 00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:59,519 argument as far as I'm concerned, if the fighters were more active and there 349 00:21:59,559 --> 00:22:03,799 was more interest. I am dumbfounded. Is we sit here, Dan Raphael 350 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:11,559 in November of twenty twenty three that Deontay Wilder has fought part of one round 351 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,039 the last couple of years. I'm gonna stop you right there, because I 352 00:22:15,079 --> 00:22:18,240 hear what you're saying. We've talked about in a committee thousand years. I 353 00:22:18,279 --> 00:22:22,440 want to say again I've said this because besides this podcast, I've had other 354 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:26,640 people interviewing about this. Also. I was on Chris Mannix's podcast, Who 355 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:29,319 Does a Fine Job. We talked about it. Some of my friends on 356 00:22:29,319 --> 00:22:32,319 some of the YouTube channels have hit me up. Here's the bottom line, 357 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:37,680 and people can accept this or not. That is a wrong characterization. This 358 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,119 was not a boxing decision. They didn't just get rid of boxing at Showtime. 359 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:48,160 They disbanded the entire distur mma. No more boxing, no more documentaries, 360 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:52,359 no more of their podcasts that they do, basketball related things, MMA 361 00:22:52,519 --> 00:22:56,279 related things, boxing related things, and other stuff that they've done. This 362 00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:00,720 is not a let me repeat, this is not a box boxing decision. 363 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,279 This is a company, Paramount Global, that is going through massive, massive 364 00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:10,000 changes, that is under extreme financial pressures, that is trying to move a 365 00:23:10,039 --> 00:23:15,359 lot of its content scripted and otherwise to its streaming service. And so when 366 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:19,480 you look at the budget the line item if you will, and you see 367 00:23:19,519 --> 00:23:23,319 I can save this much money by acting Showtime Sports. Yes, they do 368 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:26,680 generate some revenue because of the pay per views, but it's not necessarily enough 369 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:33,359 to offset the cost of the entire the entire existence of their department. That 370 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:37,160 it's an easy thing to say, Boom gone. Thirty eight jobs, thirty 371 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:41,279 eight benefits, thirty eight salaries, all the other expenses in terms of production, 372 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:45,400 you name it, the travel, the hotels, I mean, soup 373 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:48,839 to nuts. They're a widget. If you made a list of twenty five 374 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:52,799 things at showtime, you know, it doesn't matter. It could say boxing, 375 00:23:52,839 --> 00:23:53,960 it could say you know, dry cleaning. It's all the same shit 376 00:23:55,039 --> 00:23:56,640 to them. It's just a number on the bottom of a page and how 377 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:00,119 much money it costs. And it was eliminated, not because they weren't doing 378 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:06,039 big events. So the fact that Deontay Wilder fought one time has zero less 379 00:24:06,039 --> 00:24:10,599 than zero to do with the exit of Showtime from pining hold on, hold 380 00:24:10,599 --> 00:24:15,920 on, let me finish, finish, you missed it, missed it. 381 00:24:15,279 --> 00:24:18,400 I'm gonna fi Okay, this is one of the rare This is one of 382 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:22,519 the rare times where I'm gonna stop you because you missed my point in the 383 00:24:22,519 --> 00:24:26,119 first place, and you stopped me. I did not say that the reason 384 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,920 why Showtime is gone is because the fighters are inactive. What I said is 385 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,200 it's a contributing factor to the interest. And I brought it up in the 386 00:24:33,279 --> 00:24:37,839 vein of where does PBC go from here? Because this has been their outlet 387 00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:42,000 for the last basically two years except for a few of the Fox pay per 388 00:24:42,079 --> 00:24:47,119 views, and what happens. And the point I was making is they have 389 00:24:47,319 --> 00:24:51,640 inflicted this on themselves with inactive fighters, and I don't know where they go 390 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:53,759 from here. I did not say to you, I did hold on. 391 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:59,240 I did not say to you that's the reason why Showtime's demise happened. So 392 00:24:59,279 --> 00:25:03,559 don't character that way. That's not what I said. Swat other people that 393 00:25:03,599 --> 00:25:06,640 are saying that. Swat the troll, swat other people that are saying that. 394 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:11,200 I just wonder when you have fighters like Jamal Charlow who hasn't fought for 395 00:25:11,279 --> 00:25:17,400 two years, two and a half years, you're killing your own product. 396 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:21,839 And if you have harp, you harp on Jamal Charlow pretty much every show. 397 00:25:22,279 --> 00:25:26,160 It's not it's not their fault. Jamal Charlot has had his own problems 398 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:30,920 that are related to his real life, not his boxing career. If he 399 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,720 needs to be off for two years, then so be it. If he 400 00:25:33,759 --> 00:25:37,720 has to deal with problems that originally were injury related. Now he's got issues 401 00:25:37,799 --> 00:25:41,599 with his non boxing stuff, his family life, legal issues, perhaps some 402 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:45,079 you know the you know the no question, there's been discussions that maybe he's 403 00:25:45,079 --> 00:25:48,960 been drinking a little bit too much, whatever you want to say, that's 404 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,319 got nothing to do with anything other than his own personal situation. Now you 405 00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:56,039 want to be upset with the WBC for allowing him to become or to remain 406 00:25:56,079 --> 00:25:59,839 the BBC Champion for all that period of time. We can have that kind 407 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:03,880 of station, but his is inactivity again, has nothing to do with any 408 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,039 decisions that are made. And I'm going to tell you another thing. And 409 00:26:07,079 --> 00:26:08,200 I've gleaned this over the last few days. You ask me what else have 410 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,119 I learned? And just made me think about this. So I have talked 411 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:17,559 to several people that are involved with PBC directly, that are involved in their 412 00:26:17,599 --> 00:26:22,400 whole endeavor, non showtime people, and when I tell you that, they 413 00:26:22,519 --> 00:26:26,200 don't come across as even the slightest bit concerned. I had one person tell 414 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,680 me, just wait till you see where we wind up. Like I am 415 00:26:30,759 --> 00:26:34,319 led to believe that they either have a deal in place that is not known 416 00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:38,440 to the public or to the media just yet, or are on the precipice 417 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:41,559 of doing so. There's been a lot of conversation that maybe will be Amazon 418 00:26:41,599 --> 00:26:45,799 Prime, maybe that will be and obviously, Amazon has millions of more people 419 00:26:45,799 --> 00:26:49,720 that subscribe to their outlet than do to Showtime number one. But when I 420 00:26:49,839 --> 00:26:55,680 talk to people whose livelihood, who is living is based on PBC events and 421 00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:00,200 their paychecks that are derived from PBC, and not one single person in separate 422 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:04,079 conversations, not done like on a conference call, but you know, talk 423 00:27:04,079 --> 00:27:07,559 to this person here, text with that person there, an email here, 424 00:27:07,559 --> 00:27:11,039 an email there, and there is no concern on their behalf at all. 425 00:27:11,279 --> 00:27:18,799 I am telling you the combination of knowing that and my own personal knowledge of 426 00:27:18,839 --> 00:27:22,480 my past relationship with Al Hayman, which of course has not really existed for 427 00:27:22,519 --> 00:27:26,480 many years, but I knew him pretty darn well for a long time when 428 00:27:26,519 --> 00:27:30,200 we spoke to each other regularly. I'm not concerned. They're gonna find something, 429 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,799 and I think it'll be something good, I hope. So I do 430 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:37,960 not underestimate Hayman ever, once for one moment. Anybody that does, I've 431 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:42,920 said this before, does so at their own peril. So you can love 432 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:48,279 it, you can hate it. But I'm telling you PBC ain't going anywhere, 433 00:27:48,279 --> 00:27:52,519 so time may be out the door, but they're gonna find another quality 434 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:56,160 and I'm not suggesting that they are going anywhere. What I am saying, 435 00:27:56,279 --> 00:28:00,759 and this is factual, is the interest has diminished and it has finished because 436 00:28:00,799 --> 00:28:03,960 the fighters haven't been nearly active enough most of them, you haven't been nearly 437 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,799 haven't been nearly as active as they should have been. That the interest has 438 00:28:07,839 --> 00:28:11,920 diminished. And I will ask you that in the span of from April and 439 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:17,200 til September, what is that five months? Correct? They did three fights 440 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:22,000 that generated correctrobably close to over almost over over two and a half million pay 441 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:26,720 per view buys in three pay per views, correct, and all three took 442 00:28:26,759 --> 00:28:30,279 place in the same building that all three generated gates and excess of twenty million 443 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:33,680 dollars correct. All of those things are correct. Okay, that does not 444 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:37,680 to tell me that there's a diminished interest the well, but that is an 445 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,359 outlier to the overall, which is what is out there. This is three 446 00:28:41,599 --> 00:28:45,400 well, but you had three different situations that all came to a head. 447 00:28:45,519 --> 00:28:49,359 A Dvante Davis hold On and Ryan Garcia fight that had been talked about for 448 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:53,839 two or three years came together, an aerrol Spans Terrence Crawford fight that it 449 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:59,559 took at least two years too long to make by all of our agreement finally 450 00:28:59,599 --> 00:29:03,079 got mad. And then Canelo Alvarez is now back with them after having been 451 00:29:03,079 --> 00:29:07,559 away from them, and he's a draw wherever he goes. So you put 452 00:29:07,599 --> 00:29:11,240 all three of those together, yes, but I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna spit 453 00:29:11,279 --> 00:29:14,519 some more facts. How about in January in a fight that by no means 454 00:29:14,599 --> 00:29:18,799 was a super fight still did you know, decently on pay per view, 455 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:21,920 but did an all time record for a building that has been around for twenty 456 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,960 years over a five million dollar gate for Tank Davis against Hector Luis Scarcia. 457 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:29,079 That's not normal to do a five million dollar gate in that kind of seat, 458 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:32,599 right, and he in his situation, he is obviously a draw. 459 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,079 But they have other fighters where it is MSSON. I'm gonna, I'm gonna 460 00:29:36,079 --> 00:29:40,079 give you another example. They did a matchup between David Benavidez and Kayleb Plant 461 00:29:40,119 --> 00:29:42,200 that took place in March neither, I mean Kayla Plant had been on the 462 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,359 pay per view event against Canelo and got knocked out. But that was of 463 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,480 course, that was a pretty big fight that that that it was done, 464 00:29:48,519 --> 00:29:53,079 that generated you know, with showtime, what over eight hundred thousand buys. 465 00:29:53,279 --> 00:29:56,480 He did a fight with David. In that March fight, David had never 466 00:29:56,519 --> 00:30:00,000 headlined a pay per view. Now, I'm not saying this is massive numbers, 467 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:03,119 but for a first guy, for a first time a side is pretty 468 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,359 damn good. Uh. They they got close to two hundred thousand buys and 469 00:30:06,359 --> 00:30:07,599 they did it, did the hell of a game in Las Vegas. And 470 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,279 why and in part why do you think it did that? Well? They 471 00:30:11,319 --> 00:30:15,119 were more active and people were wanting to see them fight each other and one 472 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,480 of them had a world above fact, both of them at world titles. 473 00:30:18,599 --> 00:30:19,960 So that's part of my point. They didn't have oral titles in that match. 474 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:22,680 I'm not in that matchup, but they previously had and they had been 475 00:30:22,759 --> 00:30:26,400 active and people and you stay understand that. What I'm saying is so that's 476 00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:30,559 part of it I'm saying to you is that they have put on events that 477 00:30:30,599 --> 00:30:34,079 people have wanted to see, whether it's been activity related or not. For 478 00:30:34,119 --> 00:30:40,279 the buys in the main event. Uh, the point is to circle back 479 00:30:40,519 --> 00:30:45,400 the decision made by Paramount Global to eliminate the boxing programming from a showtime and 480 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,960 the entire sports department is not a boxing related decision. That is the wrong 481 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:55,079 way to characterize it, period. Okay, and I repeat again, I 482 00:30:55,119 --> 00:30:57,640 did not characterize that. That's others may be doing that. I didn't character 483 00:30:59,359 --> 00:31:02,480 at the at the beginning on that. And we'll see where PBC ends up. 484 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:04,599 And by the way, it wouldn't be the first time that everybody was 485 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:07,440 led to believe that something is going to be fantastic on the other side and 486 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,440 it turns out to be an absolute dud. You're not saying that, I'm 487 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:14,359 just saying, let me just I want to clarify. I'm saying that based 488 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:18,240 on my conversations with people who I've known for a long time who are material 489 00:31:18,359 --> 00:31:22,480 to PBC, where you would say, hey, you know, are you 490 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:26,039 a little worried? Are you gonna try to do something else? Like are 491 00:31:26,079 --> 00:31:30,000 you concerned? Like you guys have plans and they are in separate conversations like 492 00:31:30,359 --> 00:31:33,559 just wait, okay, they're not concerned. So if I take it one 493 00:31:33,599 --> 00:31:38,039 step further, I got I got one more thing, and then we'll quickly 494 00:31:38,079 --> 00:31:41,440 move on because we spend a ton of time on this. The logical thing 495 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:45,599 would be the three letters fox Fox to come back to them to somehow do 496 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:51,039 a deal I know you're shaking your head. No. But the reason that 497 00:31:51,039 --> 00:31:56,119 that has some legs is because Fox has a network. Fox is about to 498 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,839 lose the WWE on Friday nights, for example, where they've been having wrestling. 499 00:32:00,039 --> 00:32:02,319 Fox has a cable network. Fox has the capability of pay per view. 500 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:07,720 ARM broadcast network TV is a different dynamic. So I'm just I have 501 00:32:07,799 --> 00:32:10,880 no idea. I'm just curious could they go back to them, because I 502 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:15,640 will say this, understanding enough about about this. The Amazon Prime thing sounds 503 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:20,359 juicy enough, but how many boxing fans are gonna gravitate? How many going 504 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:22,480 to buy the pay per view? That's an unknown. I think we have 505 00:32:22,559 --> 00:32:25,720 to agree that's an unknown right now on who's going to gravitate to that because 506 00:32:25,759 --> 00:32:30,440 Amazon hasn't been doing boxing, so we don't know. We'll find out. 507 00:32:30,519 --> 00:32:32,079 We'll stay tuned and we'll find out. Agreed, We'll find out whatever it 508 00:32:32,079 --> 00:32:36,640 is that they're doing, whatever they're fair enough on that. Oscar de la 509 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,359 Hoya coming up in a couple of moments. Let's talk first, Jack Catterall, 510 00:32:39,559 --> 00:32:45,200 Jorge Lenares give me the quick version because chronologically that's up first from Liverpool, 511 00:32:45,279 --> 00:32:50,160 England, The Dezone Show that's coming Saturday afternoon in US time. Give 512 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:52,599 me a little bit on that. Then we'll morph into the Golden Boys show 513 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:57,440 later Saturday night and then into Oscar. But go ahead on Cateral and lenares 514 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:00,759 well. Jack Catterall, of course, is the a side, and anybody 515 00:33:00,759 --> 00:33:05,599 that has followed boxing and the drama that has surrounded Jack Catterall knows that in 516 00:33:05,799 --> 00:33:09,839 February of twy and twenty two, after having not fought for the entire calendar 517 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:15,319 year of two and twenty one, he had fought in November of twenty twenty 518 00:33:15,559 --> 00:33:17,359 and then all of twenty twenty one he was out of the ring, and 519 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:22,359 then in the early part of twenty two we finally challenged Josh Taylor, who 520 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,359 at that time was defending all four titles. He was the undisputed junior welterweight 521 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:29,759 champion. They fought in Glasgow, Scotland, and the fight ended and there 522 00:33:29,839 --> 00:33:32,240 was a lot of people that felt like Jack Catterall won the fight, and 523 00:33:32,279 --> 00:33:37,000 of course he ended up losing a split decision on Josh Taylor's home turf. 524 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:39,920 There were some of us who thought that Josh Taylor, you know, squeaked 525 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:42,759 it out. I actually was one of them. You know you can kill 526 00:33:42,759 --> 00:33:45,160 me for that, fine, But I thought he squeaked out. I wouldn't 527 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:47,519 be upset if they had given the decision to Catterall. It was a very 528 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:51,240 I thought Catterall won the fight, but it's great for debate. He didn't 529 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:53,559 get the decision, no doubt so, but it was It was a humongous 530 00:33:53,559 --> 00:33:59,240 controversy over there, and that's sort of been the sort of the rock around 531 00:33:59,319 --> 00:34:04,480 Jack Catterall's ever since. So there was the prospect of other fights that did 532 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:07,280 not come to pass. There was lots of postponements and cancelations. Remember he 533 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:10,440 was supposed to who was he supposed to fight? I can't remember who was 534 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:14,599 There was a fight that was on the books that kept getting canceled and postponed 535 00:34:14,599 --> 00:34:17,280 because of injuries and different reasons in COVID and whatever. And it finally just, 536 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,639 uh oh, I think it was was it a? Was it a? 537 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:22,960 Do you remember what the fight was? It was a contender fight of 538 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:25,840 some kind. And whoever he was supposed to fight also got injured. So 539 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:31,000 he had tried to fight Josh Taylor and Taylor was injured, and then Taylor 540 00:34:31,079 --> 00:34:35,079 vacated the belts and then the Taya Femal Lopez fight was a much more lucrative 541 00:34:35,079 --> 00:34:37,920 fight, which we understood to come to the United States and fight that. 542 00:34:37,119 --> 00:34:40,960 So that's why Cattererall didn't get the rematch in that instant instant. So he's 543 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:45,320 just he's been chasing the clout and chasing the recognition. So okay, So 544 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:49,800 he finally he finally got back in the ring. He well, he parted 545 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:53,000 ways with the past promoters. He had been through a couple He had been 546 00:34:53,039 --> 00:34:57,760 briefly with boxer. Then they couldn't put the fight together, which I still 547 00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:00,639 can't remember what the hell the fight was. But anyway, he finally signed 548 00:35:00,639 --> 00:35:04,000 with Eddie her and they did a fight in May of twenty twenty three, 549 00:35:04,039 --> 00:35:06,599 you know, several months ago. It was a pedestrian win. He didn't 550 00:35:06,639 --> 00:35:07,719 look very good. He won the fight fine. It was kind of a 551 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:12,719 route, but it was boring as shit. And now they get him back 552 00:35:12,719 --> 00:35:15,159 on path and so now he's headlining this his own card in Liverpool on Saturday 553 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:20,559 against port halenaris So. While Jack Catteraut based on the victory or the non 554 00:35:20,639 --> 00:35:22,840 victory or the split decision, however you want to describe it, against Taylor 555 00:35:23,159 --> 00:35:25,519 he is regarded as one of the top fighters in the weight class. He 556 00:35:25,559 --> 00:35:29,719 only got the one loss, and that was obviously the controversy. But he's 557 00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:32,079 fighting Lenaries, who has been a good fighter in his time. And I've 558 00:35:32,079 --> 00:35:36,400 been reading some of the material leading up to this fight where people are saying, 559 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:39,760 Jry Helenaris is a future Hall of Famer. Bullshit. I'm a voter. 560 00:35:40,199 --> 00:35:44,400 I know, I'm not even sure he'll get on the ballot, much 561 00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:46,320 less being voted into the Hall of Fame. So that ain't I mean, 562 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:50,840 that's that's just that's that's boxing hype one oh one, right there, Horry 563 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:52,159 A. Laris is not a future Hall of Famer. He was a really 564 00:35:52,159 --> 00:35:54,239 good fighter for a long time, but he's got a whole shit a lot 565 00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:58,440 of losses, and he's also a guy that lost fights he should have won. 566 00:35:58,559 --> 00:36:00,280 I mean, a guy losing fights. I don't necessarily hold that against 567 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:02,840 him if're voting in Hall of Fame. You know, Sugar Ray Robinson's got 568 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:06,599 like whatever, twenty something losses, whatever it is, But no one's going 569 00:36:06,639 --> 00:36:08,320 to say he's not a Hall of Famer. Por Helenaris ain't a Hall of 570 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:10,840 Famer. A really good fighter at one time, but he's a shell of 571 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:15,159 himself. I think this is Jack Catterall taking on the remnants of Forgele. 572 00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:19,239 Lenaris, who has lost three fights in a row, not look particularly good 573 00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:23,079 in any of those losses, including a decision loss to Devin Haney, a 574 00:36:23,119 --> 00:36:28,800 stoppage loss is zaur Abdoliev, and another fight where he lost a ten rounder. 575 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:30,400 Granted it was close on one card, but the other were very wide 576 00:36:31,079 --> 00:36:35,000 against Zorah Hamzarian. I mean, a guy you probably never even heard of, 577 00:36:35,039 --> 00:36:37,039 with you know, three or four losses. So this, this to 578 00:36:37,119 --> 00:36:40,239 me, is not a good matchup. I mean, I mean, I'm 579 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:44,639 gonna watch it because I'm interested to see what's up with Taylor. And I've 580 00:36:44,639 --> 00:36:49,239 always liked Lenaris because at one time he was a super talented guy that could 581 00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:52,199 do a lot of different things. But he's like ten years past his best 582 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:54,599 days. Give me. You know, they're making a big deal about the 583 00:36:54,599 --> 00:36:58,000 fact that, you know, Lenaris has had success when he's traveled to the 584 00:36:58,119 --> 00:37:00,760 UK, which is true. But how many years ago is that. We're 585 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,559 talking like seventeen fifteen, you know, fourteen when he was winning fights against 586 00:37:04,599 --> 00:37:07,039 like Kevin Mitchell and and then Anthony Krola in him back to back fights. 587 00:37:07,559 --> 00:37:14,280 This is the twenty twenty three version of poor hillinares ain't the twenty seventeen version, 588 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:16,320 which wasn't even the twenty fourteen version, So give me a break. 589 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:20,480 So that's the status here. If if Lamaris can win this fight, it's 590 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:23,440 a humongous upset. The Caterall is supposed to win, should win handily. 591 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:28,800 We'll see if he can do that and in his mind move on to potentially, 592 00:37:29,159 --> 00:37:31,000 you know, the winner of Haini Progray or something along those lines. 593 00:37:31,039 --> 00:37:35,679 Being that they're all in the match room stable, you know, it's one 594 00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:38,639 of those things where this is a main event. To me, I find 595 00:37:38,639 --> 00:37:40,400 to be kind of offensive, if you want to know the truth. And 596 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,920 I'm not trying to rip on any but I'm just being Catterall needs to be 597 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:45,519 impressive. I mean, that's what's going to help his stake in his leverage, 598 00:37:45,519 --> 00:37:47,800 and that's what you've laid out there for that. So that's earlier in 599 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:52,320 the day, and then before we get to ask her talking about Alexis Rocha, 600 00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:54,199 let's let Dan Rayfield talk in the preview mode about by the way, 601 00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:57,320 yeah, go ahead, the fight that now it is really is the fight 602 00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:59,880 that we were talking about. That that the reason he didn't fight for his 603 00:38:00,079 --> 00:38:01,679 as he didn't fight Catros because they were trying to make the rematch with Josh 604 00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:06,320 Taylor, and that's what kept getting scuttled because there was injuries and there were 605 00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:09,000 promoter changes and whatever, and that never happened, and then the WBO cut 606 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,400 it off and said you gotta fight the mandatory with was just tia Fimo, 607 00:38:12,639 --> 00:38:16,679 and then Caterall moved on and ended up signing eventually with Eddie Hearn and Natcherman 608 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,480 and moving to this direction. So yeah, it was the tailor rematch they 609 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:22,760 were trying to do that was scuttled on a multitude of occasions, no doubt. 610 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:27,719 So now Alexis Roache will fight Saturday night, Inglewood, California. Outstanding 611 00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:34,320 welterweight rising contender, big puncher Giovanni Santillan is the opponent. Did I hit 612 00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:38,760 it close? Ation Santia? All right? Fair enough? Santi On, 613 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:43,639 fair enough? That's the opponent. How long will Santion last? We'll see 614 00:38:43,639 --> 00:38:50,960 what are your thoughts here? Roaches delivered some big KOs recently exciting fighter fought 615 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:54,400 real quick here on the Golden Boy Dezonne main event later Saturday night. This 616 00:38:54,480 --> 00:39:00,840 is this is the anti Lenaries caterall. This is a good quality matchup. 617 00:39:00,119 --> 00:39:04,920 This is a rising contender in roacha who's only got the one loss, who 618 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:07,679 is the mandatory challenger for the WBO title which Terence Crawford holds. If you 619 00:39:07,719 --> 00:39:13,599 remember, he and his team agreed to step aside to allow the Crawford Spence 620 00:39:13,599 --> 00:39:15,880 fight to deal for all four titles. But they are still in the mandatory 621 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:19,440 position, so he's risking that. But he also can use a little more 622 00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,679 seasoning. I don't think there was any issue with that. He can still 623 00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:27,960 make a good payday and increase his notoriety and his name recognition and continue to 624 00:39:28,199 --> 00:39:30,760 build up his career. Not only is an exciting fighter, I believe from 625 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:35,119 watching his recent fights, he's an improving fighter. He's also a guy that's 626 00:39:35,159 --> 00:39:37,119 starting to draw a bigger crowd. Like he's they're checking all the boxes, 627 00:39:37,159 --> 00:39:42,159 like he really has the chance to move up to the next level of the 628 00:39:42,199 --> 00:39:45,400 sport because of the fact that he's good, he's interesting to watch, and 629 00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:50,239 he's got fans that will buy taking us been active back to the podcast. 630 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:52,920 Yes, this will be his third fight of the year. That's a good 631 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:57,639 thing. Now, his opponent, Santeon, is a very and this is 632 00:39:57,679 --> 00:40:00,199 not now. The first two fights he had against George she and Anthony Young, 633 00:40:01,079 --> 00:40:04,559 they weren't like the worst matchups in the history of the world by any 634 00:40:04,559 --> 00:40:07,559 means, but they were fights that roacha was a sizable favorite in the fight 635 00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:10,000 and no one expected anything other than what he did, which was to score 636 00:40:10,039 --> 00:40:14,199 knockouts, and which is exactly what happened in the fight in January and the 637 00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:16,800 fight in May. Santion's a different story. Santion is thirty one, and 638 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:22,599 oh he's not an old fighter. He's a southpaw. He is a real 639 00:40:22,679 --> 00:40:25,000 guy. He's promoted by Top Rank. They don't just sign anybody. Now, 640 00:40:25,039 --> 00:40:28,519 this is actually a good thing about the part of the boxing business that 641 00:40:28,559 --> 00:40:31,679 we all complained about. But in this particular instance, Top Rank got a 642 00:40:31,679 --> 00:40:36,840 good enough offer. And still even though as many shows as they have on 643 00:40:37,039 --> 00:40:39,400 ESPN, it's never enough. And it was the perfect situation for them to 644 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:44,039 go and make a deal with Golden Boy to put their fighter in a fight 645 00:40:44,119 --> 00:40:46,519 on their card and they'll have their representation go to the fight obviously and take 646 00:40:46,559 --> 00:40:50,280 care of their business. But Santion's going to fight on this Golden Boys show. 647 00:40:50,519 --> 00:40:53,400 He's getting this great opportunity to take out the mandatory challenger. And like 648 00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:55,719 I said, he's thirty one and oh with sixteen knockouts. He's no joke. 649 00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:59,480 He's a tough fighter from San Diego. So it's kind of a good 650 00:41:00,039 --> 00:41:04,000 Southern California, you know, matchup between these two California fighters, and they're 651 00:41:04,039 --> 00:41:06,920 fighting at the Forum, which is a historical venue for boxing. I have 652 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:08,920 covered several fights. It's I think it's you know, for my if you 653 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:14,760 gave me my choice, with all due respect to the Dignity Health Park, 654 00:41:15,119 --> 00:41:19,280 uh and and what's now Crypto Arena and the other venues around the city. 655 00:41:19,599 --> 00:41:22,360 Uh, for my money, my favorite place to cover fight in the LA 656 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:24,760 Area is definitely, uh the Forum now called the Kia Forms. We love 657 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:29,480 the nostalgia. The La Sports Arena very famous for a lot of reasons, 658 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,320 no longer standing. They tore it down. It doesn't exist anymore. But 659 00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:35,800 this one, this one got refurbished. It was the fabulous Forum, the 660 00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:39,159 Great Western Forum, et cetera. Got refurbished for concerts and events, and 661 00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:44,079 so it's it's kind of neat it's still on that property Dan where they've now 662 00:41:44,119 --> 00:41:47,760 built Sofi Stadium, the massive football stadium and the huge complex the Forum. 663 00:41:49,039 --> 00:41:52,960 The Lady is still standing. Then, it's still it's interesting. It's a 664 00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:55,239 it's a tremendous venue for fights. Like I said, I have been there 665 00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:59,000 several times and I've always enjoyed it. And uh, anyway, this is 666 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,199 a real fight. This is a top contender against another rising contender, was 667 00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:06,400 undefeated, who's had you know, not big big name wins, but some 668 00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:09,320 solid victories in general, and so I have high hopes this could be a 669 00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:15,800 competitive and interesting fight. By the way, Muhammad Ali ken Norton fifty years 670 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:22,280 ago in nineteen seventy three at the Forum with Chick Hearn on the call. 671 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:24,000 By the way, on the closed circuit at the former Laker's announcer. How 672 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:28,039 about I had a chance to cover at the Forum. I covered fights involving 673 00:42:28,079 --> 00:42:32,519 Gnati Glovekin and Roman Gonzalez on their doubleheaders. Obviously, probably the most memorable 674 00:42:32,559 --> 00:42:36,400 fight I covered there in terms of the way it ended, was being there 675 00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:38,000 when Bernard Hopkins had what turned out to be the final fight of his career, 676 00:42:38,079 --> 00:42:43,920 getting knocked out of the ring by Joe Smith at the Forum. I'm 677 00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:45,000 trying to think of some other fights that covered there. I believe it was 678 00:42:45,039 --> 00:42:50,119 the final fight of the career of Juan Danuel Marquez when he defeated Mike Alvarado 679 00:42:50,119 --> 00:42:52,400 was at the Forum. That was a pretty good fight. So yeah, 680 00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:53,239 I mean, I have to go through the list, but there's been a 681 00:42:53,239 --> 00:42:57,360 bunch of fights I've been over there for a good lady is still standing. 682 00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:00,239 And by the way, you know who made his debut at the Forum, 683 00:43:00,239 --> 00:43:02,280 Oscar dala Hoya. What a segue, right, Phiel. I've been trying 684 00:43:02,559 --> 00:43:05,800 for these and by the ways, and I got a pretty good one right 685 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:08,599 there. Yes, And when they listen to our podcast, that the interview 686 00:43:08,679 --> 00:43:13,480 I did with Oscar his professional debut at the Forum came up in the early 687 00:43:13,559 --> 00:43:16,039 part of the conversation in large measure because of this fight he's promoting at the 688 00:43:16,079 --> 00:43:20,679 Forum. All right, So let's get to it now. Here is Oscar 689 00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:23,039 dala Hoya on this fight card, the Golden Boy fight card, the situation 690 00:43:23,159 --> 00:43:30,599 with Ryan Garcia and much more with Dan what's my honor to bring into our 691 00:43:30,679 --> 00:43:36,880 podcast tonight none other than the Hall of Fame boxer and outstanding promoter from Golden 692 00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:39,760 Boy Promotions none other than Oscar Delawye. Oscar, I've interviewed you probably about 693 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:43,800 a thousand times and knowing you for almost twenty five years, but the first 694 00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:45,280 time you're a guest on our podcast, So thank you very much for doing 695 00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:50,880 this. It's a pleasure, Dan, Thank you very much. And you 696 00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:55,840 know, obviously you've you've been You've been very instrumental in the sport of boxing, 697 00:43:57,159 --> 00:43:59,960 you know, to bring us, you know, the best interviews, 698 00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:04,320 so it's really it's really an honor. I appreciate that. I want to 699 00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:07,360 start off by talking to you. Have a you have a really interesting matchup 700 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:10,360 in your main event that Golden Boys putting on Saturday night at the Kia Forum 701 00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:14,480 in Inglewood, California, a place you are very familiar with. The main 702 00:44:14,519 --> 00:44:17,800 event is a welterweight contender Alexis Rocha twenty three and one taken on the undefeated 703 00:44:19,039 --> 00:44:22,480 Giovan u Stantian thirty one and oh. And the first thing I want to 704 00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:24,199 ask you before I ask you about the fight, and it's not the first 705 00:44:24,239 --> 00:44:28,519 time Golden Boys put on an event at the Forum, where I have covered 706 00:44:28,519 --> 00:44:30,559 many fights over the years, but I always think about it. You know, 707 00:44:30,599 --> 00:44:34,119 you walk in the doors to that building and that's where the Golden Boy 708 00:44:34,159 --> 00:44:37,199 made his professional debut thirty one years ago next month with the first round knockout 709 00:44:37,239 --> 00:44:39,880 victory. When you walk through the doors there, what does it make you 710 00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:44,599 feel like? Do you always remember what your pro debut was like? Well, 711 00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:49,800 it makes me. It makes me think about the the very best and 712 00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:52,800 the great fighters who have you know, walked into that arena. I mean 713 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:59,039 we're talking about, you know, from the late great Muhammad Ali sure and 714 00:44:59,119 --> 00:45:02,079 myself making my pro debut and my gosh, thirty one years ago. It's 715 00:45:02,119 --> 00:45:07,320 incredible. But you know it's it's by design that we uh that we that 716 00:45:07,400 --> 00:45:13,719 we uh you know, organized this fight with Rocha and Santian, you know, 717 00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:17,880 around around this anniversary. So it's, uh, it's a great opportunity 718 00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:22,400 for two young fighters who are great fighters and uh you know, fighting for 719 00:45:22,559 --> 00:45:28,119 respect and uh you know one is undefeated, Rocha has one loss, but 720 00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:31,000 uh, you know they're both knocking on the door, you know, to 721 00:45:31,079 --> 00:45:35,519 fight for that world title. And so I think it's gonna be one of 722 00:45:35,559 --> 00:45:40,840 those fights where uh, you know, whoever has whoever has the that grit, 723 00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:45,679 whoever has you know, the the stamina as well, and and and 724 00:45:45,679 --> 00:45:51,960 and whoever can change up their game plans. I totally agree with you about 725 00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:54,320 that. And when I made me think about this when I mentioned about it 726 00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:58,440 is thirty one years ago next month that you had your debut was a first 727 00:45:58,440 --> 00:46:00,800 one. Naka uh. The opponent that you're faced on Lamar Williams. Have 728 00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:04,840 you ever in the thirty one years given a thought to yourself? Boy, 729 00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:07,800 I wonder what Lamar Williams is doing. Now we know what Oscar deal Loi 730 00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:12,320 is doing. Now I wonder what always happens to the guy that gets knocked 731 00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:15,079 out by the star on the right. Yeah, you know what, I 732 00:46:15,519 --> 00:46:20,679 actually I actually think about him quite a bit because you know, my first 733 00:46:20,719 --> 00:46:25,280 fight is what is what started everything, and you know, I always think 734 00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:32,119 about those beautiful moments, those special moments in my professional career, my amateur 735 00:46:32,159 --> 00:46:37,000 career, and obviously one of them is my pro debut. So yeah, 736 00:46:37,039 --> 00:46:40,719 and I never followed up on what he is doing. I'm curious to see 737 00:46:40,719 --> 00:46:45,800 what he's up to. But you know, obviously I would always wish the 738 00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:50,960 very best friend. Absolutely So another interesting element of this matchup between Roach and 739 00:46:51,039 --> 00:46:55,679 Santion. You made the deal for the fight, even though Roach is already 740 00:46:55,679 --> 00:47:00,320 sitting in this WBO mandatory position. Obviously, Terence Crawford is the undisputed champion. 741 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:04,400 I know you guys stepped aside to allow that fight with Errol Spence to 742 00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:07,400 go through to be for all the belts. Crawford's future is is not clear 743 00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:10,119 at the moment what he's going to do. There's a lot of conversation he 744 00:47:10,159 --> 00:47:13,719 will do the rematch with Errol. They haven't decided to get on the wait. 745 00:47:14,119 --> 00:47:16,280 I'm personally still a little skeptical that it will actually occur. But in 746 00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:19,800 any event, obviously Roach is not going to just sit around and wait. 747 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:24,400 And I wonder, how do you go about maneuvering him if he wins Saturday, 748 00:47:25,119 --> 00:47:29,840 to make sure that he's there to fight for the title, or perhaps 749 00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:31,760 against Crawford he wants to defend, or whatever comes next. I mean, 750 00:47:31,800 --> 00:47:35,800 you got to kind of lay things out, don't you sure. I mean, 751 00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:39,119 look, the we do know that Crawford is going to stay at one 752 00:47:39,199 --> 00:47:45,039 forty seven. We do know if the rematch does happen, it has to 753 00:47:45,079 --> 00:47:49,440 be at one forty seven. Why why is that? I don't know that 754 00:47:49,440 --> 00:47:52,679 he's staying at one forty seven. Do you know that for her? Crawford 755 00:47:52,719 --> 00:47:59,280 has mentioned in the past that their contract states that the rematch has to be 756 00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:01,960 at one have it. I've heard different, but okay, but either way, 757 00:48:02,159 --> 00:48:06,519 either way therefore therefore that's why therefore, that's why the fighter is not 758 00:48:06,559 --> 00:48:10,920 taking place at one fifty four. That's been the hold up. But you 759 00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:17,239 know, the w BO convention was uh took place recently and uh and I 760 00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:23,000 sent Eric omes there, you know, to uh to uh to to make 761 00:48:23,079 --> 00:48:28,159 sure that that Rocha, you know, is next in line for for for 762 00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:35,320 Crawford. We did step aside already and uh, Rocha wanted to once wanted 763 00:48:35,320 --> 00:48:38,639 to stay busy. Rocha wanted to to to stay active, and he wanted 764 00:48:38,639 --> 00:48:43,800 to stay active against a tough, undefeated fighter. And so I was very 765 00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:51,599 surprised that Rocha chose Santian. But then again, that's that's Rocha for you. 766 00:48:51,679 --> 00:48:54,440 He wants to fight the best and he wants to stay active. You 767 00:48:54,480 --> 00:48:58,480 know, that's what a fighter should be doing. If you're in a position 768 00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:01,800 when you're knocking on a door to fight for a world title and you just 769 00:49:02,679 --> 00:49:08,199 quite not have that opportunity. Uh uh you know, you stay busy, 770 00:49:08,239 --> 00:49:12,519 and you and you and you and you keep your your tools sharp. And 771 00:49:12,559 --> 00:49:16,119 so this son beyond sight is a is a perfect example of of what a 772 00:49:16,199 --> 00:49:21,480 fighter should be. A fighter that that that knows, uh, he has 773 00:49:21,840 --> 00:49:24,360 a short window of opportunity, and you should take advantage of him. Well. 774 00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:27,679 And it seems to me, Uh, maybe I'm wrong, but I 775 00:49:28,360 --> 00:49:31,000 suspect when I've watched his recent fights that he's because he's been active, he's 776 00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:34,960 getting better, He's drawn a crowd. Uh, isn't that what it's all 777 00:49:34,960 --> 00:49:38,760 about? Yeah, he's drying a crowd. He's getting better, you know. 778 00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:46,280 He Uh, he's he's understanding what it takes to to to potentially become 779 00:49:47,119 --> 00:49:51,559 not only a champion, but a star. And so you have to go 780 00:49:51,599 --> 00:49:53,800 out of your way. You have to do the work. You're when you're 781 00:49:53,840 --> 00:49:58,480 a fighter, when you're a boxer, your dreams are to become a champion, 782 00:49:58,599 --> 00:50:04,760 yes, but to become a star takes takes takes your time. It 783 00:50:04,800 --> 00:50:07,599 takes uh, it takes strategy, It takes uh, you know, it 784 00:50:07,639 --> 00:50:14,000 takes it takes everything you have knowledge. It takes you know, some planning 785 00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:17,960 with your team and thinking outside the box. So you know, Roach's the 786 00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:22,480 perfect the perfect package, and I think that if and when he does become 787 00:50:22,519 --> 00:50:27,079 world champion, uh, he will not just become world champion, he will 788 00:50:27,079 --> 00:50:30,199 become a star. Well. One of the guys that Golden Boy promotes who 789 00:50:30,239 --> 00:50:35,559 has already become a star is Ryan Garcia. You've recently announced his next event, 790 00:50:36,079 --> 00:50:40,039 coming off of the loss to Gervanta Davison. What will go down presumably 791 00:50:40,079 --> 00:50:43,960 as the biggest money fight of the year in terms of pay per view, 792 00:50:43,960 --> 00:50:45,760 at least in the United States. I mean, Tyson Fury's got his event 793 00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:50,760 coming up. We'll see what happens there, but certainly Garcia and Davis was 794 00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:53,920 a huge, huge event December second in Houston, Texas at the Toyota Center 795 00:50:53,960 --> 00:50:58,239 against Oscar Duarte, one of your other fighters. So I want to ask 796 00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:01,159 you about that. First of all, what is your take on Ryan's new 797 00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:06,559 training situation After he lost to Davis. He and Joe Goosen parted ways and 798 00:51:06,599 --> 00:51:09,039 now he's gone to work with Derek James, who obviously has shown himself to 799 00:51:09,039 --> 00:51:13,000 be a top trainer in his own right, with a great stable and plenty 800 00:51:13,079 --> 00:51:15,119 of guys he's worked with. What's your take on on the trainer change for 801 00:51:15,559 --> 00:51:22,840 Ryan. Well, my take on the trainer change is that Ryan made a 802 00:51:22,840 --> 00:51:31,880 great choice because I've I've heard from several sources that Joe Goosen had no control 803 00:51:31,920 --> 00:51:37,639 whatsoever. I heard from several sources, and this is not me saying it. 804 00:51:37,119 --> 00:51:40,639 I heard from several sources that Ryan would show up whenever he would want 805 00:51:40,679 --> 00:51:45,239 to show up, that he wasn't really focused, and then he wasn't. 806 00:51:46,079 --> 00:51:52,960 He wasn't one hundred percent. But the new trainer that he chose, I 807 00:51:52,079 --> 00:51:58,079 believe will get him in tip top shape. He's a serious trainer, he's 808 00:51:58,079 --> 00:52:01,840 he's developed, developed world champions, so you know, I I I strongly 809 00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:07,719 feel that and I hope that this relationship is a is a good relationship for 810 00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:12,000 the sake of Ryan's career because for him, sky's a limit. Look, 811 00:52:12,039 --> 00:52:16,840 he got knocked out against against Gravante Davis, and I was very surprised that 812 00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:22,280 he chose Oscar Dwarte, who's a knockout artist, right, he had I 813 00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:25,840 believe, eleven knockouts in a row. He's a serious fighter, a serious 814 00:52:25,880 --> 00:52:32,559 puncher. So it's gonna be very interesting how how Ryan Garcia, you know, 815 00:52:32,719 --> 00:52:38,480 utilizes those new tools that he's been that he's been learning, uh, 816 00:52:38,519 --> 00:52:44,000 and that he's been you know, sharpening. So I I'm very curious to 817 00:52:44,039 --> 00:52:46,280 see what's gonna happen. It's gonna be a great fight. Oscar Dwart is 818 00:52:46,280 --> 00:52:52,199 gonna come forward. He's gonna come with everything. He's motivated, he has 819 00:52:52,239 --> 00:52:57,159 nothing to lose, and he has a great record, great power, great 820 00:52:57,239 --> 00:52:59,800 skills. So yeah, we'll see what happens. Yeah, you're right, 821 00:52:59,840 --> 00:53:01,360 by I just counted while we were talking. He has in fact one eleven 822 00:53:01,400 --> 00:53:04,320 in a row, and the one time that he did solf for a loss, 823 00:53:04,320 --> 00:53:06,960 it was a split decision over ten rounds, so it's not like he 824 00:53:07,159 --> 00:53:10,639 got knocked out in the first round by something like that. The other interesting 825 00:53:10,679 --> 00:53:15,320 thing I find about the whole situation with the upcoming Ryan Garcia event, and 826 00:53:15,360 --> 00:53:19,880 this is not exactly a trade secret. Here you are working on this event 827 00:53:19,960 --> 00:53:23,519 with a golden boy and Ryan and his team, even though you have a 828 00:53:23,559 --> 00:53:27,400 loss repenning against him over your contract, and obviously that has to be a 829 00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:31,360 little uncomfortable, I suppose, But from another point of view, it's like, 830 00:53:31,400 --> 00:53:36,760 okay, you have a difference of opinion about the agreement, but everybody 831 00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:38,440 seems to be being mature about it, and you're going forward and doing the 832 00:53:38,440 --> 00:53:43,679 event while the legal portion of it gets itself settled out, whether it's court 833 00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:46,960 or I know you have mediation, etc. How is it like to work 834 00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:52,800 on an event when you know there's obviously an issue between the company and the 835 00:53:52,800 --> 00:54:00,599 fighters? It's all business, gotcha? And just like Ryan has in the 836 00:54:00,679 --> 00:54:05,199 past, it's all business and uh, you know, we're here to work, 837 00:54:05,239 --> 00:54:08,800 We're here to do a job. We obviously know we have a solid 838 00:54:08,840 --> 00:54:15,039 contract. We obviously know you know that that we wanna you know, do 839 00:54:15,079 --> 00:54:19,559 the best for Ryan. We wanna you know, make the best fights possible. 840 00:54:20,119 --> 00:54:23,280 And uh, you know, the mediation was uh was was just a 841 00:54:23,519 --> 00:54:30,960 a a a place where we can just you know, iron things out and 842 00:54:30,079 --> 00:54:37,039 uh and make sure that everybody honors their contract. And so I strongly feel 843 00:54:37,119 --> 00:54:40,519 that everything will be okay. I strongly feel that we'll move forward and just 844 00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:46,239 you know, business as usual. And how did that mediation go? Mediation? 845 00:54:46,760 --> 00:54:51,880 Mediation is great mediation. Uh you know, it gives you the opportunity 846 00:54:51,960 --> 00:54:55,679 to, uh to iron out your your differences. It gives you the opportunity 847 00:54:55,719 --> 00:55:02,320 to uh to maybe uh you know, find out the facts it gives us 848 00:55:02,320 --> 00:55:08,119 the opportunity to to just you know, move on with your career. Look, 849 00:55:08,559 --> 00:55:13,880 we both know that Ryan has a great future. We both know that 850 00:55:13,920 --> 00:55:17,599 we have a contract. We both know that you know, we as promoters 851 00:55:17,639 --> 00:55:22,280 want the best for Ryan. So it was a matter of just ironing out 852 00:55:22,320 --> 00:55:27,679 a few things and you know, we strongly feel that this will be over 853 00:55:27,800 --> 00:55:31,039 and done with very soon and we can just all move forward. Okay, 854 00:55:31,039 --> 00:55:35,760 I'm glad to hear that as it relates to that event that Ryan is going 855 00:55:35,840 --> 00:55:39,599 to have on December second with Duarte. Obviously he's going back to the full 856 00:55:39,599 --> 00:55:43,440 fledge one hundred and forty pounds. Obviously he made the catch weight of one 857 00:55:43,519 --> 00:55:46,280 hundred and thirty six to fight the tank fight. And so there's been a 858 00:55:46,320 --> 00:55:49,960 lot of conversation that one of the fights that may be on that card is 859 00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:52,599 you have recently signed O'Hara Davies, who is a top contender from the UK, 860 00:55:53,079 --> 00:55:57,480 and the WB has ordered him to fight Ishmael Barroso, who had fought 861 00:55:57,519 --> 00:56:00,239 against Roly Romero who was on the shelf with an injuries there in line to 862 00:56:00,239 --> 00:56:06,039 fight for the vacant title, while or rather the interim title. I should 863 00:56:06,079 --> 00:56:07,480 say, well, Raley is getting better from his injury, are you gonna 864 00:56:07,480 --> 00:56:10,280 be able to make that match and put it on a Ryan's card and set 865 00:56:10,360 --> 00:56:14,719 up the possibility of him fighting the Winter for a title. Well, yeah, 866 00:56:14,719 --> 00:56:17,679 I mean it's very interesting. You know that you mentioned that we are 867 00:56:17,719 --> 00:56:22,039 working on something like that, and actually we are working on that. Well 868 00:56:22,119 --> 00:56:30,000 yeah, but you know, it's it's a perfect stage for any one hundred 869 00:56:30,039 --> 00:56:35,800 and forty pounder is a contender. Who is you know, in line to 870 00:56:35,840 --> 00:56:39,360 fight for a world title? You know Ryan Garcia? You know he he 871 00:56:40,039 --> 00:56:46,079 generates eyeballs. Ryan Garcia is now a pay per view star. So this 872 00:56:46,079 --> 00:56:52,039 this platform that we have in front of us, We're going to utilize it, 873 00:56:52,679 --> 00:56:58,800 you know, smartly, and make sure that we showcase the right fighters 874 00:56:59,159 --> 00:57:04,360 on the undergard. So one thing that happened recently with your announcement of the 875 00:57:04,519 --> 00:57:07,679 Garcia fight and getting ready for the Roach event was I don't know. Oscar 876 00:57:07,719 --> 00:57:10,639 de la Hoya went on his Instagram and posted some photos of him with his 877 00:57:10,679 --> 00:57:15,880 old buddy and former promoter Bob Aaron from Top Rank talking about meetings with each 878 00:57:15,880 --> 00:57:16,599 other. You had your arms around each other, I mean, I know 879 00:57:16,880 --> 00:57:19,960 you and Bob. If you've had your ups and downs over the years, 880 00:57:19,960 --> 00:57:22,239 but I feel like at this time, you know, you guys are cool 881 00:57:22,239 --> 00:57:24,880 with each other, and you did this fight between Roach and Santion together, 882 00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:29,280 no purspid, no nonsense. You made them an offer for their fighter, 883 00:57:29,320 --> 00:57:31,840 Santion, and they're doing the fight. And I love to see when people 884 00:57:31,840 --> 00:57:36,760 can work together without being forced to do so. So now you got to 885 00:57:36,800 --> 00:57:37,920 tell me what the heck went on with your meeting with Bob. What was 886 00:57:37,960 --> 00:57:40,880 that all about? Yeah, I mean, look, first of all, 887 00:57:42,000 --> 00:57:45,920 first of all, it was great to see Bob. It's great to be 888 00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:51,239 working with him to make these types of fights. If you take a look 889 00:57:51,239 --> 00:57:55,840 at this card for Shaturday Night, we have I believe three promoters. Were 890 00:57:55,840 --> 00:58:01,920 working with Samson Nikowitch, were working with Migo Coto, and we're working with 891 00:58:01,960 --> 00:58:07,079 Bob Aram. So my message to to the boxing world, to the boxing 892 00:58:07,119 --> 00:58:12,199 promoters, you know, I want to keep my word and make sure that 893 00:58:12,239 --> 00:58:15,199 we give the fight fans the best fights possible. It was a great, 894 00:58:15,280 --> 00:58:22,400 pleasant talk with Bob. We discussed Ryan Garcia, we discussed the OPEMO, 895 00:58:22,960 --> 00:58:27,119 we discussed how to make the best fights possible. Look, Bob is Bob 896 00:58:27,199 --> 00:58:30,159 is ninety two years old, or I believe he's been ninety two for the 897 00:58:30,239 --> 00:58:37,639 last fifteen years. But you know, Bob is energetic, Bob is happy, 898 00:58:37,760 --> 00:58:42,800 Bob is Bob wants to, you know, make the best fights, 899 00:58:42,880 --> 00:58:45,840 the biggest fights, and just have a good time. That's exactly how he 900 00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:49,920 told me. He wants to have a good time making them. So, 901 00:58:51,039 --> 00:58:53,800 you know, I seriously think that that that me and Bob will be doing 902 00:58:53,840 --> 00:59:00,280 some business together in the near future, starting with this fight. And uh 903 00:59:00,360 --> 00:59:02,119 you know, I believe that sky's the limit and and and and and this 904 00:59:02,360 --> 00:59:07,559 message to all the promoters. If we can work together, if we can 905 00:59:07,599 --> 00:59:10,880 set our sides, our egos to the side, we can make the fight, 906 00:59:12,440 --> 00:59:15,480 make the fights that the fans want to see. So how realistic is 907 00:59:15,519 --> 00:59:17,800 I mean? I've heard you talk about like a big perhaps a Super Bowl 908 00:59:17,840 --> 00:59:23,199 weekend kind of fight where it's uh tia Fimo defending the world title against Ryan 909 00:59:23,239 --> 00:59:27,480 if he wins on Saturday. I mean that's a huge fight, of course, 910 00:59:27,519 --> 00:59:30,199 I mean how realistic can you actually? It's one thing to talk about 911 00:59:30,199 --> 00:59:32,760 it, it's another thing to put it into action because there is still the 912 00:59:32,800 --> 00:59:36,920 fact that you know your your vents are with his own. Bob has a 913 00:59:36,960 --> 00:59:40,840 disagreement with with ESPN. It is possible to work together, as we have 914 00:59:40,880 --> 00:59:46,239 seen in recent times. How realistic is that match? It's it's very very 915 00:59:46,280 --> 00:59:51,920 realistic. And look like I said, Ryan Garcia, even though he lost 916 00:59:52,039 --> 00:59:55,719 to Tank Davis, Ryan Garcia has a fight with Oscar Duar to December second. 917 00:59:57,119 --> 01:00:01,199 But Ryan Garcia is still is still kind of like the gatekeeper there and 918 01:00:01,400 --> 01:00:07,719 at one without a title because Ryan garciel is the one that sells. I 919 01:00:07,760 --> 01:00:10,960 just want to jump in. I don't think you mean gatekeeper because that has 920 01:00:12,000 --> 01:00:15,719 a negative path. Sorry, I think you mean he's the rain He's the 921 01:00:15,840 --> 01:00:20,599 rain maker. He's yeah, he's the rainmaker exactly. He can make it 922 01:00:20,679 --> 01:00:25,119 rain and obviously anybody fighting him will make the most money possible. But yeah, 923 01:00:25,239 --> 01:00:30,679 fighters like TiO Femo, fighters like Devin Hamy and Pro Grace and uh, 924 01:00:30,000 --> 01:00:35,760 you know, anybody at one forty who makes sense. I strongly feel 925 01:00:35,840 --> 01:00:38,320 that that we can make. And when I said about you know the super 926 01:00:38,320 --> 01:00:43,159 Bowl of Boxing, yeah we can do something like that, I mean Barbara 927 01:00:43,280 --> 01:00:51,440 promotes you know, uh uh uh course Stevenson. Uh Barbara, can you 928 01:00:51,440 --> 01:00:54,440 know match him? Up again star guy William Sapeida, for instance, which 929 01:00:54,480 --> 01:01:00,360 will be in a terrific fight. That's a great fight. We can do 930 01:01:00,480 --> 01:01:04,599 Ryan with Fio Fimo on the same card. You know, when I'm talking 931 01:01:04,599 --> 01:01:07,440 about the super Bowl of boxing, you know, I'm talking about the big 932 01:01:07,519 --> 01:01:13,280 picture here with the sphere opening, and I mean imagine that pay per view. 933 01:01:13,320 --> 01:01:16,920 It would be the numbers would be astronomical. Well, I'm never one 934 01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:21,360 to say never, but if you can somehow make a fight card where you 935 01:01:21,400 --> 01:01:27,440 had Ryan Garcia challenging Tiafimo Lopez for the forty pound world title and Shakor Stevenson, 936 01:01:27,440 --> 01:01:30,480 which would theoretically be a defense of the lightweight title, which he is 937 01:01:30,519 --> 01:01:32,159 in line to win if he, you know, with these victorias in a 938 01:01:32,199 --> 01:01:36,960 few weeks and that chim up against the paid on the same card. I 939 01:01:37,000 --> 01:01:43,159 will tip my hat to everybody involved. And plus and plus I would love 940 01:01:43,239 --> 01:01:49,760 to to face him and Mungia with somebody like Berlanga where matchroom boxing is involved. 941 01:01:49,840 --> 01:01:52,599 So this is what I'm talking about, man, this is what I'm 942 01:01:52,599 --> 01:01:55,639 talking about where we should be working together. There's a lot of money in 943 01:01:55,679 --> 01:01:59,920 the pot. You know, there's a lot of money to be you know, 944 01:02:00,199 --> 01:02:04,440 shared with, so you know these are the events that these are the 945 01:02:04,480 --> 01:02:09,320 events that we must think about and think outside the box and make them happen. 946 01:02:09,440 --> 01:02:13,239 Well, you you just touched on the next topic I wanted to ask 947 01:02:13,239 --> 01:02:15,960 about, which was Jim and Mangia. My understanding, you tell me if 948 01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:19,760 I'm wrong, is that while it's not done yet by any means, there's 949 01:02:19,760 --> 01:02:22,039 still a lot of a lot of stuff to get done, at least in 950 01:02:22,079 --> 01:02:28,000 terms of agreements, in paperwork and the particulars. But that Jimi would fight 951 01:02:28,119 --> 01:02:30,800 perhaps at the early part of twenty twenty four. I've heard the name John 952 01:02:30,880 --> 01:02:35,840 Ryder come up, who is a matchroom fighter also, and then Edgar Berlanga 953 01:02:35,920 --> 01:02:37,519 is do also to fight a fight come o at the beginning of the year 954 01:02:37,599 --> 01:02:43,039 January issue, maybe February, and the two guys would do their fights. 955 01:02:43,480 --> 01:02:46,480 But going into those fights have an agreement in place with each other and with 956 01:02:46,599 --> 01:02:51,280 the zone to deliver them against each other in the summertime. Is that a 957 01:02:51,320 --> 01:02:54,079 plan that's in the works. Well, it's not a plan that's in the 958 01:02:54,079 --> 01:02:58,559 works, but I love it. I mean, you you hit the nail 959 01:02:58,639 --> 01:03:02,760 right on the head. I mean you you know better than anybody else that 960 01:03:04,559 --> 01:03:08,000 you know, us promoters, especially Bob aram and Don King. That's the 961 01:03:08,039 --> 01:03:14,920 way they worked, you know, they would set up their their future fights, 962 01:03:15,440 --> 01:03:20,480 you know, you know, and and and think about the bigger picture. 963 01:03:20,880 --> 01:03:24,119 You know, Jimi Mungia against John Ryder is a terrific fight. I 964 01:03:24,159 --> 01:03:28,360 agree with that for sure. Yeah, it would be a terrific fights. 965 01:03:28,440 --> 01:03:32,559 And imagine if Jimi Mungia knocks out Rider and something that Canelo couldn't do, 966 01:03:32,880 --> 01:03:37,599 so that would that would be that would be something that I'm very interested in. 967 01:03:37,039 --> 01:03:40,639 Well, it's certainly not something that you're not known about. Because when 968 01:03:40,639 --> 01:03:45,400 you were getting ready to fight Julio Chavez, Bob Aeron put you guys on 969 01:03:45,440 --> 01:03:47,679 the same card, prelude to glory, and then you fought each other after 970 01:03:47,719 --> 01:03:52,559 you both beat your opponents. You did the same thing when Top Rank was 971 01:03:52,559 --> 01:03:54,679 setting up the big, humongous fight between yourself and Bernard Hopkins. You fought 972 01:03:54,679 --> 01:04:00,280 together on the same card and both got your victories and then moved on fight 973 01:04:00,320 --> 01:04:02,159 each other. So obviously that is something that is tried and true in the 974 01:04:02,159 --> 01:04:06,280 business. I hope that that hope that can happen. What better way, 975 01:04:06,760 --> 01:04:12,679 what better way? Than to promote your your next fight. What better way? 976 01:04:13,119 --> 01:04:15,760 I mean, it's a it's a perfect need way, it's a perfect 977 01:04:15,800 --> 01:04:18,000 commercial, you know, to set up your next fight. And is that 978 01:04:18,000 --> 01:04:20,119 what you're going to work on then try to do? And I'm not saying 979 01:04:20,159 --> 01:04:24,960 that that Berlanga and and Mongia would fight on the same card with each other 980 01:04:25,039 --> 01:04:27,840 necessarily, that I don't think is in the works, but uh, is 981 01:04:27,840 --> 01:04:30,000 there going to be a plan to try to get them in the ring and 982 01:04:30,000 --> 01:04:32,639 have them fight ahead of time before they fight each other. It's it's it's 983 01:04:32,639 --> 01:04:38,440 it's definitely a plank. It's definitely a plan. I strongly feel them that 984 01:04:38,920 --> 01:04:45,360 look us promoters and everybody in boxing. You know, I was a fighter 985 01:04:45,440 --> 01:04:50,599 first, and I sometimes think like a fighter when I'm promoting fights. I 986 01:04:50,639 --> 01:04:56,039 think like a fighter when I'm negotiating fights, and you know when when promoting 987 01:04:56,039 --> 01:05:00,559 a fight, I mean, this is this is the perfect opportunity, you 988 01:05:00,599 --> 01:05:03,239 know for a fight to get made, you know, fighting on the same 989 01:05:03,320 --> 01:05:09,679 card, announcing the fight is the next fight on inside the ring or yeah, 990 01:05:09,679 --> 01:05:12,639 this is this is you're reading my mind. Yeah, I just thought 991 01:05:12,679 --> 01:05:14,599 when you were saying that, I thought of a recent example also or at 992 01:05:14,679 --> 01:05:17,239 least more recent. Anyway, when when the when we finally saw the first 993 01:05:17,239 --> 01:05:23,280 fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gnati Glovekin, you saw Canelo Alvarez score of victory 994 01:05:23,320 --> 01:05:27,000 or what happened your March triple g into the ring to the music to announce 995 01:05:27,039 --> 01:05:30,320 the fight. So it's not you know, this is not exactly it's not 996 01:05:30,440 --> 01:05:33,559 rocket science. Exactly, it's not rocket science. But you know, you're 997 01:05:33,599 --> 01:05:38,920 you're dealing with a lot of people who do not understand and you know, 998 01:05:39,440 --> 01:05:44,599 like fighters, like managers. Uh, but it can be done a hard. 999 01:05:44,639 --> 01:05:46,880 I want to turn my attention another topic a little further north. On 1000 01:05:46,920 --> 01:05:51,360 the weight Uh on the weight scale, Uh to Mangia and that's your cruiserweight. 1001 01:05:51,400 --> 01:05:56,519 Your your new cruiserweight. Zero Ramirez Gilberto Zerdo Ramirez who made his cruiserweight 1002 01:05:56,559 --> 01:06:00,880 debut on October seventh against Joe Smith, which I thought was interesting fight going 1003 01:06:00,920 --> 01:06:02,800 in, both guys moving up in weight, both guys you know, in 1004 01:06:02,840 --> 01:06:09,800 need of a victory coming off defeats, and I thought Zerdo Ramirez look maybe 1005 01:06:09,840 --> 01:06:12,199 as good as I've ever seen him look. He looked comfortable at the weight. 1006 01:06:12,239 --> 01:06:15,199 He he what I made the joke when he first got in the ring 1007 01:06:15,199 --> 01:06:16,880 and I saw how big he looked, like I said, oh my god, 1008 01:06:16,880 --> 01:06:20,880 he ate Canelo. But but he but he looked really good. I 1009 01:06:20,920 --> 01:06:23,679 mean, I mean that was just a joke. But he looked light on 1010 01:06:23,760 --> 01:06:27,239 his feet, he got snappy, quick hands as he moved very well. 1011 01:06:27,360 --> 01:06:30,440 He always had a good chin. And you know, Joe Smith is no 1012 01:06:30,559 --> 01:06:33,320 joke and he beat him rather handily. I thought, So it seems like 1013 01:06:33,400 --> 01:06:36,880 he can become a factor in the cruiserweight division obviously if he fights you know, 1014 01:06:36,920 --> 01:06:40,599 the other top guys. It's fighters who are already get in that weight 1015 01:06:40,599 --> 01:06:43,320 class. But what do you make of his performance? And should he have 1016 01:06:43,320 --> 01:06:45,400 been fighting at cruiserweight, you know, a couple of fights ago. Sure, 1017 01:06:45,519 --> 01:06:49,800 no, Look he is a big kid. He he should have been 1018 01:06:49,840 --> 01:06:57,639 fighting at cruiserweight several fights ago. But he looked amazing. He looked impressive. 1019 01:06:58,679 --> 01:07:00,480 Like you said, he was moving eight on the seat. His head 1020 01:07:00,559 --> 01:07:06,079 movement, his his waiste movement was was incredible against a solid, solid, 1021 01:07:06,239 --> 01:07:13,760 tough fighter, heart puncher and Joe Smith. And he's surprised everybody. And 1022 01:07:13,960 --> 01:07:16,519 uh, you know, I I do have to uh take my hat off 1023 01:07:16,559 --> 01:07:21,039 to uh I believe it's Malik Scott. Uh that that is his trainer who 1024 01:07:21,639 --> 01:07:27,159 who was in his corner and he was just amazing there. He it's a 1025 01:07:27,400 --> 01:07:32,480 perfect fit for sudo. Malik Scott was just incredible, uh, giving him, 1026 01:07:32,679 --> 01:07:38,159 uh the perfect instructions and uh, you know they're great, They're they're 1027 01:07:38,239 --> 01:07:42,320 perfect combinations. So I think for Suo that you know, we're gonna sit 1028 01:07:42,360 --> 01:07:45,920 down with him. But I do like, I do like a fight for 1029 01:07:45,960 --> 01:07:51,119 a world title at cruiserweight, possibly with a Baduo Jack for instance. I 1030 01:07:51,199 --> 01:07:55,119 mean, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, but do my understanding 1031 01:07:55,159 --> 01:07:59,639 and having communicated with the WBC as well as with personally, that his title 1032 01:07:59,760 --> 01:08:02,039 is currently vacant. He is gonna you know, or he's in recess. 1033 01:08:02,320 --> 01:08:05,280 His his goal in mind at the moment is he's going to move up to 1034 01:08:05,440 --> 01:08:09,440 the bridgerweight division, which the WBC created, and he's gonna look to win 1035 01:08:09,480 --> 01:08:12,159 a title there. Uh, to go for what would be a title in 1036 01:08:12,199 --> 01:08:15,119 another weight class. I don't think that's necessarily in the cards. I was 1037 01:08:15,159 --> 01:08:18,439 thinking and I'm acting on what our good friend Chris Mannick said on the broadcast 1038 01:08:19,039 --> 01:08:23,880 when Zerto fought. You have a ji Opataiah who was with mattrim but you 1039 01:08:24,039 --> 01:08:27,239 but they're both on his own. Who is the number one cruise of weight, 1040 01:08:27,560 --> 01:08:30,640 the lineal champion, the IBF champion, who looked spectacular in a knockout 1041 01:08:30,720 --> 01:08:33,039 victory in a fight a few weeks ago, just around the same time that 1042 01:08:33,119 --> 01:08:36,399 Zerdo had his fight. Look, I mean, I know he may not 1043 01:08:36,439 --> 01:08:40,199 be the biggest name, and you know, frankly Zerto maybe not the biggest 1044 01:08:40,279 --> 01:08:41,640 name, but you know, that's a hell of a fight. Is that 1045 01:08:41,680 --> 01:08:44,800 something that would cross your mind because it is makeable? And I say that 1046 01:08:44,840 --> 01:08:49,239 given that you're on the same broadcaster, absolutely, absolutely, where is open 1047 01:08:49,319 --> 01:08:56,920 to anything. Knows that is his window of opportunity is closing. Surdo knows 1048 01:08:57,000 --> 01:09:01,560 that he must take advantage of of of what's left of his career, you 1049 01:09:01,640 --> 01:09:06,479 know, and his career is bright after his last performance. But you know, 1050 01:09:08,119 --> 01:09:14,199 I think that you know, any opportunity that arises, you know sort 1051 01:09:14,359 --> 01:09:17,319 understands that he must take. So yeah, it's definitely a possibility. And 1052 01:09:17,399 --> 01:09:21,479 you know, I'm I'm open to to to working with anybody, Like I 1053 01:09:21,520 --> 01:09:26,920 said, So I want to ask you also about a fighter who unfortunately isn't 1054 01:09:26,960 --> 01:09:30,199 active like the guys we just talked about. And that's Virgil Ortiz, the 1055 01:09:30,199 --> 01:09:32,600 welterweight. Obviously everybody knows if they followed this thing for a while. He's 1056 01:09:32,600 --> 01:09:38,079 had his medical stepbacks, his problems. Unfortunately, no fights in twenty twenty 1057 01:09:38,079 --> 01:09:42,079 three, obviously not scheduled for twenty twenty three. Has only had four fights 1058 01:09:42,079 --> 01:09:45,800 Oscar in the last four years for obviously reasons, because I just mentioned with 1059 01:09:45,840 --> 01:09:49,800 his medical issues. The fight that with Stanionis was postponed a few times, 1060 01:09:49,840 --> 01:09:54,720 once because of Stanionis's medical problem when he had to have an apendectomy, but 1061 01:09:54,920 --> 01:09:59,319 the other times because of Virgil's issues. What's the latest on him? Is 1062 01:09:59,319 --> 01:10:00,439 he is he healthy? What are we gonna see himack in the ring? 1063 01:10:00,479 --> 01:10:03,000 And is he gonna fight for you know, a bigger name. I mean, 1064 01:10:03,359 --> 01:10:08,800 he tantalizes with his such talent and such power and such a good attitude. 1065 01:10:08,800 --> 01:10:11,920 And I've known Virgil since he started pro He's such a nice guy. 1066 01:10:12,000 --> 01:10:15,159 You want to see success for the kid. Uh, But where are we 1067 01:10:15,199 --> 01:10:20,000 going with him right now? I actually just spoke to him not too long 1068 01:10:20,039 --> 01:10:26,279 ago, a few hours ago, and Dan, let me tell you, 1069 01:10:26,439 --> 01:10:32,239 he is is on a mission. I mean, he understands that he lost. 1070 01:10:32,600 --> 01:10:36,439 He lost some time, you know, because of medical issues, because 1071 01:10:36,479 --> 01:10:42,600 of you know, certain reasons. But he is on a mission. He 1072 01:10:42,680 --> 01:10:46,760 wants to become world champion. He uh, you know, we we have 1073 01:10:46,800 --> 01:10:53,239 a possible date penciled in for him in early January, first couple of weeks 1074 01:10:53,279 --> 01:10:57,399 of January. Uh, we will, we will work on his opponent. 1075 01:10:58,640 --> 01:11:01,760 You know, he obviously does to move up and wait, it can even 1076 01:11:02,159 --> 01:11:08,800 be at one sixty. He's a big kid and so but he is ready 1077 01:11:08,800 --> 01:11:14,159 to go. He's training, he's healthy, and I strongly feel that everything 1078 01:11:14,199 --> 01:11:20,479 happens for a reason. But his attitude, his attitude change is scary. 1079 01:11:21,319 --> 01:11:27,359 And when when Vergio or teases angry in that ring, you better watch out. 1080 01:11:27,600 --> 01:11:31,880 I think I think anybody at one fifty four or one sixty is unnotice 1081 01:11:32,359 --> 01:11:35,840 because Vergio is coming for everybody. He's he's on the mission, and so 1082 01:11:36,199 --> 01:11:39,840 I'm really looking forward for his coming back. Well, he's got all his 1083 01:11:39,880 --> 01:11:42,119 wins by knockout at nineteen, you know, and like you mentioned, he 1084 01:11:42,520 --> 01:11:45,119 he's not like an old shot fighter. He's only twenty five years old. 1085 01:11:45,279 --> 01:11:48,239 So the window is still open pretty good if he can get healthy exactly, 1086 01:11:48,279 --> 01:11:54,039 and you know, this is the perfect time to just go after everybody at 1087 01:11:54,039 --> 01:12:00,479 one fifty four with with Aero Spence possibly moving up and with Crawford, you 1088 01:12:00,560 --> 01:12:04,840 know, being a big weal throughweight. You know, sky's the limit to 1089 01:12:04,880 --> 01:12:09,239 make these big fights happen. Well, making big fights happen. That kind 1090 01:12:09,279 --> 01:12:12,680 of leads me into the last topic I want to ask you about. So, 1091 01:12:13,279 --> 01:12:16,319 there's been a million big fights over thirty seven years on Showtime. In 1092 01:12:16,319 --> 01:12:18,439 fact, I was thinking about this. If you take a look back to 1093 01:12:18,439 --> 01:12:21,720 the last thirty seven years, at one time or another, pretty much every 1094 01:12:21,760 --> 01:12:26,840 big name fighter had at least one fight on Showtime or Showtime pay per The 1095 01:12:26,960 --> 01:12:30,520 only really major, major exception is Oscar de la Hoye, who had all 1096 01:12:30,560 --> 01:12:33,399 of the big fights in your career either on HBO or HBO pay per view. 1097 01:12:34,760 --> 01:12:38,800 But they have announced, and it's not a surprise. Everybody sort of 1098 01:12:38,840 --> 01:12:42,079 knew what was coming. It's depressing, but they made the official announcement this 1099 01:12:42,159 --> 01:12:45,239 week that they are exiting the boxing business. Not only the boxing business, 1100 01:12:45,279 --> 01:12:50,039 but they're shuttering the entire Showtime Sports department. It's going to cost the thirty 1101 01:12:50,039 --> 01:12:53,960 eight people their jobs and the entire department is going to go away. But 1102 01:12:54,000 --> 01:13:00,399 their legacy is unsurpassed by pretty much nobody other than maybe HBO. I mean, 1103 01:13:00,439 --> 01:13:01,760 even though you never fought on Showtime, you know the people there, 1104 01:13:01,960 --> 01:13:04,640 you know, for those who don't know, Steven Espinoza, who was the 1105 01:13:04,640 --> 01:13:09,720 president of Showtime Sports UH for the last twelve years. Before that, you 1106 01:13:09,760 --> 01:13:12,560 know, he was one of Golden Boys attorneys for many years, so he 1107 01:13:12,600 --> 01:13:16,159 was involved in tons of Golden Boy events. And your company had a period 1108 01:13:16,199 --> 01:13:18,840 where you where you were a strained from HBO, and you did a whole 1109 01:13:18,920 --> 01:13:23,840 bunch of events on Showtime for years. So I wonder when you see such 1110 01:13:23,840 --> 01:13:27,680 an important player in this business that that you make your living in, that 1111 01:13:27,760 --> 01:13:30,960 I make my living in uh no longer going to be involved in boxing at 1112 01:13:30,000 --> 01:13:33,479 the highest level or at all. What does that make you think, not 1113 01:13:33,520 --> 01:13:38,319 only for that situation, but for the future of the business. Sure, 1114 01:13:38,399 --> 01:13:41,880 I mean, look, it's it's uh. It's was a sad day for 1115 01:13:41,880 --> 01:13:45,279 for for boxing. You know, Showtime, like you said, I mean 1116 01:13:45,800 --> 01:13:49,039 put on some of the best fights in the history of the sport. You 1117 01:13:49,079 --> 01:13:55,239 know, you go back to Tyson and Javis, I mean Trinidad and most 1118 01:13:55,279 --> 01:13:59,880 recently with Crawford and and spends and tanks. So they they've done they've done 1119 01:13:59,880 --> 01:14:01,920 a great, great job, you know, showtime, and you know, 1120 01:14:01,960 --> 01:14:08,079 obviously it's it's a sad day. But all I can think about is opportunity. 1121 01:14:08,520 --> 01:14:13,159 All I can think about is this is where us promoters, This is 1122 01:14:13,239 --> 01:14:17,239 where the boxing industry, the the the the uh you know, the the 1123 01:14:17,239 --> 01:14:21,119 heads of boxing, the behind the scenes h this is where we must get 1124 01:14:21,159 --> 01:14:27,760 together and and unite and come together and look for that and find that next 1125 01:14:27,840 --> 01:14:31,279 platform that we can mold into the next you know, the next Showtime, 1126 01:14:31,359 --> 01:14:36,239 the next HBO. Because as you know, Dan, that everybody's cutting the 1127 01:14:36,279 --> 01:14:41,399 cord. Uh. People are still watching linear TV, but you know, 1128 01:14:41,680 --> 01:14:45,920 uh, you know, everything is headed towards digital, and so I strongly 1129 01:14:45,960 --> 01:14:49,800 feel that there is opportunity out there. You know, boxing, when you 1130 01:14:49,800 --> 01:14:55,479 put on the best against the best, generates millions and millions and millions of 1131 01:14:55,520 --> 01:14:59,840 dollars, millions and millions of eyeballs. And you know, I cannot see 1132 01:15:00,039 --> 01:15:06,319 any executive from any other platform or linear TV, you know, not noticing 1133 01:15:06,399 --> 01:15:11,800 that. So I strongly feel that, yes, it was a sad day, 1134 01:15:11,880 --> 01:15:15,119 but there is opportunity. Well, I echo that, I hope you're 1135 01:15:15,159 --> 01:15:16,399 right. I agree with you. I do think somebody else will fill that 1136 01:15:16,479 --> 01:15:19,880 gap. Hopefully it's sooner than later. Oscar, thank you very much for 1137 01:15:19,880 --> 01:15:23,479 doing this. I'm always happy to talk to about all these different topics. 1138 01:15:23,600 --> 01:15:26,840 I wish you a good success with the event on Saturday night as well as 1139 01:15:26,880 --> 01:15:29,520 all the events we were talking about, and just say thank you very much 1140 01:15:29,520 --> 01:15:31,119 for doing it. All right, you got it man, Thank you all 1141 01:15:31,199 --> 01:15:33,399 right. Oscar, there you go, Oscar de la Hoya, the Golden 1142 01:15:33,439 --> 01:15:38,439 Boy. You gave us a lot there. Oscar gave us a lot there. 1143 01:15:38,880 --> 01:15:43,039 Besides just Alexis roacha in the main event Saturday night at the Forum in 1144 01:15:43,199 --> 01:15:45,720 Inglewood, including the ying and the Yang with Ryan Garcia fight coming up. 1145 01:15:45,760 --> 01:15:47,720 But they're still trying to work it all out. You want me to do 1146 01:15:47,760 --> 01:15:53,359 the doctor Phil impression? Don't you still have love in your heart for him? 1147 01:15:54,000 --> 01:15:57,039 They're trying to work it out. Mediation is like marriage counseling. They're 1148 01:15:57,039 --> 01:15:59,800 trying to work it out. Will they work it out? We'll see if 1149 01:15:59,800 --> 01:16:01,399 they any other final thought. They were talking to Oscar as you did at 1150 01:16:01,479 --> 01:16:05,319 length. Oscar, I think when he talked about the Ryan situation, he 1151 01:16:05,359 --> 01:16:09,319 says, look, it's business, and that's exactly what it is. And 1152 01:16:09,399 --> 01:16:12,960 an Oscar has been in these situations with other people. He's done business with 1153 01:16:13,000 --> 01:16:15,119 Bob Aram in particular, and here we are all these years later, and 1154 01:16:15,119 --> 01:16:17,800 they got their arms around each other and they're taking Instagram photos and talking about 1155 01:16:17,800 --> 01:16:21,960 doing big fights together. So you know, whatever aggravations take place between people 1156 01:16:21,960 --> 01:16:26,960 within boxing in terms of the business, oftentimes time heals all wounds, and 1157 01:16:27,039 --> 01:16:30,159 hopefully that will be the case in what's going on with Oscar and Ryan and 1158 01:16:30,199 --> 01:16:32,439 his team. But I just enjoyed talking to Oscar because we went into a 1159 01:16:32,479 --> 01:16:35,640 lot of stuff as people heard about his top guys zert O Ramrez, and 1160 01:16:35,840 --> 01:16:40,279 he talked about Williams of Paida, and about what's up with Virgil Ortiz and 1161 01:16:40,279 --> 01:16:45,479 and of course to fight on Saturday, and and the pro the probability or 1162 01:16:45,520 --> 01:16:47,800 possibilities of what might happen with Haimil Munggee and the potential of the Edgar Berlanga 1163 01:16:47,800 --> 01:16:51,439 fight, his reflections on Showtime and their exit, given that he worked with 1164 01:16:51,479 --> 01:16:56,720 those folks at Showtime for many years with Golden Boy Promotion. So I've always 1165 01:16:56,760 --> 01:16:59,239 enjoyed my interviews with Oscar. Is always good give and take, and this 1166 01:16:59,319 --> 01:17:02,000 was just another all right, some news, some nostalgia, and then we 1167 01:17:02,039 --> 01:17:09,119 are done. The Devin Hany Regis Progray kickoff press conference happened earlier this week 1168 01:17:09,159 --> 01:17:14,359 for the one and forty pound title that Progray holds that upcoming December pay per 1169 01:17:14,439 --> 01:17:17,039 view. They also announced the undercard. Thoughts on that real quick, on 1170 01:17:17,039 --> 01:17:23,720 what you saw, Well, once the lunatic hype man for Regis Progray stopped 1171 01:17:24,079 --> 01:17:27,720 yelling and screaming non stop for the first several minutes of the press conference and 1172 01:17:27,840 --> 01:17:32,600 cursing like a lunatic like and and Bill Haney, Devon's trainer and father and 1173 01:17:32,640 --> 01:17:36,319 manager, and Devon himself kept looking over to be like, who are you 1174 01:17:36,359 --> 01:17:40,079 because I mean, it wasn't anybody that I've ever seen on regis Es team. 1175 01:17:40,119 --> 01:17:42,439 It wasn't his trainer, you know, you know, so as ye 1176 01:17:42,439 --> 01:17:45,319 had the Dais was was Devin and his dad and Eddie in the middle, 1177 01:17:45,359 --> 01:17:49,680 and then Regis and his lunatic who was cursing for ten minutes whatever. Once 1178 01:17:49,800 --> 01:17:53,880 that subsided, that was I almost wanted to turn the press comments off. 1179 01:17:53,880 --> 01:17:56,720 It was so terrible. Well, once the two fighters, they know they've 1180 01:17:56,760 --> 01:17:59,159 been circling each other for a while, they've had their sake. There were 1181 01:17:59,239 --> 01:18:02,720 some good quality talk between them. There was what I found interesting was the 1182 01:18:02,760 --> 01:18:05,159 well and this was something that was brought up. I think it was by 1183 01:18:05,199 --> 01:18:09,359 Regis that brought this up. That many folks who are looking at this matchup, 1184 01:18:09,399 --> 01:18:11,039 which is a good fight, by the way, and what I also 1185 01:18:11,039 --> 01:18:15,600 find interesting about it the fact that they're doing this December ninth fight in San 1186 01:18:15,640 --> 01:18:17,960 Francisco at the Chase Center. There hasn't been a world title fight in San 1187 01:18:18,000 --> 01:18:21,600 Francisco and pretty much like more than a decade, I believe. The last 1188 01:18:21,600 --> 01:18:27,239 one was when there was a title fights involving on a double header back in 1189 01:18:27,279 --> 01:18:30,960 the day when Floyd Mayweather was a title holder at one hundred and thirty pounds 1190 01:18:30,439 --> 01:18:33,479 and Manny Pacyao was a title holder at one hundred and twenty two pounds and 1191 01:18:33,479 --> 01:18:36,279 they were on a double header with each other on HBO. That's how long 1192 01:18:36,279 --> 01:18:40,880 ago. This is like nineteen or like two thousand and one thereabouts, something 1193 01:18:40,920 --> 01:18:44,760 like that. But it's been a long time two thousand and two, but 1194 01:18:44,880 --> 01:18:46,680 it's been many, many years since there's been in a title fight. But 1195 01:18:46,680 --> 01:18:48,960 Devin was born in San Francisco, that's why the fights there. So they 1196 01:18:48,960 --> 01:18:53,319 put the press conference outside in front of the big new, beautiful building they 1197 01:18:53,399 --> 01:18:58,960 built for the for the Golden State Warriors. Anyway, the interesting part was 1198 01:18:59,000 --> 01:19:01,760 the convention. No wisdom of the fight between these two guys is that people 1199 01:19:01,880 --> 01:19:05,159 view it in many respects as this is a matchup of the speed and the 1200 01:19:05,239 --> 01:19:12,920 skills of and of Devin Hainey and and just the aggression and the punching power 1201 01:19:12,960 --> 01:19:16,159 of Regis program, which sounds about right. But Regis went on a whole 1202 01:19:16,199 --> 01:19:18,640 thing about how look, I've got skills also, and that was a whole 1203 01:19:18,640 --> 01:19:23,239 big conversation. And I find it to be a fascinating matchup. I mean, 1204 01:19:23,279 --> 01:19:26,880 like I've discussed before, I'm disappointed that in America it's or in North 1205 01:19:26,880 --> 01:19:29,720 America this is a pay per view where if you get the zone around the 1206 01:19:29,720 --> 01:19:32,119 rest of the world, it's just part of your regular subscription package. Let's 1207 01:19:32,119 --> 01:19:34,680 see what they announced as the price point, which they have not yet done 1208 01:19:35,600 --> 01:19:39,520 putting the paper you aspect a side. It's a good fight, and the 1209 01:19:39,560 --> 01:19:43,680 press conference, other than the lunatic on the Regis Program team, they got 1210 01:19:43,720 --> 01:19:45,479 me more interested in the match. You're going to say something about the undercard. 1211 01:19:45,479 --> 01:19:48,079 A second, but two things. One Eddie Hearn revealed, for whatever 1212 01:19:48,079 --> 01:19:51,600 it's worth, they've already sold nine thousand tickets. I would be curious that 1213 01:19:51,720 --> 01:19:56,880 they do a pre sale with like the Warrior season ticket holders, which sometimes 1214 01:19:56,920 --> 01:20:00,239 happened. So was that maybe part of the factor. So when you talk 1215 01:20:00,279 --> 01:20:04,159 about preestyles and what tickets are being sold for it when things tick off. 1216 01:20:04,439 --> 01:20:06,920 I mean, I'm not trying to kick dirt on anybody or be a dick 1217 01:20:06,960 --> 01:20:10,960 about it. I just don't believe those are authentic sales. I mean, 1218 01:20:11,000 --> 01:20:13,399 I hope they are, and it'd be great if it is, but give 1219 01:20:13,399 --> 01:20:16,319 me a break. I mean, right, their job is to h that 1220 01:20:16,359 --> 01:20:18,600 stuff up. I mean, we don't know, all right. But one 1221 01:20:18,640 --> 01:20:21,560 other thing, and you will probably remember the name of this individual you just 1222 01:20:21,680 --> 01:20:26,680 jogged me that there was a member of Tyson's entourage in the late nineties and 1223 01:20:26,680 --> 01:20:30,720 the early two thousands, and his job was to be okay, Crocodile. 1224 01:20:31,000 --> 01:20:34,880 And so I remember this interview with Crocodile that he did on my local station 1225 01:20:35,359 --> 01:20:39,600 because they had him on for some reason and they said, well, tell 1226 01:20:39,680 --> 01:20:42,800 us about it, really, what your job is, And he said, 1227 01:20:42,800 --> 01:20:45,359 well, my job is two things, to help protect Mike and to yell 1228 01:20:45,560 --> 01:20:51,119 gorilla warfare. He goes, that's my job, go around and yell gorilla 1229 01:20:51,199 --> 01:20:56,159 warfare. Gorilla warfare, all right, So I could think when you were 1230 01:20:56,199 --> 01:21:00,119 saying that is this guy twenty years ago saying essentially my job protect Mike but 1231 01:21:00,199 --> 01:21:05,239 mainly yell gorilla warfare. So at least the guy who was on the DAIS 1232 01:21:05,319 --> 01:21:11,560 with Regis is not a guy that's only there to do the yell gorilla warfare. 1233 01:21:11,840 --> 01:21:15,319 He is also apparently Regis's strength and conditioning coach. He actually does have 1234 01:21:15,399 --> 01:21:19,680 a role. As far as the undercard goes for pay per view purposes, 1235 01:21:19,720 --> 01:21:25,640 you know, it's whatever you got. Liam Parro, who is a junior 1236 01:21:25,680 --> 01:21:30,800 walteraway from Australia, undefeated fighting Montana Love who is coming off the disqualification loss 1237 01:21:30,800 --> 01:21:35,600 against Parros Australian countryman Steve Spark who we threw out of the ring WWE style. 1238 01:21:36,399 --> 01:21:39,479 Not the worst fight and we all, I mean Montana Love duck to 1239 01:21:39,520 --> 01:21:42,600 fight with Richardson Hitchins because he knows he would have got his clock clean in 1240 01:21:42,640 --> 01:21:45,800 that fight in terms of losing probably every round. But nonetheless they're matching up 1241 01:21:45,800 --> 01:21:49,479 in the co feature, you've got the light heavyweight Andy Cruz, who is 1242 01:21:49,479 --> 01:21:53,199 now one in er but is going to move very fast. He was the 1243 01:21:53,239 --> 01:21:57,399 twenty twenty Cuban Olympic gold medalist. He's fighting it's actually this is actually a 1244 01:21:57,399 --> 01:22:00,520 solid fight against Tector Tanahara, who has been out it as a one time 1245 01:22:00,560 --> 01:22:02,880 prospect by mc coomers. Just got the one loss. That's a that's a 1246 01:22:03,640 --> 01:22:08,039 interesting because that's a that's a huge step up for a guy in their second 1247 01:22:08,039 --> 01:22:11,079 professional fight. I mean, Andy Cruise is fighting ten rounders in fight number 1248 01:22:11,079 --> 01:22:14,119 two. Uh and say whatever you want about Hector tanaha but he's a real 1249 01:22:14,159 --> 01:22:16,359 guy. Uh So that that's kind of interesting. And then another fight that 1250 01:22:16,359 --> 01:22:20,960 they announced as part of this pay per view is the IBF Women's bantamweight champion 1251 01:22:21,000 --> 01:22:27,600 Ebony Bridges. She's going to defend against her Australian country woman, Avril Matthew, 1252 01:22:28,520 --> 01:22:30,359 who's coming off her first loss. But uh uh, you know, 1253 01:22:30,399 --> 01:22:34,399 Ebony has been Ebony Bridges has been in some kind of barn burner type fight, 1254 01:22:34,479 --> 01:22:36,800 so hopefully they put on a good show. And and by the way, 1255 01:22:38,039 --> 01:22:40,800 she's more than a pretty face, she's tough. She's been bloodied, 1256 01:22:40,840 --> 01:22:44,279 she's been beaten up and she's one some and so that there's intrigue there, 1257 01:22:44,359 --> 01:22:47,800 there's I mean it's not it's not entertaining. Yeah, Ebony is a she's 1258 01:22:47,840 --> 01:22:50,359 a cool girl too. I hung out with her a little while when I 1259 01:22:50,359 --> 01:22:53,359 forget, I think I was out in Vegas when I was there for the 1260 01:22:53,359 --> 01:22:58,159 Sean Porter against Terrence Crawford fighting for whatever reason, she was there and uh, 1261 01:22:58,319 --> 01:23:00,279 I was with a group of people there are like three or four us 1262 01:23:00,279 --> 01:23:02,600 and had a long conversation. She's a very interesting woman. And you know 1263 01:23:02,640 --> 01:23:05,800 what, and she's not she's she's outspoken and you know and anybody that knows 1264 01:23:05,800 --> 01:23:09,560 who she is, she likes to flow her. You know her, her 1265 01:23:09,600 --> 01:23:13,479 her looks, and you know her her let's call her her her womanly parts. 1266 01:23:13,920 --> 01:23:18,159 Uh, but she's not enough her sexuality, her sexuality, let's just 1267 01:23:18,199 --> 01:23:20,159 say, lets her big tits. I mean, that's just the way it 1268 01:23:20,239 --> 01:23:25,239 is. But she but she's the first. She doesn't that's doesn't that does 1269 01:23:25,279 --> 01:23:28,239 not offend her, like she knows that's perfect deal, part of the selling 1270 01:23:28,279 --> 01:23:30,199 point. But but she can fight also, that's the thing. So she's 1271 01:23:30,199 --> 01:23:32,159 like, you want to look at my tits fine, but I can beat 1272 01:23:32,199 --> 01:23:35,159 your ass. Also in the ring, and she had that fight I don't 1273 01:23:35,159 --> 01:23:38,840 know whom was it it was against, but she ended up losing I think 1274 01:23:38,880 --> 01:23:42,119 a decision, and then came back from that where she had the eye swollen 1275 01:23:42,199 --> 01:23:45,439 shut early on in the fight and bloodied and kept fighting. That's not a 1276 01:23:45,560 --> 01:23:48,119 joke, because you like to say, that's no joke that you're going to 1277 01:23:48,199 --> 01:23:53,159 keep fighting in that situation because you want it that bad. She definitely brings 1278 01:23:53,920 --> 01:23:56,279 value to her fights. That's and and by the way, am I not 1279 01:23:56,359 --> 01:23:59,439 correct? Not only was she a ring card girl, she was a school 1280 01:23:59,479 --> 01:24:01,800 teacher. I believe at one point she's had an interesting life. I think 1281 01:24:01,840 --> 01:24:06,199 that is correct in her background before the boxing career. So now she's in 1282 01:24:06,199 --> 01:24:12,039 the boxing career and she's on the undercard there as well there for Ebony Bridges 1283 01:24:12,079 --> 01:24:14,800 on that and we'll see what happens with the rest of that undercard. Right 1284 01:24:14,840 --> 01:24:17,880 moving along, we did talk about the likelihood that this would happen, but 1285 01:24:17,960 --> 01:24:23,640 Lee Wood has vacated the WBA featherweight title because the belief is he's going to 1286 01:24:23,760 --> 01:24:28,279 move up to junior lightweight anyway for the next fight. That's potentially at the 1287 01:24:28,319 --> 01:24:31,159 Nottingham Forest City Ground Soccer Stadium. Right, yeah, So I mean his 1288 01:24:31,279 --> 01:24:33,560 vacating the title is not at all surprised. I mean, SOPHI he ends 1289 01:24:33,640 --> 01:24:36,319 up doing a rematch with Josh Warrington, which is so only a possibility. 1290 01:24:36,479 --> 01:24:41,520 Who would, I guess probably be a non title fight unless some title became 1291 01:24:41,560 --> 01:24:45,239 available when he wrote his letter or when it was. Actually the letter that 1292 01:24:45,279 --> 01:24:47,560 went to the WBA on Lee's behalf was written by Tom Dallas, who was 1293 01:24:48,039 --> 01:24:53,199 one of the people that works at Mattrium, and asked the WBA in that 1294 01:24:53,319 --> 01:24:56,560 letter resigning the title, thanking them for their support, and asking that when 1295 01:24:56,560 --> 01:24:59,560 the next ratings come out, to have Lee ranked high in the rankings. 1296 01:25:00,319 --> 01:25:02,319 That's always what a champion does when they go up to the next weight class. 1297 01:25:02,319 --> 01:25:05,760 De'll thank the organization and usually we'll rerewarded with a high ranking in the 1298 01:25:05,800 --> 01:25:09,920 next division, which he deserves based on his track record at featherweight. So 1299 01:25:10,119 --> 01:25:11,960 I just say good luck to Lee, would I mean, I just know 1300 01:25:12,000 --> 01:25:14,520 one thing, whoever he's fighting when he gets in the ring at one hundred 1301 01:25:14,520 --> 01:25:16,840 and thirty pounds, I'm definitely watching because of the kind of drama and entertainment 1302 01:25:16,880 --> 01:25:21,079 value that he has brought to this pretty solid run that he's had in the 1303 01:25:21,079 --> 01:25:25,880 featherweight division. And that means that you'll have o te Bek Kalmatov, who 1304 01:25:25,960 --> 01:25:29,159 was his mandatory who we got an exception to not fight so we could do 1305 01:25:29,199 --> 01:25:32,720 the Warrington fight. Klmatov will be ordered and in the coming days or so 1306 01:25:33,119 --> 01:25:36,319 our week or whatever to make them to make a fight with Raymond Ford, 1307 01:25:36,319 --> 01:25:40,840 who is with Mattrium, an undefeated fighter from Camden, New Jersey. They 1308 01:25:40,840 --> 01:25:43,720 would be the fighter's order to fight for that vacant title. And that's an 1309 01:25:43,760 --> 01:25:46,159 actually, you know, that's kind of down in the weeds, but if 1310 01:25:46,199 --> 01:25:49,680 you're a if you're a real degenerate, that's a really good interesting matchup, 1311 01:25:50,159 --> 01:25:54,319 really good interesting matchup, and that that's the kind of fight where if they 1312 01:25:54,319 --> 01:25:57,520 can get it done, matchup can get it squared away. It wouldn't surprise 1313 01:25:57,560 --> 01:25:59,520 me to see that take place on one of the cars at the end of 1314 01:25:59,560 --> 01:26:02,479 the year. Uh, you know, maybe on the Bam Rodriguez undercard when 1315 01:26:02,479 --> 01:26:06,199 he when he meets in the unification fight against Sonny Edwards in December, but 1316 01:26:06,359 --> 01:26:09,520 sometime, you know, maybe by the end of the year. Certainly in 1317 01:26:09,560 --> 01:26:12,600 the early part of this year. All right, there was an announcement you 1318 01:26:12,640 --> 01:26:17,279 mentioned boxer earlier in the program with Jack Catterall uh and the uh and the 1319 01:26:17,319 --> 01:26:20,199 fight that he's having. All Right, so they did a deal because the 1320 01:26:20,239 --> 01:26:25,520 boxer card that was going on and is going on still this weekend was to 1321 01:26:25,600 --> 01:26:30,640 have had a light heavyweight showdown of British contenders. But the deal is now 1322 01:26:30,640 --> 01:26:34,960 They were going to be an our television partners with NBC and their Peacock streaming 1323 01:26:35,079 --> 01:26:41,439 service. But the Joshua Buazzi Dana Z's fight is now off. That was 1324 01:26:41,479 --> 01:26:45,159 to be the main event. Uh So tell me more about the overall deal. 1325 01:26:45,159 --> 01:26:47,159 But this is a downer that this is. This has happened here midweek 1326 01:26:47,159 --> 01:26:49,800 the disease has a back injury, not able to fight. It is definitely 1327 01:26:49,840 --> 01:26:51,880 a bummer that the fights off because it was a good matchup. And as 1328 01:26:51,880 --> 01:26:55,079 a matter of fact, I you know, I'm going to order Peacock because 1329 01:26:55,119 --> 01:26:58,119 I'm going to support that boxing. And frankly, when it's all said that, 1330 01:26:58,199 --> 01:27:00,600 I'm going to cancel showtime and the car the two should offset one another. 1331 01:27:01,000 --> 01:27:03,840 But I went on my Peacock service, which I can access through my 1332 01:27:03,960 --> 01:27:06,760 cable box because I still actually have regular cable, but it's one of the 1333 01:27:06,800 --> 01:27:10,960 apps that's available through my cable, and I was able to look at the 1334 01:27:11,000 --> 01:27:15,239 menu and I saw the big advertisement for a Z's at the matchup between him 1335 01:27:15,239 --> 01:27:17,319 and Buazzi, and I took a picture of my television and I had been 1336 01:27:17,359 --> 01:27:20,479 speaking earlier in the day about the deal with Ben Shalom, who was the 1337 01:27:20,520 --> 01:27:25,479 CEO and the founder of the Boxer company. He's the promoter. So I 1338 01:27:25,479 --> 01:27:28,399 took a picture of the TV and I actually texted him the picture. I 1339 01:27:28,399 --> 01:27:30,800 say, hey, look at this, this is the advertisement on Peacock. 1340 01:27:30,960 --> 01:27:34,159 They're actually giving it a little bit of play. And then I don't know 1341 01:27:34,199 --> 01:27:36,720 if it was the next day or hours later whatever. I guess it was 1342 01:27:36,760 --> 01:27:40,560 the next day, or maybe it was hours later because it was a day 1343 01:27:40,560 --> 01:27:44,479 after they announced the deal that that fight, of course ended up being postponed 1344 01:27:44,479 --> 01:27:47,359 because in his final training session they said that Azize had suffered a back injury, 1345 01:27:47,720 --> 01:27:51,000 and so now instead of having that as the headliner at the two in 1346 01:27:51,039 --> 01:27:54,560 London, the rest of the card will go on. And they've actually on 1347 01:27:54,680 --> 01:27:57,640 very short notice move the event because it's not a card that's going to put 1348 01:27:57,640 --> 01:28:00,199 a ton of people in the two if there's no main event, really it's 1349 01:28:00,239 --> 01:28:01,840 going to take place now at the London Your Hall. So the show will 1350 01:28:01,880 --> 01:28:04,239 still go on, It'll still be on Peacock in the United States, it 1351 01:28:04,279 --> 01:28:08,760 will still be on Sky Sports in the UK. But the upshot here more 1352 01:28:08,760 --> 01:28:13,279 importantly than just as one particular card is that Boxer, which has not had 1353 01:28:13,600 --> 01:28:17,680 a regular broadcast part of in the United States, now has that with Peacock, 1354 01:28:17,760 --> 01:28:20,600 and as they said in their announcement, and select events to air on 1355 01:28:20,640 --> 01:28:25,920 the main NBC network. So that's a big deal. Also, the interesting 1356 01:28:25,920 --> 01:28:29,760 thing about it is the fact that you have a Peacock and NBC that is 1357 01:28:29,800 --> 01:28:33,119 owned by Comcast. You have a Sky that is owned by Comcasts in the 1358 01:28:33,159 --> 01:28:36,760 UK, and so obviously there's a corporate relationship there, which I'm sure is 1359 01:28:36,760 --> 01:28:40,880 a big part of the reason why these events are going to be on Peacock, 1360 01:28:41,640 --> 01:28:45,720 and so they will get some exposure here in America regularly for their stable 1361 01:28:45,760 --> 01:28:49,359 of fighters as they build and as Ben Shaloon mentioned to me, the longer 1362 01:28:49,399 --> 01:28:54,640 game is to sign and develop some American based fighters so they can continue doing 1363 01:28:54,680 --> 01:28:57,760 their events, but also eventually do some events here in the United States. 1364 01:28:57,840 --> 01:29:01,000 So maybe NBC will step into the breach left by Showtime in some former fashion. 1365 01:29:01,039 --> 01:29:03,840 I don't think that it's a matter where they can only do boxer shows. 1366 01:29:03,840 --> 01:29:06,760 They could go and work with some other promoter or a series of promoters, 1367 01:29:06,840 --> 01:29:10,239 you know. That's the thing Back in the in the in the older 1368 01:29:10,359 --> 01:29:14,399 days, there was a time when, at varying times, HBO and Showtime 1369 01:29:14,439 --> 01:29:16,800 embraced the idea of let's just go and negotiate with promoters to make the best 1370 01:29:16,800 --> 01:29:19,279 fights. And they didn't have these long term output deals all the time. 1371 01:29:19,520 --> 01:29:24,399 The lot on output deals more than HBO did, and HBO had limited output 1372 01:29:24,439 --> 01:29:28,560 deals, but they still did fights with other promoters. But maybe that could 1373 01:29:28,600 --> 01:29:30,920 be the case, you know, with other networks that may come into the 1374 01:29:30,960 --> 01:29:34,079 fray, whether it's a Peacock and Amazon or whoever. I mean, we've 1375 01:29:34,079 --> 01:29:36,359 seen it with the Zone. Yes, they've got their deals with Golden Boy 1376 01:29:36,399 --> 01:29:40,119 and with Mattrim, but they've also been picking up cards here and there. 1377 01:29:40,119 --> 01:29:43,680 They've done stuff with Wasserman. They put on some smaller cards with the Bella. 1378 01:29:44,000 --> 01:29:46,640 They picked up the boxer card, one of the Liam Smith U Bank 1379 01:29:46,720 --> 01:29:49,840 cards, so that that would I think help in the overall picture. But 1380 01:29:49,880 --> 01:29:53,680 it's a great thing. If you're an American boxing fan. You know, 1381 01:29:53,720 --> 01:29:56,720 Peacock is one of the bigger streaming services out there. NBC has got a 1382 01:29:56,840 --> 01:30:00,039 rich history in boxing. They're a huge brand in this coun and I think 1383 01:30:00,079 --> 01:30:02,960 that's a good thing. It is a good thing. By the way, 1384 01:30:03,000 --> 01:30:06,720 I did find this Ebony Bridges. How about two things. Ebony Bridges is 1385 01:30:06,760 --> 01:30:12,600 a twin She is the younger of twins, twin brother, one of three 1386 01:30:12,680 --> 01:30:16,479 children, and she has previously been a math teacher in school in Australia. 1387 01:30:16,520 --> 01:30:19,520 I did get that right, what a background on that? For the undercard 1388 01:30:19,520 --> 01:30:23,800 of the Haini Progray fight to have her on. One more thing, Jake 1389 01:30:23,880 --> 01:30:28,680 Paul. Jake Paul now going to be back in a boxing ring. It's 1390 01:30:28,680 --> 01:30:30,720 coming in December. We don't have an opponent. Interestingly, though there had 1391 01:30:30,760 --> 01:30:35,119 been the rumors that he might be fighting Nate Diaz as part of some version 1392 01:30:35,119 --> 01:30:41,239 of an MMA fight as part of his Professional Fighters League. That's apparently not 1393 01:30:41,520 --> 01:30:45,560 next that that will be later maybe or not at all. What do you 1394 01:30:45,600 --> 01:30:49,239 do you hear anything about who the opponent might be in December too soon to 1395 01:30:49,279 --> 01:30:55,800 know. He's what I have been told by people that are involved with this 1396 01:30:55,840 --> 01:30:59,359 event and that are with Jake, is that yes, this December fifteenth, 1397 01:30:59,359 --> 01:31:00,319 and then he will be back in the boxing ring, but it will be 1398 01:31:00,479 --> 01:31:04,520 against supposedly an actual boxer. It's not going to be for these wild you 1399 01:31:04,520 --> 01:31:09,720 know, MMA of fighters, are you know, non boxing people? Because 1400 01:31:09,760 --> 01:31:12,960 look, you people can laugh and say whateverone. I respect Jake Paul a 1401 01:31:13,000 --> 01:31:16,119 lot because he says I'm going to be a boxing world champion, and I 1402 01:31:16,119 --> 01:31:18,680 mean, I'm not going to knock the guy for making that effort. And 1403 01:31:18,760 --> 01:31:21,399 part of that effort is to fight a real boxer. So that is what 1404 01:31:21,520 --> 01:31:25,439 I think he's playing. And can I be consistent with you? Because I 1405 01:31:25,520 --> 01:31:29,000 was critical after the DS fight that I don't need to see non boxers anymore. 1406 01:31:29,239 --> 01:31:31,119 I get it. And now if I'm gonna see boxers, I'm back 1407 01:31:31,159 --> 01:31:34,439 in again. I'm gonna be back in again and interested in December. If 1408 01:31:34,520 --> 01:31:38,000 it's a boxer, I'm with you. Here's the other good thing about this 1409 01:31:38,079 --> 01:31:40,479 upcoming event, whoever it's going to be against, and I'm not expecting to 1410 01:31:40,479 --> 01:31:44,000 be against some superstar opponent, which is fair it's not going to be a 1411 01:31:44,039 --> 01:31:45,680 pay per view. It's going to be on regular to zone. The Zone 1412 01:31:45,680 --> 01:31:49,319 probably hopes that because of Jake's popularity and his name recognition, it will help 1413 01:31:49,359 --> 01:31:53,479 goose to subscriptions and not a pay per view. And I don't think it's 1414 01:31:53,479 --> 01:31:58,279 a coincidence that a day after they announced the fight with Jake Paul would be 1415 01:31:58,319 --> 01:32:01,399 on hiszone worldwide, even if they didn't announce the opponent. That the day 1416 01:32:01,439 --> 01:32:05,439 after, which was on Thursday, they announced that they had picked up a 1417 01:32:05,479 --> 01:32:12,359 second edition of his MVP Prospects series to go from the four events they did 1418 01:32:12,479 --> 01:32:15,520 this year to now doing six of the events next year. Those are the 1419 01:32:15,560 --> 01:32:19,439 prospect shows, kind of showbox ish that they did from the same location in 1420 01:32:19,640 --> 01:32:24,399 Orlando, Florida, and one of the casinos there, the carib Royale, 1421 01:32:24,680 --> 01:32:27,399 and they put on some solid shows. It felt like not you know, 1422 01:32:27,439 --> 01:32:30,079 they got some They got a little bit of work to do on that and 1423 01:32:30,159 --> 01:32:31,359 make sure that they can get it better, but it was a good start. 1424 01:32:31,680 --> 01:32:36,039 And so six more of those shows for twenty twenty four and Jake on 1425 01:32:36,079 --> 01:32:40,000 his own, so not pay per view. I think he's going to fight 1426 01:32:40,000 --> 01:32:43,159 a non MMA person, you know, like an actual boxer, and so 1427 01:32:43,479 --> 01:32:46,640 you know, good for him, all right, nostalgia and then we're done. 1428 01:32:46,640 --> 01:32:48,520 Man, we've been here a while, but it's all been worth it. 1429 01:32:48,960 --> 01:32:55,880 A couple of big time birthdays. Tommy hit Man Hearns sixty five years 1430 01:32:56,119 --> 01:33:00,960 young. I don't want to accept. I don't want to accept he can't 1431 01:33:00,960 --> 01:33:03,800 be sixty five, the Hitman. We're getting that old Ray Field that was 1432 01:33:03,840 --> 01:33:08,039 earlier this week, he turned sixty five. We go with him first, 1433 01:33:08,079 --> 01:33:10,960 and Evander Holyfield had a birthday Thursday. We'll get to Elevand in a minute. 1434 01:33:11,399 --> 01:33:14,560 But the hit Man sixty five. You can't say enough about that booming 1435 01:33:14,600 --> 01:33:18,880 right hand, especially in the early eighties, and the mythology of and what 1436 01:33:18,960 --> 01:33:24,039 really and the reality of Tommy Hearns and his punching power. I think when 1437 01:33:24,079 --> 01:33:26,439 you think about Tommy Hearns, you know, you of course think of the 1438 01:33:26,560 --> 01:33:30,000 of the Four Kings, along with Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler and Roberto 1439 01:33:30,079 --> 01:33:32,039 Durant. But I would bet you as great as all four of those those 1440 01:33:32,079 --> 01:33:34,960 fighters are all Hall of famers, all great world champions, all pound for 1441 01:33:35,039 --> 01:33:39,560 pound type guys in their day. For sure. I think a lot of 1442 01:33:39,560 --> 01:33:44,439 people would look at Hearns and say, just for round for round, punch 1443 01:33:44,520 --> 01:33:46,039 for punch, fight for fight. He was the most exciting of all of 1444 01:33:46,079 --> 01:33:49,439 them, just because of that. He was always you never know if he 1445 01:33:49,479 --> 01:33:53,640 was going to knock you out or get knocked out. He could knock you 1446 01:33:53,680 --> 01:33:57,600 out with any moment of any fight. He had some of the most spectacular 1447 01:33:57,640 --> 01:34:00,680 knockouts in the history of the sport. I think about when he knocked out 1448 01:34:00,680 --> 01:34:03,840 Pipino Quavis to win the Welcome that was his first world championship. I think 1449 01:34:03,840 --> 01:34:09,000 about the devastating one punch right hand against the hands of stone Roberto Duran, 1450 01:34:09,319 --> 01:34:14,279 who also for most had a chin of stone. But Tommy Hearns cracked it 1451 01:34:14,359 --> 01:34:19,319 that night and just put him away. Uh but Tommy Hearns, you know, 1452 01:34:19,359 --> 01:34:23,279 he's most remembered, of course for the Hagler fight, which he lost. 1453 01:34:23,680 --> 01:34:27,079 He's remembered probably second most for the Sugar Ray Leonard first fight, which 1454 01:34:27,079 --> 01:34:29,800 he lost. They had a draw in the second fight, which he kind 1455 01:34:29,800 --> 01:34:32,159 of got robbed of. Most people would think kind of got robbed. He 1456 01:34:32,199 --> 01:34:38,720 got robbed doctive knocked Leonard down twice? He won that, Yes, Uh 1457 01:34:39,399 --> 01:34:43,720 so he's a guy that's remembered maybe for a little bit uh more for some 1458 01:34:43,760 --> 01:34:45,319 of his losses, but it doesn't take away from the fact that he fought 1459 01:34:45,359 --> 01:34:47,600 all the best guys and he's got a ton of big wins in his own 1460 01:34:47,680 --> 01:34:50,720 right, including the ones I just mentioned against Duran and Quavis, you know, 1461 01:34:50,720 --> 01:34:54,840 who are both Hall of famers as well. Uh And the thing about 1462 01:34:54,920 --> 01:34:58,279 him also that I think actually doesn't quite get as much respect, frankly as 1463 01:34:58,600 --> 01:35:01,640 accomplishments of some other fighters. He was in fact the very first boxer to 1464 01:35:01,640 --> 01:35:04,279 win a world title in five different weight classes. And the thing that was 1465 01:35:04,319 --> 01:35:09,079 interesting about that he won welterweight title, junior middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight, 1466 01:35:09,079 --> 01:35:11,199 in light heavyweight. But he did it out of order. Most of 1467 01:35:11,199 --> 01:35:14,359 the time you go one to one on Z you move up to scale. 1468 01:35:14,640 --> 01:35:16,199 He jumped around. He won the welterweight title, and then the dream MIDDLEWA 1469 01:35:16,279 --> 01:35:19,800 title, and I think the next one was the light heavyweight title, and 1470 01:35:19,840 --> 01:35:23,960 then he came back down and won titles, you know, in the super 1471 01:35:23,960 --> 01:35:27,359 middweight middleweight division. So he was the first to do it. I mean, 1472 01:35:27,359 --> 01:35:30,520 it's a record that was broken later by you know, Oscar de la 1473 01:35:30,560 --> 01:35:34,479 Hoya and Manny packyapp but Tommy Hearns to win titles in five weight classes back 1474 01:35:34,479 --> 01:35:36,840 then, that was a pretty big deal. He fought a lot of quality 1475 01:35:36,840 --> 01:35:42,479 guys, and he has two moments that all you got to say is Tommy 1476 01:35:42,520 --> 01:35:45,520 hearns Roberto Duran and everybody knows about that right hand. And all you got 1477 01:35:45,520 --> 01:35:48,840 to say is hearns Hagler and everybody knows that first round. And I'm with 1478 01:35:48,880 --> 01:35:53,119 you. You said this earlier. I got to watch the Hagler Hearns first 1479 01:35:53,199 --> 01:35:56,960 round in particular, at least once every sixty days, just to get my 1480 01:35:57,039 --> 01:36:00,840 juices going again and get the adrenaline going. When these guys birthdays come up 1481 01:36:00,880 --> 01:36:02,560 to me, it's like, you know, okay, you wish them happy 1482 01:36:02,560 --> 01:36:04,399 birthday. And Tommy, by the way, is a cool guy. I 1483 01:36:04,399 --> 01:36:08,319 don't I can't say I know. I know I've met and had known the 1484 01:36:08,399 --> 01:36:13,000 other four Kings better than I ever knew Tommy Hearns. You know, I 1485 01:36:13,039 --> 01:36:16,640 have spent you know, time with Duran and worked with Sugar Ray Leonard on 1486 01:36:16,680 --> 01:36:20,479 epics, and I've been around him numerous times. Hagler not as much, 1487 01:36:20,520 --> 01:36:23,880 but got to know him a little bit. Hearns though I have met. 1488 01:36:23,920 --> 01:36:26,800 He's a cool guy. I've told the story before. I sat next to 1489 01:36:26,840 --> 01:36:30,760 him at a roast of the Friars Club when they gave Bob aarm a birthday 1490 01:36:30,079 --> 01:36:33,560 celebration, and in the video presentation, Tommy was one of the guests. 1491 01:36:33,680 --> 01:36:38,920 I was just coincidental. I was seated next to Tommy during that and during 1492 01:36:38,920 --> 01:36:42,600 the course of the video presentation, they showed his knockout loss against Marvin Hagler 1493 01:36:42,800 --> 01:36:45,800 about three or four times in the clips, and at one point he turned 1494 01:36:45,800 --> 01:36:46,159 to me and he kind of grabbed my arm. He's like, why do 1495 01:36:46,199 --> 01:36:49,399 they keep showing that? I always remember that as a funny moment. But 1496 01:36:49,399 --> 01:36:54,119 but Tommy Hearns was a was a great fighter. Of course, his trainer 1497 01:36:54,239 --> 01:36:56,600 was became a dear friend of mine before he passed. That was the great 1498 01:36:56,640 --> 01:37:00,079 Emmanuel Stewart, also a Hall of Famer. If you don't like Tommy Hearns 1499 01:37:00,079 --> 01:37:04,000 fights, you can't call yourself a boxing fan. Amen. He's one of 1500 01:37:04,000 --> 01:37:09,600 the greats. And we got time enough for one more legend who turned sixty 1501 01:37:09,680 --> 01:37:12,960 one Thursday. We released this podcast. We're taping it late Thursday night. 1502 01:37:13,000 --> 01:37:18,399 We released it into Friday. Evander Holyfield sixty one on Thursday. Legend it 1503 01:37:18,520 --> 01:37:23,840 began with the Olympics. A lot of people don't realize I Vander got disqualified 1504 01:37:23,840 --> 01:37:27,760 and it cost him a chance at the gold medal at the eighty four Olympics. 1505 01:37:27,760 --> 01:37:30,640 But then he went on to overcome that become a world champion in the 1506 01:37:30,640 --> 01:37:34,720 cruiserweight division. That eventually the upset of Tyson and an all time great heavyweight. 1507 01:37:35,359 --> 01:37:38,720 The upset, well, he knocked out Buster Douglas first to win the 1508 01:37:38,760 --> 01:37:43,199 title, regained it against Tyson. So the real deal Holy Field a birthday 1509 01:37:43,239 --> 01:37:45,680 milestone as well. This week. Get nostalgic for me one more time, 1510 01:37:45,680 --> 01:37:46,760 real quick? All right, Well, the DQ in the Olympics was kind 1511 01:37:46,760 --> 01:37:50,319 of nonsense. That was a bad call against Kevin Barry. You know why, 1512 01:37:50,439 --> 01:37:54,840 you know why it happened. You know what happened. They were having 1513 01:37:55,199 --> 01:38:01,880 they had two rings in the arena and the bell rang in the other ring, 1514 01:38:02,319 --> 01:38:04,880 and it caused the fighter that you mentioned, and that's why you are 1515 01:38:04,920 --> 01:38:08,079 who you are. Kevin Barry is actually the guy's name, and you didn't 1516 01:38:08,079 --> 01:38:10,640 you have to look at it. You scare him. Kevin Barry became a 1517 01:38:10,640 --> 01:38:15,159 top trainer. There you go. So so the bell rings and Barry stopped 1518 01:38:15,239 --> 01:38:17,760 and the referee said stopped because he wasn't sure, and holy Field hit him 1519 01:38:18,239 --> 01:38:23,079 and it was because of that that Kevin Barry couldn't continue. They disqualified him, 1520 01:38:23,199 --> 01:38:25,319 cost Evander a shot at the gold medal. He didn't even get to 1521 01:38:25,319 --> 01:38:29,560 fight in the gold medal fight. So from that though, he rose from 1522 01:38:29,560 --> 01:38:32,720 that. It was very sympathetic around him after that. Vander Holyfield is a 1523 01:38:32,720 --> 01:38:35,560 great all time also because first of all, he was a guy that overcame 1524 01:38:36,159 --> 01:38:40,800 a lot in terms of people counting him out because of his size, you 1525 01:38:40,800 --> 01:38:44,479 know, as a cruiserweight, which was a newish division back then, wasn't 1526 01:38:44,520 --> 01:38:45,680 really given a lot of love. He really perked it up. Actually, 1527 01:38:45,960 --> 01:38:51,399 he became the first ever undisputed cruiserweight champion and he unified it through and talking 1528 01:38:51,439 --> 01:38:56,199 about the demise of Showtime Boxing. He won his cruiserweight title in one of 1529 01:38:56,199 --> 01:38:59,319 the last great fifteen round fights in boxing. Not the last, but one 1530 01:38:59,359 --> 01:39:03,520 of the last. Absolutely spectacular fight, his first doubt with Dwight Muhammad kawe 1531 01:39:03,720 --> 01:39:06,840 Ye. You've never seen it, worthwhile to watch it on YouTube. Just 1532 01:39:06,880 --> 01:39:15,319 a fucking war beyond war fifteen rounder at his home in Atlanta at the Omni, 1533 01:39:15,520 --> 01:39:16,920 you know, a place where he drew a huge crowd there for that 1534 01:39:17,079 --> 01:39:20,119 night. And anyway, that was one of the great fights you'll ever see. 1535 01:39:20,880 --> 01:39:25,600 That was on ABC network, and after that main events his promoter who 1536 01:39:25,600 --> 01:39:28,479 had signed him in many the other eighty four Olympians, they had to deal 1537 01:39:28,520 --> 01:39:33,399 with Showtime and so his fights and Meldrick Taylor's fights, and and I don't 1538 01:39:33,399 --> 01:39:39,720 know if it was Parnel Whitiger, but certainly Meldrick and Meldrick Taylor and holy 1539 01:39:39,760 --> 01:39:43,159 Field. Mo I guess there must have been some Whiger fights also were on 1540 01:39:43,479 --> 01:39:45,800 Showtime. So when he became the cruiserweight champion, he then went on a 1541 01:39:45,800 --> 01:39:49,279 pathway on Showtime where he was eventually able to unify. At the time, 1542 01:39:49,319 --> 01:39:53,079 remember it was the three belt here unified all three titles. He became the 1543 01:39:53,119 --> 01:39:57,079 undisputed cruiserweight champ and then went up to heavyweight, and Showtime followed that and 1544 01:39:57,279 --> 01:40:00,279 televised all those early heavyweight fights before he finally got the shot up us Or 1545 01:40:00,279 --> 01:40:03,079 Douglas and including like one and again another underrated fight that people don't talk about, 1546 01:40:03,079 --> 01:40:05,720 but one of the great fights you'll see, one of the great holy 1547 01:40:05,720 --> 01:40:10,439 Field fights, a war against Michael Doaks, the former champion, and then 1548 01:40:10,479 --> 01:40:14,359 of course he was supposed to fight Mike Tyson. Mike took a little side 1549 01:40:14,399 --> 01:40:16,720 strip to Tokyo and got knocked the fucked out by Buser Douglas, and so 1550 01:40:17,359 --> 01:40:21,159 Showtime pay per view back then a set did a pay per view where Vander 1551 01:40:21,239 --> 01:40:25,600 knocked out Buster to become the undisputed heavyweight champion, and then he ended up 1552 01:40:25,600 --> 01:40:27,800 going to HBO for a number of years and then before he came back to 1553 01:40:27,800 --> 01:40:30,359 Showtime obviously, but the point is he had that great build up in the 1554 01:40:30,359 --> 01:40:33,960 cruiserweight division and the heavyweights, then became a legend in the heavyweight division. 1555 01:40:34,199 --> 01:40:38,119 The two fights, well, the three fights he had with Rick Bow are 1556 01:40:38,159 --> 01:40:41,399 all legendary fights, two for the title, one was not for the title, 1557 01:40:41,439 --> 01:40:44,039 but all three of them are great. It's one of the few trilogies 1558 01:40:44,079 --> 01:40:48,800 where all three fights were epic upon epic upon epic, and then you know, 1559 01:40:48,960 --> 01:40:54,239 thought he was done, had a terrible performance against Bobby Chez. Then 1560 01:40:54,279 --> 01:40:56,760 they finally were like, oh he's finished, now we're going to match him 1561 01:40:56,760 --> 01:41:00,760 with Tyson. That was Don King thinking that, and what happens upsets Mike 1562 01:41:00,760 --> 01:41:04,000 Tyson not once, but twice gets half his ear bitten off. And you 1563 01:41:04,000 --> 01:41:08,479 know, had the two big fights with Lennox Lewis controversy in the first fight, 1564 01:41:08,520 --> 01:41:11,399 I lost in the second fight, and just one huge fight after another. 1565 01:41:11,439 --> 01:41:14,560 The Michael Moror fights he had. I mean, we could talk about 1566 01:41:14,640 --> 01:41:16,800 him though, the Ray Mercer battle that he had, which is an underrated 1567 01:41:16,840 --> 01:41:20,840 fight. I mean, this guy had so many quality fights. The George 1568 01:41:20,880 --> 01:41:25,560 Foreman fight when George was an older fighter, but they put on a whale 1569 01:41:25,600 --> 01:41:30,079 of a fight. This was like the first ever real modern pay per view 1570 01:41:30,079 --> 01:41:32,840 where most people ordered it in their house. It was the advent of TV. 1571 01:41:32,960 --> 01:41:38,119 I can't tell you I've shared this. I've shared this before. I 1572 01:41:38,199 --> 01:41:44,800 watched that fight in college at a ballroom in downtown Memphis on a ticket on 1573 01:41:44,960 --> 01:41:49,600 closed circuit, and that was a phenomenal fight with Holyfield and George Foreman before 1574 01:41:49,640 --> 01:41:54,920 Big Georgie eventually won the heavyweight title later off of Michael Moore. I vividly 1575 01:41:55,319 --> 01:41:58,439 got Rayfield. That's got to be ninety one, right, that's got to 1576 01:41:58,439 --> 01:42:00,720 be two years ago. I was, I was, I bought a ticket. 1577 01:42:00,760 --> 01:42:03,880 I was a junior in college and vividly remember closed circuit, But you're 1578 01:42:03,920 --> 01:42:08,600 right. Pay per view in the home became a bigger deal as ninety one 1579 01:42:08,640 --> 01:42:12,239 became nine, that was ninety three ninety four, it became a bigger deal 1580 01:42:12,319 --> 01:42:15,760 pay per view and the Morman Holy Holy Phil Foreman was the first official, 1581 01:42:15,199 --> 01:42:19,119 actual modern pay per view fight where most people watch it in their home. 1582 01:42:19,600 --> 01:42:23,920 Uh. That was the advent of tv KO, which became HBO pay per 1583 01:42:24,000 --> 01:42:27,600 view. After that, he had the he was supposed to fight another fighter 1584 01:42:27,640 --> 01:42:30,000 and it was a last and that replacement he fought Bert Cooper at home, 1585 01:42:30,119 --> 01:42:31,520 almost got knocked out, but made it super exciting. I mean, the 1586 01:42:31,560 --> 01:42:34,520 Vander Holyfield always gave you a value for your money. Uh, you know, 1587 01:42:34,560 --> 01:42:36,960 in his in his in his later days, you know, he just 1588 01:42:38,000 --> 01:42:40,840 wouldn't hang it up. And he had, you know, the Unnecessary Trilogy 1589 01:42:40,880 --> 01:42:44,000 with John Ruiz and some other fights that weren't so great, and he you 1590 01:42:44,000 --> 01:42:45,920 know, had a losing streak and and did not close out maybe in the 1591 01:42:45,920 --> 01:42:48,359 greatest fashionball time. Actually, if he really wanted the truth at the end 1592 01:42:48,359 --> 01:42:50,800 of his career, when he you know, later in the days in two 1593 01:42:50,840 --> 01:42:55,000 thousand and eight, you know, he actually went to Europe and fought Nikolai 1594 01:42:55,039 --> 01:42:58,199 Value for the WBA title and got robbed of the decision. He should have 1595 01:42:58,199 --> 01:43:01,119 been a heavyweight champion other time after that, believe it or not, but 1596 01:43:02,159 --> 01:43:04,560 that is the end of his career. What people remember, of course, 1597 01:43:04,640 --> 01:43:09,760 is is the heavyweight heyday, the bow fights, and even the Tyson fights. 1598 01:43:10,439 --> 01:43:12,000 I mean, what can you say? I mean, I'm I never 1599 01:43:12,039 --> 01:43:15,199 got to cover Tommy Hearns as an active fighter. I think maybe he might 1600 01:43:15,199 --> 01:43:15,960 have had one or two fights I might have written about, but I didn't 1601 01:43:15,960 --> 01:43:18,520 attend them. This was at the very end of his career. But I 1602 01:43:18,560 --> 01:43:21,119 had a chance. Maybe in the waning days of his career I did cover 1603 01:43:21,239 --> 01:43:24,760 probably, you know, I forget the exact number, probably like half a 1604 01:43:24,800 --> 01:43:28,680 dozen or so Evander Holyfield fights in person, and even though they weren't classics. 1605 01:43:28,880 --> 01:43:31,279 The one great thing as Evander wasn't always great with the media, but 1606 01:43:31,319 --> 01:43:33,600 in the later days he did. I can still remember. I tell a 1607 01:43:33,680 --> 01:43:38,680 quick story. It was the night before he fought Chris Bird. That was 1608 01:43:38,720 --> 01:43:43,439 a fight that was for a title, the IBF title in Boardwalk Hall. 1609 01:43:43,760 --> 01:43:46,359 This is two thousand and two, and I was there and he wanted to 1610 01:43:46,359 --> 01:43:50,039 do a workout like the night before the fight, not anything strenuous, just 1611 01:43:50,119 --> 01:43:54,560 kind of shake out, kind of move around the ring, hit the knits 1612 01:43:54,600 --> 01:43:56,840 for a little bit, just to work up a sweat. But he wanted 1613 01:43:56,840 --> 01:43:59,600 to do it at the time where he would be fighting, so that meant, 1614 01:43:59,760 --> 01:44:02,880 you know, around eleven thirty at night thereabouts. And so myself and 1615 01:44:02,920 --> 01:44:06,359 like three or four other reporters that were already in Atlantic City for the event 1616 01:44:06,680 --> 01:44:09,920 they were they say, you want to come over and talk to a Vander. 1617 01:44:10,159 --> 01:44:11,800 We can watch him, you know, hit the mids a little bit. 1618 01:44:11,840 --> 01:44:14,439 And so we go into the empty boardwalk Call, which is a huge 1619 01:44:14,439 --> 01:44:16,079 cavernous building, but the ring and everything was already set up, and we 1620 01:44:16,119 --> 01:44:19,279 watched him work for probably, you know, probably like twenty minutes. It 1621 01:44:19,319 --> 01:44:23,720 wasn't like a lengthy, strenuous workout, and then he came down afterwards out 1622 01:44:23,720 --> 01:44:26,439 of the ring to talk to us. Now I had already filed my stories, 1623 01:44:26,439 --> 01:44:28,199 there wasn't I mean, I was maybe to hear what he has to 1624 01:44:28,199 --> 01:44:30,560 say. I just kind of wanted to see and get a feel for how 1625 01:44:30,560 --> 01:44:32,159 he looked and everything. So I wasn't like taking notes like I'm going to 1626 01:44:32,199 --> 01:44:34,560 write a story, because my material for you know, this is back when 1627 01:44:34,560 --> 01:44:36,920 I was at USA today. We were done for the you know, I 1628 01:44:36,960 --> 01:44:42,079 had done filing my stories, and he's going on. He's answering questions from 1629 01:44:42,079 --> 01:44:44,640 a bunch of us, and he's talking and talking and talking and gets you 1630 01:44:44,720 --> 01:44:45,680 point you after like, you know, like ten minutes fifteen they it's like, 1631 01:44:45,680 --> 01:44:47,039 oh yah, you know, I'm thinking, we're good. You know 1632 01:44:47,079 --> 01:44:50,359 what else is going to say? Dude wouldn't shut up. He must have 1633 01:44:50,439 --> 01:44:55,479 talked for an hour and he just he was enjoying. He's like, you 1634 01:44:55,520 --> 01:44:57,359 know, he was having a good time. It got to a point. 1635 01:44:57,479 --> 01:44:59,479 This is rare where you're like all the writers are like, all right, 1636 01:44:59,479 --> 01:45:01,199 we're good, got to go. Usually the reporters will stay and asking, 1637 01:45:01,279 --> 01:45:02,800 asking us. But no, no, no, I have more. I 1638 01:45:02,800 --> 01:45:05,359 have more that I want to share. He wanted to talk that night. 1639 01:45:05,399 --> 01:45:09,640 And he's a great, you know, great engaging guy, a friendly guy 1640 01:45:10,840 --> 01:45:14,680 as a person. I've always loved the Vander. I've known him for a 1641 01:45:14,680 --> 01:45:18,199 long time. Here's a great thing about Evander Holyfield. I could go three 1642 01:45:18,279 --> 01:45:20,720 years without talking to Evander, and then if I needed him for something, 1643 01:45:20,720 --> 01:45:23,920 I could call a cell phone. He's the one guy that never changes his 1644 01:45:24,000 --> 01:45:27,960 cell phone number, so he's had the same cell phone number for twenty years 1645 01:45:28,000 --> 01:45:30,840 probably like it's amazing. So and you call him up and he's just a 1646 01:45:30,840 --> 01:45:33,560 wonderful guy and so he was a great fighter. And happy birthday to the 1647 01:45:33,560 --> 01:45:39,680 real deal man. It has been a show a ton on the program of 1648 01:45:39,760 --> 01:45:43,920 News of Fight Previews. I think this is the first time we mentioned this. 1649 01:45:44,039 --> 01:45:47,199 We're going to handicap the Jack Catterall main event, as comical as it 1650 01:45:47,279 --> 01:45:53,000 might be in England, as well as the Alexis roacha main event in Inglewood, 1651 01:45:53,279 --> 01:45:56,680 California, on the bet Us Boxing Show Live at one Eastern time. 1652 01:45:57,720 --> 01:46:00,680 Whatever happens this weekend will obviously come off the weekend with a fight for each 1653 01:46:00,680 --> 01:46:02,760 to night recap. You heard from Oscar de la Hooya at length on this 1654 01:46:02,840 --> 01:46:08,359 podcast, News Nostalgia, all of it. Make sure you're following subscribing on 1655 01:46:08,399 --> 01:46:12,680 the podcast outlets, because again we come your way twice right now on the 1656 01:46:12,720 --> 01:46:15,800 schedule, at least twice, with a preview podcast out Friday and a recap 1657 01:46:15,800 --> 01:46:20,319 podcast out Monday. With that, I guess I'll talk to you next coming 1658 01:46:20,399 --> 01:46:24,359 up on the bet Us Boxing Show at one Eastern time on their platforms, 1659 01:46:24,359 --> 01:46:27,920 their YouTube, all their platforms, and we'll do some handicapping and we'll get 1660 01:46:27,960 --> 01:46:30,119 ready for the weekend to fight Stan Raphael. That sounds good to me. 1661 01:46:30,880 --> 01:46:34,039 Great stuff there, Thank you again for fighting us. I'm merely TJ Reeves. 1662 01:46:34,079 --> 01:46:38,119 You've been listening to the Big Fight Weekend preview