The countdown is on to fight time. This is Big Fight Weekend. No,
here is your host? DJ leaves. Well, here we are one
more time in twenty twenty three. Good to be back with you here on
the podcast feed. As we go in to the final weekend of the calendar
year, we actually do have a world title fight to talk about, but
that also means that we've got to go over Fighter of the Year and maybe
some other tidbits as well. I am merely the somewhat competent host. He
is our insider Fight Freaks United as a substack. Why are you not subscribing?
Also Big Fight Weekend dot Com? Hello Dan Rayfield? Can I say
that we've almost made it? We got to get through this podcast. We've
almost made it to the finish line of another year. They said it wouldn't
last you and me. It's apparently gonna last through another calendar year. How
are you. I'm good. I'm looking forward to talking about the year that
was and some of the stuff we've got coming up. I was before we
got on here. I was looking at my schedule that I keep for my
substack and noticing that we've got some good fight you know, usually the year
starts out a little slow, not unusual, but we've got pretty much notable
fights every weekend in the month of January into February, of course, with
the undisputed Heavyweight Championship fight and beyond so and that's even before the folks at
PBC have scheduled their first non showtime events as they embark on their new deal
with Prime Video with Amazon. So I'm hopeful that in twenty twenty four we'll
have as many good and big fights as we had in twenty twenty three because
it has been. For all of the bad news that has occurred, it's
been a pretty damn good year for boxing in the ring for sure. Yeah,
we'll go over a lot of that in a little bit. Thank you
for finding us however you've done so, Dan Substack his newsletter social media link.
Make sure you're following subscribing. We are typically here preview mode Thursday into
Friday night, Thursday night into Friday, i should say, and then we're
usually in the recap mode. Now, Rayfield and I have been going over
all of this and because of Mayhem and New Year's Eve and the fact that
there is a world title fight in Japan. But you're still checking as we
release this podcast. There's not a way to really to see this as of
yet if you're in the United States. But the title fights Sunday Morning.
Maybe that's gonna change right now, It's doubtful. So there's peeps, there's
probably not going to be a review podcast. I say probably not. I
won't say definitively no, but probably not. You're gonna have to get through
New Year's weekend without us, but we will be back in the new year
and ready to go because Virgil Ortiz fights next weekend, not this weekend,
but next weekend. So you know, Rayfield's got the social calendar going for
New Year's Eve. I know your giants have been long out of the playoff
hopes of the NFL, but my Buccaneers can clinch the playoffs Sunday. I'm
ultra busy with that on New Year's afternoon with the NFL playing Sunday. It's
not that we don't care about your peeps, savages, It's not that we
don't love you. There's just probably not gonna be a recap podcast. And
you did like previously when I had the computer problems like two or three weeks
ago, and we were physically trying to figure out how to do the podcast.
You had people that were almost, I don't know, despondent. They
were like addicts going through withdraw with the shakes because it was three o'clock Monday
afternoon, and where's my Rayfiel. I'm just warning them, I'm preparing them.
They'll be there, they'll live, they'll live. We're fine on that.
Now, you and I have not done this since the monster owe him.
Naoya, in a way, does get his win, does get his
next undisputed titles. By the way, he also gets named the Fighter of
the Year by Dan Rayfield. But more than more on that coming up.
It's a victory over Martin to Poulos, I've got to confess that it took
longer than I thought it was going to take. In his title fight in
Japan on Tuesday morning. Now, it looked as though he had him significantly
hurt, knocked down at the end of the third round, But the bell
rings or was it the end of the fourth round? Fourth round? But
the bell rings? Say by the bell the cliche. He recovered in between
rounds, and Topolus deserves credit because he was still firing back, he was
still aggressive. He didn't just run, try not to get hit, try
to last the distance. There are my thoughts, but the monster does get
the win. He's undisputed again at one hundred and twenty two pounds. Dan,
give us more pick it up from there. I mean, you say
it took a little longer than you expected. I mean that just shows you
the greatness of an in a way, because the expectation is he's going to
just destroy other champions in short order, and Topoulis is a good fighter,
maybe not a great fighter, and so okay, so it took me a
little longer. Remember this was the biggest moment of Marlin Depolis's boxing life,
so he was giving it everything he had. So if it went into round
ten, that's probably a combination of his own desire and will, as well
as the fact that anyways trying to do what he's going to do. So,
you know, just because it went a little longer than maybe the expectation
was, I don't think that's a knock I mean maybe to Polis, maybe
he won. Well, one judge had a shutout going into the knockout round,
and I think he had won one or two rounds on the other score
cards. It was a ninety to eighty on one card, eighty nine to
eighty one on another card, and one judge gave him two rounds. It
was eighty eight to eighty two at the time of the knockout, so it
was yet another dominating performance from in a way, he's beating the top fighters
in his weight classes, whichever weight classes he's competing in, whether it's the
bandam weight division, like he did when he became undisputed. If you go
back before that, he was doing the same early on as a junior flyweight
champion. He skipped over the flyweight division, started to do that same kind
of damage in the junior bantamweight division, and then went to bantam weight and
now he's the king of the hill, the man at one twenty two there's
never been TJ. He's now the four belt champion, undisputed at one twenty
two, and that's the big deal still in this sport, because, as
I like to say, you know, people can shoot on the belts and
say, you know, there they're water down, and then to a degree
that's true in some weight divisions for sure, But if it was so easy,
everybody would be doing and everybody strives to do and only a select few
elites have been able to do that. And not only is he the four
belt champion in the twenty two pound division, he's also the first ever that
was a three belt champion, the first ever that was a two belt undisputed,
And you were explaining that before that's hard to believe. There wasn't even
a two belt undisputed. And I know that super bantamweight or junior featherweight hasn't
been around forever, but it's been around what forty years, I mean,
so there's been fighters that would could proclaim themselves to be undisputed before the multiple
belts. But in the modern age, if you will, there's been great
fighters and lineal champions and guys who've unified titles and things like that, but
it's never been one solitary champion. So you know, it's a big deal.
So you know, in a way, in the earlier fight in two
thousand and in twenty three, became a four division champion, and now he
has established himself as undisputed in this way class. He said he wants a
Cantinue to defend that title, which I'm sure he will do for his fights
in twenty twenty four. I think there's a reasonable chance that he may fight
three times in the calendar year, according to what his promoters that were saying,
they have you know, in our country, there's typically that news conference
right after the fight. In Japan, a lot of times what they do
is they'll talk right after the fight, but then they'll have like a more
of a press thing the next day, you know, whis a little bit
more to like reflect and to look ahead rather than reflect. In any event,
it was a spectacular performance. He was fast, he was powerful,
his jab is good as you know, everything that we talked about within a
way he did, I mean. And then the last shot he caught him
with us a clean as a whistle, right hand kind of on the forehead,
kind of maybe near the temple, and it was like it just it
just froze to Paulus in place. He eventually like took a little bit of
a step back and then dropped down to the knees on all fours and just
was out of it. I mean, he tried to get up. I
mean, I give him credit for the heart that he showed, but he
could not beat that count. And that was all she wrote, I mean,
and and it was it didn't even really you know, there was no
like crazy celebration. It wasn't the same. Remember when Tyson knocked out Sphinx
and he just kind of looked at his trainer, Kevin Rooney and and kind
of opened his arm. Yeah, in a way, he kind of a
little reminded me about that little bit. It wasn't quite the same thing,
but there was no like crazy celebration. It's like, I expected to do
this and he did it, and it's you know, it's not easy to
do. People have to remember that to get to that level and to perform
at that level in that moment is difficult. And even in the loss,
I feel like Tapaulus showed much more than people gave him credit for. He's
he gained fans. I'm sure from that fight he's going to get other opportunities
because of that performancing that that to me, that meets the what I always
hope for in these biggest fights, which is whatever the result is that it
elevates the winner and the loser. And I feel like the performance that in
a way turned in obviously elevates him even higher, and it elevates that topalis
also because it makes you want to see him. I was thinking to myself,
you know what, I wouldn't mind seeing Marlin Tapolas agains Stephen Fulton as
an example. They're the two guys that in a way defeated, but they're
both really good fighters, and I think that would be a hell of a
fight. Whether it will happen, who that knows, but look in a
way spectacular. As always, he's onto what will be a series of defenses
this year instead of just marching after belts. Most likely you're looking at a
may fight against the former title holder, Luis Neary, who is his mandatory
if you go back to the WBC convention that took place a few weeks ago.
At that convention, it was mandated that and they are next up in
the rotation that the winner of in a way to Polas would have to next
defend against the mandatory in their organization. Obviously, we're four for the belt,
so I'm pretty sure that that will happen. Nary has a little bit
of a history with Japan, having missed weight and having been a strip of
the Banhamway title back in the day, and kind of has like a he's
kind of like an enemy number one and in some regard over in Japan,
So that would make for sort of a you know, a kind of a
big promotion and uh, and then beyond that, you know they've talked again,
same guys they were talking about prior to this fight, maybe at Jhon
Real Casamarro, those types of names. So uh, in a way,
he's gonna have plenty of good names to fight. And I think once twenty
twenty four is over, if he's still standing, we'll see him move up
to the featherweight division and go after more hardware. But what can you say.
He's a he's a he's a great fighter. I mean, and he's
beenous. He's been scoring impressive knockouts even while moving up to one eighteen into
one twenty two, and that just that's gonna segue right into you naming him
the fighter of the year. You just remember one thing. By the way,
he turned pro as a junior flyweight. He won his first title in
the one hundred and eight pound division in his like fifth or sixth professional fight.
So his record now in world title fights, like his overall boxing record,
he's twenty six to zero with twenty three knockouts. His record in world
championship fights enough twenty one to oh with nineteen knockouts, and he's not beating
bums, He's he's beating other champions and other quality fighters. And I was
just going right there because one of the biggest components to your Fighter of the
Year is who he beat with, Stephen Fulton, and he beat him badly
and knocked him out earlier this year in the first of those two wins,
and that, I don't want to say that was eye opening. We knew
the Monster could punch, but he dominated Fulton moving up a division even he
dominated Fulton in that fight. So that segues into follow up on that on
why this made the Monster stand out the most to you for twenty twenty three,
as you've put out on your substack, he's your Fighter the Year.
Yeah, I mean, I know there's a lot of good candidates. You
know, there are several good candidates, but there was really only three.
I mean, I do honorable mentions also, I think it's the winner.
Plus I think if you read the story, it's like six honorable mentions,
But to me, there was really three guys that were in the running to
actually win. You know, I use the old saying it's an honor just
to be nominated. So the guys that got the honorable mentions, you know,
good for them, Guys like Dravonte, Tank Davis and David Benavite's and
O'shaki Foster. I mean, they had tremendous years in their own right.
Bam Rodriguez coming off the jaw injury and you know, having a winning another
title and getting the jaw injury, having the tremendous and dominating performance against Sonny
Edwards to unify. So all really good years for these guys. But the
three guys that were in the running in my mind anyway, and I'm probably
not alone when I say this, it was in a way for sure,
Devin Haney, who had a big year. He beat Lomachenko and then he
that was to defend the undisputed lightweight title. And then in his first title,
his first fight at one hundred and forty, he didn't just beat Regis
Prograde, you know, he took him to school, knocked him down and
won literally twelve rounds to zero to win another world title. And then you
had Terrence Crawford who only had the one fight, but what a fight it
was. It was, as I have stated numerous times, to me in
my time of covering boxing, you'd have to you know, even maybe you
know historically it stands as one of the best big fight wins ever in terms
of just you know, the ultimate summit meeting showdown where you perform at the
absolute apex of your game and you completely pummel and route and destroy, you
know, a fighter that is an outstanding pound for pound level guy in his
own right, So you have to make the pick at that highest level.
So hany tremendous year. I kind of eliminated him from the standpoint that the
Loma Chanko fight, it's a win, it's a great win. I give
him credit for it. I'm a Hainy fan. Uh Personally, I scored
the fight a draw, so that kind of closed. It was a close
fight. It was a close fight, So if he had gotten that Loma
win a little more cleanly, you could maybe make the better case for him.
So I kind of said, Okay, I can't give it to him
on that, even though it was a great year. Then I was thinking
about Terrence Crawford and when you compare it to in a way, the one
drawback if there is that Crawf only fought one time. And I'm not saying
you can't be the fighter of the year with only one fight. It certainly
happened at times in the history of boxing, but that probably meant there was
not another fighter with at a similarly superb year that had more than one fight.
And so as phenomenal as the victory was for Crawford against Spence, and
remember that was such a big win that I again, I'm not the end
all be all, but from my personal viewpoint, I moved Crawford to number
one pound for pound off that victory I had. I didn't have him number
one before that win, so that that put him into that number one position
pound for pound. And let's and let's add this. Crawford's tooting his own
horn. He's out on social media and he's saying, I'm the guy that
beat another pound for pound, top five guy, undefeated, unified champion,
and it doesn't matter that I only had one fight. I'm the fighter of
the year. He's saying that about himself. Okay, well, none of
those things are wrong, but I agree with you. If somebody else wins
two important fights, it outweighs winning only one important fight. The personalities and
dominated those fights right. So Terrence Crawford is entitled to his opinion. He
can say whatever he wants. In the end, you know, I can't
tell how many fighters I have heard through the year say, you know,
I just do my fights in the ring. It's up to you guys,
meaning the fans and the media to pick, you know, who's pound for
pound, who's the fighter of the year, that kind of business. Who
gets in the Hall of Fame. Obviously, that's up to the press,
who's in the voting panel. It's not like a negative to like be pick
number two. I got him number one pound for pound, and he can
say what he wants. I disagree with him. Fight more than once a
year, and if he had fought a second time, he probably would have
been the fighter of the year. To be quite honest with you. But
when you look at what in a way did you know it Trumpedd in my
opinion, the combination of the history that he made, they are. They
both accomplished two big deals this year, which is Crawford did it first and
then in a way did it a few months later. They're the only two
fighters to become a four belt undisputed champion in two way clas classes. Crawford
in twenty seventeen and did it as the junior welterweight champion, and then of
course in July did it in the in the welterweight division. And in a
way he did it like we talked about at the end of last year,
he became the four belt champion in the bandamweight division, and three eight hundred
and seventy eight days later he does it two fights later in the junior featherweight
division. And the thing about it also, you know, these two guys
have been kind of back and forth in terms of who's the best, who's
number one, who's gonna be the fighter of the year, all all year
long, pretty much because when they fought in July, it was in a
way pummeling Fulton on one of the weekday fights in Japan, and then it
was a few days later on the Saturday that it was Terrence Crawford scoring the
three knockdowns and knocking out Eryl Spence. So, look, these are both
Hall of Fame fighters, they're both greats of the time, they're both as
good as it gets. They're one and two and the pound for pound however
you want to put them. I've said on a number of occasions. You
know, I may have Crawford number one and in a way number two one
pound for pound, but to me, anybody that does a pound for pound
you have to have one of those guys one and one of those guys too,
And then to me, there's like a fall off to who's number three.
You know, people can argue it's ooh sick, or it's Bivol,
or it's maybe it's Canelo, or maybe it's this, or maybe it's that.
But the point is, in a way and Crawford have separated themselves from
the rest of the pack in the sport, and and Crawford has been the
Fighter of the Year. I've picked Crawford twice previously as the Fighter Fighter of
the Year, so I'm not like biased against Crawford. I just felt like
and I would have no problem picking him a third time if I thought he
should be it. I have had Manny Pacyat as a Fighter of the Year
three times in the past. And if you go on my substack and read
the article, you'll see at the bottom I've been picking a Fighter of the
Year since I started at USA today in the year two thousand, so I
have all of my picks every single year from two thousand to the president,
you'll see a list of you know, pretty much everybody in there's Hall of
Fame level. There's a couple that pulled surprises, like when Johnson for example.
But you know, I just felt like in a way, over the
course of the three hundred and sixty five days, was just a nose ahead
of Terrence Crawford and to a little bit more of an extent again ahead of
Devin Hainey. But you know, I'll say another thing, TJ this year
compared to a lot of years, probably one of the years that was more
difficult to pick than others, because a lot of times it's pretty easy.
Like picking Canelo when he became undisputed against Plant wasn't hard to do, you
know, right, go back to long time ago when Bernard Hopkins ran through
the Middleway tournament and then knocked out Tito Trindeat, not hard to pick him
as the fighter the yere look at some of the years at Packyhowder, look
at some of the years that Floyd at These were not hard picks. This
was a hard pick because you've got such greatness at the top. And one
more note from me, since We've now reached the end of December. Terrence,
take to social media and tell us when you're fighting again, Because it's
been five months since you fought Eryl Spence. Are you fighting him again?
Are you fighting somebody else again? Gotta have to wait till next summer for
you to fight again. You're being a little harsh on that's not really He's
let us know, let us Spence exercise the rematch right. Obviously, it
was originally supposed to be at the end of this year. We knew that
wasn't going to actually happen. But because of the fact that PBC is switching
their broadcasters, and there's other things that are way out of the hands of
both Erol Spence and Terrence Crawford. I do not give I can give Terrence
Crawford a grief about this or that or whatever, but not not this.
This is not in his control. Are you telling me that Terrence Crawford and
Erol Spence could be fighting like March April may Maybe not like that. It's
possible. There's a lot of things that are possible. I guess I'm still
not entirely convinced that the rematch is going to happen. I told you back
in September. You kept saying to me they invoked it. I said,
I believe it when I see it. Oh, I believe that too.
I'll believe it when I see it, all right, And so now we'll
segue off of that part. And it is a preview podcast, and I
should make mention we will have one final bet Us boxing show Friday's at one
Eastern time for twenty twenty three, the final one of this year. And
so on that show, we'll be talking about Vido Melnecki fighting in New Jersey
on Friday night, and also this Caz Ioka world title fight in Japan Sunday
morning, US times Sunday night, New Year's Eve before they ring in the
new year in Tokyo Sunday night. So we'll preview those a little more in
handicap those a little more. Again. Melniki is a significant favorite, like
a nine to one favorite, and he is under his contender fight. He
is the main event in Newark, New Jersey. Ioka is also significantly favored,
and I need to know more about this opponent and is he really a
legitimate threat to Ioka here coming in this main event in Japan. So while
we're in the preview mode, tell me about Josber Perez and the WBA Junior
Bantamweight Championship title fight in Japan in the preview mode. Please Well, first
of all, I don't know if a lot of Americans know Ioka that well
or appreciate him, but they should if you spend a few minutes examining his
record or watching some of his fights. This is a guy that's like pushing
Hall of Fame level in his career. I mean, he may not be
a big name in the United States, he's not the number one name in
Japan even that belongs at this time to in a way obviously, but he
has won bona fide titles in four way classes strawweight, junior, flyweight,
flyweight, junior, bandawaight. He will be making the first defense of this
title. Remember, he had the two fight series with Joshua Franco where the
first fight was supposed to be a unification. It was called the draw.
He then gave up a title to meet Franco in the rematch because it was
just worth so much more money and they weren't going to allow him to unify
because of mandatory obligations. Et cetera. So he defeated frankin the rematch,
and so instead of having the w BO belt also, he vacated that and
then won the WBA title. So he's defending that as you mentioned against Jos
bar Perez that takes place in Tokyo. What I find interesting is, you
know, in the United States, there are certain dates where everybody expects a
big boxing match, you know, for you know, superstar Mexican fighters.
You have the Sinko Mile Saturday. You also have the independent Mexican Independence Day
weekend that takes place the second week of September. There have been you know,
Top Rank has sort of made into a big deal for a superstar Puerto
Rican fighter on the Saturday of the Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend in New York
City, where they have usually a big Puerto Rican fight. So those those
have become sort of you know, dates to circle where you know there's going
to be sort of like a big deal fight. Well, in Japan it
has been traditioned for a number of years where they not just for you know,
a particular fighter, but there's typically like a celebration of boxing around the
New Year's holiday. On New Year's Eve, sometimes the day before in that
week obviously in a way fought on the twenty sixth, And there have been
years where there's been you know, five, six seven world title fights on
that in and around the New Year's holiday. This year there's just the one
fight in terms of the title fight with Ioka against Perez. Do you know
what TJ. This is going to be. Ioka has thirty three professional fights.
This will be a thirty fourth professional fight. Will be out of those
thirty four professional fights, he'll be his twelfth fight on New Year's Eve.
It's like his stage. Yeah, I mean, that's that's it's a standard
almost set your watch boy in Japan. It's amazing. So it is kind
of a big deal for him. And as I said, he's going to
defend this newly acquired title for the first time. And you asked me about
so Ioka is a really good fighter. I mean, he is no joke.
He's been around for quite a while and he's beaten some very quality guys
through the years. He is Johns re Perez one of those quality guys.
It's kind of shaky. He's got a good record. He's twenty wins three
losses with eighteen knockouts. He's still in his twenties, twenty eight years old
from Venezuela. And in his biggest fight, he challenged for the WBA Flyway
title, So this is a weight class above that, and that was in
twenty twenty and he lost the decision to Ardam Delachian, who has you know,
been around for quite a while. So if that that's like his biggest
fight so far, you know, can he do anything against Ioka? Obviously
the underdog for a reason, but it's not as though he doesn't have some
experience against a better level of opponent. But Ioka, as I said to
you, he's a guy that's I got big wins on his record. He
does have a win over Franco that was impressive. He's beaten uh, you
know, the the other UH multi division champion in Donnie Niettes. He has
beaten Francisco Rodriguez Junior, who's been a champion in multiple classes, Kosi Tanaka,
who's won titles in four weight classes for three and maybe he's going for
four. But again, number of wins, you know, McWilliams Arroyo was
a good fighter who he defeated. He's beaten a number of good guys,
Juan Carlos Revecco, if you go back a few years ago by a knockout,
I might add. I mean again, these are not household names,
but if you follow the lower weight classes, these are quality guys. Felix
Alvarado who became a champion. He beat him when Felix was undefeated, so
he's been and he beat he beat like one of my favorite Japanese fighters are
of all time, who I always call like the Japanese gott he who's won
titles in multiple classes. This was a unification fight in the strawweight division against
my man a at Yeagaishi, who's always been in good fights if you follow
Japanese boxing. So all I'm saying is, you know, Ioka may not
have that big name reputation in America or with fight fans on this side of
the ocean the Pacific, but he's a damn good fighter. He's been doing
this thing for a long time. And uh, you know, I've been
watching him for many years and you know, he's really good and we'll see
if he can keep it. The other I also will say this, I
was fortunate to see him fight live one time. Uh, and this was
a card that he fought in UH in the forum in in Los you know,
right outside Los Angeles, Engwood, California. It was one of the
UH, one of the UH. Tom Loffar had done a series of the
super Fly cards and he fought in the United States and had had a win
on that cart against Arroyo. Wasn't a world title fight, but it was
still, you know, good to see him in person. All right,
So again, that is Sunday morning for us here in the United States,
and as it stands, we'll keep it in tune with your social media,
your substec. It doesn't look like there's TV, and it doesn't look like
there's going to be You'll have to fight on YouTube those kind of things.
The social media links will be there, uh, for the for the finish
of the fight. Maybe if it's a knockout, et cetera. To look
into it. And again we'll handicap it more on the bet Us show.
All Right, some news Deontay Wilder coming off of last weekend in the day
of reckoning. Uh, it reckoned, it reckoned badly for him. It
wrecked his future too with the possible fight. Although he says he would like
to go on. Uh. He did bring up any number of scenarios,
including maybe fighting Anthony Joshua again. I will I will just say this.
I've enjoyed watching him, interviewing him, uh and talking about this, but
this just looks, smells and feels like the end for him. I mean,
he's saying one thing. Uh, somebody joked with me, and I
don't think we joked about on the podcast. Uh. He's gotten very comfortable
with all the money, and that's fine, and so is the hunger still
there? As this person said, it's like Rocky and Mickey sitting on the
to the bed in Rocky three, one of your favorite You got civilized,
right, Yeah, you know, maybe maybe that's part of the downfall here
at the very end. I don't know the mixture, Like we talked about,
Fury may be beat it out of him, et cetera. I don't
think that the Joshua fight's not a realistic fight for twenty twenty four or not
right now. So I don't know what else there. You never say never,
I mean, but the thing is, like I find it to be
hilarious where he's the fight was signed. Joshua did his part. You got
to do your part, and he didn't. He failed miserably at the part.
Doesn't make him a bad guy. He just didn't win the fight,
and there goes the deal. Now. Like anything, if the two sides
agreed, they could have redone a deal. Obviously, the financials would be
a little bit different, I'm sure, and they can probably still make the
fight, But I don't think that the public demand after that atrocious performance from
wild There is going to be there. That's right. If you were the
people that are running the boxing program in Saudi Arabia, who are paying the
big money for these events, are you would you rather do that fight or
do something else? I think you might want to do something that might be
viewed as a more competitive fight at this moment in time. I think you'd
be hard pressed to find a lot of people who would pick Deontay Wilder at
this moment in time to defeat Anthony Joshua. We've seen upsets happen, sure,
but I just found it amusing to say that, you know, to
see some of the comments from Deontay post loss saying he would still do the
fight, and it's like, now Joshua doesn't want to do the fight.
Well, yeah, no, shit, you lost, dude, what do
you expect? I mean, I will say this. I do understand promoters
jobs or to hype their guys and the whole thing. But Eddie Hearn saying
in the aftermath of all of this, Deontay Wilder was never any good.
I mean, that's I'm paraphrasing what he was saying. He was never he
was never Anthony Joshua, he was never any good. He wasn't fighting real
fighters and all of this. That's wrong too. By the way, you
wanted your guy to be as far away by the separation of the Atlantic Ocean
from Deontay Wilder as possible in twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, and twenty seventeen,
or they were thought they would have fought. Elder went out there and
did this interview with an outfit. I believe it's called seventy eight sports.
Okay, where I appreciate you're probably, but I've never heard of them.
Okay, go ahead, though, I've never heard of seventy eight sports.
But where he's saying, meaning Joshua, they don't really want to fight.
They signed a contract to fight, and you ship the bend right, and
he went on to talk about how like when I lost, you saw how
happy Joshua was, Like, now he can escape, you know, he
can get away from me. You know. It almost seems like Deontay Wilder
doesn't know what to say or what to do after the Fury loss and now
after this loss. But he's the one he's searching. He doesn't know what
to say saying that that did Joshua that that because Deontay lost. Joshua was
the one saying now it's like the perfect way for for Deontay saying it's the
perfect way for him to get out of the fight and out, it's an
out. We know the way to get out of the fight is you lost.
Joshua signed the contract. He was ready, willing and able. We're
gonna I have provided they both win, which we covered thoroughly about it.
They don't lose, which they could have gone the fight if it had been
a draw or a no decision or no contest, So it wasn't even predicated
on a victory. If you got a twelve round draw against Joe Parker,
you'd have been in the fight. So don't sit there and look. I
love Deontay. I'm a fan. I like him personally, but I gotta
be real, bro, you don't lose a fight in that one sided ass
kicking manner where you did absolutely dick for twelve rounds. You landed thirty nine
punches in a twelve round fight, and you never landed a decent right hand,
maybe one not your best for sure. And you're telling the guy who
signed a contract and won the main event impressibly that because he won't fight you
now because you lost, that's his way of getting out of the fight.
What the fuck are you talking about? I'm with you on that. A
little more news before we're done and before we're good here on the program,
and that includes Gervonte Davis. When are we going to see him again as
it maybe going to be on that first PBC Amazon show on the timeline?
And I know he was he putting it out there about fighting in a way
or no, who was putting it out there? Also, my man,
my man Rayphael has in bold letters absurd on the rundown here about Tank and
in a way. Okay, first of all, I do not think that
Tank's the first one out of the gate when they kick off the Amazon deal,
because I was might I don't know this for sure, but I would
suspect that the first event they do is not necessarily going to be to start
off with a pay per view. Maybe I'll be wrong, but certainly in
the early going you will see. You got to figure I was going to
see Tank back in the ring. He hasn't fought since April with the win
over Ryan Garcia, so it'll be you know, they don't start till March,
so you know it'll be about a year obviously. You know, part
of that was because he was in jail for a couple of months. Uh.
On social media, there have been a bunch of people suggesting that in
a way should somehow move up and fight Tank Davis, which that's like video
game shit. Like boxing, weight classes do actually exist very reason now,
the very all time greats have been able to go up and do remarkable things
moving from division to division. Manny Pacao did it in eight weight classes.
The guy won his first world title as a feather as a flyweight at one
hundred and twelve pounds, had actually turned pro weighing like one hundred and six
pounds and fought as heavy as you know he was, only he only weighed
won forty four whatever, But he won a title in the junior middleweight division,
so that's a limit of one hundred and fifty four pounds. So he
basically went, you know, span about a fifty fifty pound you know,
set of of weight classes and became the only ever eight division world champion.
Right, very very few guys can do that. We're seeing in a way
do it now in the smaller weight classes where he's already been champion from one
toweight to one twenty two, and there were people suggesting he should now somehow
be moving up to fight Davis at one thirty five. And to Gervante's credit,
the reason we're talking about this because he's the one that went and responded
to some of those folks on his social media and I quote, I'm not
fighting him. This is something he wrote on Instagram. I'm not fighting him.
He's nowhere near my weight. Why this page keeps posting shit like this?
You know? And he put nowhere in capitol letters, so right,
you know, and you know, Davis is I think about that it from
one hundred eight pounds to one hundred and thirty five pounds. How big of
a spread that is? That's you know what almost thirty pounds. So that
would be the equivalent of Davis being a champion at or a title holder now
at one hundred and thirty five pounds, of putting on this similar amount of
weight and moving up thirty pounds and maybe fighting for a super middleweight time.
Like, you got to think about these things. So right, there's levels,
you know, in a way, and and Gervante are both pound for
pound ranked guys, and they both are you know, have star power in
their own right, and are obviously very exciting and very interesting and you know
all the things that go into making into a boxing superstar. But the notion
that people are so fucking stupid that they would be suggesting that in a way
after just coming to one twenty two, she now suddenly go to one thirty
five to fight Tank Davis. How about Tank Davis go up to one forty
and fight like Tia Fimo or fight you know, uh like that in that
weight class. I mean maybe he will, uh at some point. He's
already fought in the weight class at least once when he fought Mario Barrios.
But anyway, I just I get so tired of seeing people just don't know
anything and they just see great names, and they were like, oh,
you know, well you mentioned it. It's like it's like fantasy football.
It's the same thing, like playing like fantasy matchmaker. Uh, you know,
wanting to see these different matchups. But there are weight classes. Fight
Tyson Fury. I mean, you know, yeah, they're two superstar names
and and they're great champions and all that, but you know, it was
a reach when Canelo was talking about fighting as a cruiserweight, which did not
happen at least not yet. And now he has fought as heavy as as
one hundred and seventy five when he fought for the light heavyweight belt and won
against Cove eleven lost in a light heavyweight fight against Bibbel. So you know,
again I reiterate in some weight classes to jump from one weight to the
next is not a big deal. I've never thought it was a big heavy
lift to go from say one to eighteen to one twenty two or one twenty
two to one twenty six. But you were talking to a guy that started
one a weight fighting at one twenty two, and now you're suggesting you should
go to one thirty five, even if they met at a catchweight at like
you know, thirty two whatever. It's just not feasible at least at this
point. So there's only a few guys that can really do that, and
even when they do, they don't do it all at once. You know,
Pacyow jumped over two weight classes, but most of the time you work
your way up to those divisions over the course of time. I mean,
Roy Jones turned pro, got like one hundred and fifty six pounds and eventually
fought in one a heavyweight title against John Ouiz, But that didn't happen overnight.
That was over the course of like fifteen years for him to go up
to those way classes. Agreed with you on that front, all right,
So normally we do nostalgia, but we're wrapping up the end of this calendar
year, so give me. There's no fights to talk about that, there's
no anniversaries, there's no anniversaries really, so give me a little bit on
what we're looking ahead to. We've already made mentioned about Premiere Boxing Champions going
to Amazon Prime. What will that look like, but it's going to be
a couple of months before we see that. What are we looking ahead to
as opposed to looking back and nostalgia? What are we looking ahead to at
the end of this year, Well, we're We're gonna see what occurs in
the aftermath of important things that happen in twenty twenty three, the first being
the end of Showtime Sports after thirty seven years of putting on many of the
biggest fights we've seen in boxing. They will their their department ceases to exist
at the end of this week, like it will, you know, just
wiped off off the face of the map. Unfortunately, a lot of people,
good people who I consider friends, losing jobs and that sort of thing.
They will be missed but not forgotten, so that that changes the paradigm
in some ways. Because, as you mentioned, with PBC moving forward in
terms of their their deal with Prime Video with Amazon, so I'm interested in
terms of what happens going forward, what happens, how that Amazon deal presents
itself, what the what the schedule look like. I mean, I'm I'm
a little already feel a little skeptical, not because I don't think they're gonna
put on good fights, but because the number of events is dramatically less than
what Showtime was doing. So they need they need the the other dates.
So I'm hopeful that Hayman can line up some other deal elsewhere. You know,
remember for a period of time he did have two deals that that paid
rights fees at the same time. One was with Showtime obviously, the other
for a few years with Fox. I'm not sure if he's got another one
in line. I've heard some conversations between him other outlets beyond the Amazon deal,
So that's an important factor. What's going to take last next year?
And then we've seen another shift of things. We've seen the Tyson Fury fight
against Nagan who take place in Riad. We saw the Day of Reckoning take
place on December twenty third, that's my TJ voice, see the Day of
Reckoning take place in READ. Also come February, there'll be the Tyson Fury
Alexander Usik fight also in Saudi Arabia. And then I think the plans will
still be to go forward on March ninth, at the end of the READ
season to do yet another big, significant boxing event. So the Saudis are
putting on huge shows with major fights, spending huge amounts of money. I
think we're going to get better bea versus Bevil in Saudi Arabia next year,
provided that that better bev wins his mandatory against Collen Smith. Bib Will only
won his fight on the twenty third in the one side of the decision over
lind and Arthur. So in terms of twenty twenty four, what's going to
be the deal? In terms of how Amazon promotes itself presents itself, what
kind of you know, broadcast crew do They do a lot of rumors that
Showtimes guys will move over to Amazon since they've been calling the PBC fights for
a while, and it's not like, you know, Amazon has a broadcast
team in place and it's going to be up to the PBC folks to handle
the production anyway. So it seems like I hope that would be the case.
So I'm that's a big factor. And also how serious will Saudi Arabia
be about doing other fights beyond the you know the When I first heard read
Season that it's a festival, I'm like, Oh, a festival. That's
nice. Who doesn't like a festival. I'm thinking a festival where I in
my in our part of the world. At the festival, it's like a
weekend, you know what I mean? Usually a week, maybe a month,
maybe a month. But read Season as I've come to learn as I've
learned more and more about how they operate, is like basically four months when
Fury fought the fight against Naganu, that was on October twenty eighth, and
that was like the opening ceremony, if you will, of the Red Season
festival. So it was a couple of days in October, bus all of
November, all of December, all of January, all of February, and
then it ends apparently sometime in mid March. Four and a half month festival.
That's a long festival. It's it's almost I guess it's what a third
of the quarter of the year that they have this for, you know,
no a third of the year really four months and change. The question I
have is what happens in the non read season, Kelter, what happens in
terms of their interest to do big events from the middle of March until the
end of October when the next one starts. And here's another and here's another
point. Because Frank One was on the broadcast, it's spouting on and on
this is the new Las Vegas, was his line, that this is where
it's going to be, you know, Saudi Arabia. The one point because
you and I understand this. We understand sports, we understand media, we
understand business. At some point, the gravy train is going to be over
on. We're paying ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous, a fourth time ridiculous money
and not seeing some of it in return for what we're doing. So in
the short term for this READD season, they obviously are putting out a lot
of money for these different fights, including the undisputed title fight that's upcoming,
But I don't know that it continues like well, here's definitely and I don't
buy into that it's going to outshine Las Vegas as the gathering spot on a
regular basis for big time fights for a lot of different waces. But go
ahead, I'll tell you. One person made a point to me in terms
of the fight that just occurred. You know, to go from England or
anywhere in the UK to get to read it's about a six hour airline flight,
right, That's a pretty due That's like, you know, me flying
from Washington to Los Angeles. I've done it a thousand times m hm.
For the folks that are in Britain that are the diehard Joshua fans or fans
of any other of the British fighters that have fought in Saudi Arabia, if
they come to the United States and go to Vegas, it's like double that
length of a flight. But the thing that was said to me is that
they didn't get the sense a lot of Brits turned out for the Joshua fight
because the Brits are known. I've seen it in person many times when I've
been at Joe kal Zaggi fights and Lennox Lewis fights and Ricky Hatten fights and
obviously fights involving Anthony Joshua in New York. Anyway, the BRIT's like to
come and party and drink. Correct, you can't drink in Saudi Arabia.
It's dry. They don't have beer and alcohol and liquor and wine and all.
So that puts a damper on a lot of those traveling folks if they're
going to go on a vacation or spend their money to travel. A lot
of those people don't want to travel someplace where they can't drink. And I
mean, I'm not knocking the Saudi and the gambling, and the gambling part
of it is a big deal too, because in the Muslim culture, et
cetera. It's not the same thing. And the gambling draw for Las Vegas
and for Atlantic City for decades for boxing was a big part about around the
casinos, around the gambling, the ability to gamble on the fight, et
cetera. So that's another part of it's another So they may continue to have,
you know, certain major fight it's in Saudi Arabia, that's fine,
But will it replace Las Vegas. That I doubt because they're still tight for
the biggest properties in Vegas to have the bigger fights. But the other thing
about it also is this when you talk about that they know they're paying out
these outlantish amounts of money and eventually they want to see a return. That's
where I will slightly disagree. My impression, my perspective is they're not looking
for a return. They just aren't. They're advertising Saudi Arabia. Some would
say they're sports washing Saudi Arabia. Some would say they're looking. Some would
say they're looking because they have smart people there who know that maybe not in
our lifetime, but at some point in the future, people are not going
to use fossil fuels in the manner in which they use them. And Saudi
Arabia and many of the countries in the Middle East that have gained wealth have
done so because they are the home of vast, vast reserves of oil and
gas, and that's what they export and make trillions of dollars doing so.
Well, if that, if that business is not going to exist at least
at the level it has for decades and decades, you better find something else
that's going to be able to generate revenue for your your your country, for
your government, for your people. Well, one of the ways to do
that is by saying, come to our country. We have great festivals,
and we have great talk about museums and food and events and sports and music.
And by the way, they're not just paying crazy money for boxing.
Like two days after they did their Day of reckoning, they had a h
what a big tennis match? Who is at Altu Djokovic and exactly so those
are two of the biggest names in tennis that I could barely remember, but
they played, you know, their match that drew a lot of attention in
TNIs. And the World Cup was just in Qatar, which is again a
massive worldwide event, not as big for the United States, but that's not
Saudi Arabia. That's difficult, but still the premise though of Formula One,
of the Golf tour, which is Saudi backed, all those it's UFC,
it's Formula One, it's live golf, as you mentioned, it is boxing.
It's done the soccer too. They've got their soccer because that's why Ronaldo
was ringside, because he's part of the Saudi Arabian Soccer League, for whatever
that's worth. And the way Connor McGregor, who hasn't had a UFC match
in quite a while, who's still the most famous UFC fighter out there.
If you looked at the front row, you had Ronaldo in one seat,
you had Turkey Alashiki, who's in charge of the general Entertainment authority that doles
out the money in the middle seat. And on his other side was who
Connor McGregor. And UFC has been dealing with them to the degree would it
shock anybody if Connor McGregor returns to the octagon in Saudi Arabia for a big
amount of thing, obviously, and beyond just the sports activities that we're talking
about and all the other stuff that they did at the festival. They bring
in all the A list concerts, like somebody that I know that was in
Saudi Arabia for the Day of Reckoning, they went to see I think it
was like fifty cent had a concert that they on it and went to see
him perform. And they've been and they bring in all the big acts,
so they're not looking for ROI on the event, where if you're a if
you're if you're a promoter, you know, Okay, we're paying out this
much in purses, this much in expenses, and we're gonna take this much
back in ticket sales, television revenue, t shirt sales, you know whatever,
international television, the Saudi's that's not their number one priority. And that's
why people having a hard time adjusting, because they can pay out those out,
big, big numbers, and it's not it's not an issue, is
it? But is it a long term thing with them to continue to pay
that out? That's the unknown. They're doing it in the short term?
Is it an unknown? And the other thing too that I will say,
just standing up for the US of A and for Las Vegas, it is
ingrained in the boxing culture for fifty plus years to go have bit well forty
plus years go have big fights in Las Vegas. Plus you have the Mexican
population, that California population, and the proximity and massive, massive amounts of
fight fans that are right there, right beside it, that pour in there.
And I'm not preaching it. You you've known this for twenty five plus
years, but to most they don't understand how big a deal that is.
In the Western United States. Let's tell you the broxis the proximity to Vegas
from those areas. When they were doing the post in a way press conference
with his promoter from Ohashi you know, Ohashi Promotions, and they were talking
about the kind of the calendar that they would keep for in a way next
year, they were talking about maybe him having three fights a fight in Japan.
I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility they're gonna They were
talking about doing it in a bigger read like you know his fights in Japan
that we just had. They've been in Ariaki, which is Ariaki Arena,
which holds like fifteen sixteen thousand, you know, it's like a normal size
arena. They're talking about maybe going to the to the Tokyo Dome, which
is where Tyson fought Buster Douglas. That's a big, big, big,
huge tea. When they did ads at like to say, tom a super
arena that's like twenty something thousand, they're talking about doing it at like a
sixty thousand seat. But they also talked about if he did fight, you
know, up to three times about the possibility of having him fight his fight
at the end of next year, which would what fall during the read season
of doing that fight in Saudi Arabia. So they're gonna try to bring in
those types of folks. The big thing will be can they would they think
about bringing in like a Canelo as a big Mexican fighter, And I don't
know what they're they're interested in that is, but Canelo, I'm sure,
for the right deal, would fight, you know, in a place like
that, even though he's been synonymous with Las Vegas for many, many years.
So again, it's gonna be up to them how long do they want
to continue to pour the money in. But for the time being, if
you're a boxing fan and you're not the person that's gonna get on a plane
and necessarily travel to the fight, say whatever you want about your opinions about
Saudi Arabia, But just in the boxing context, you have to think it's
a good thing because they're making the big fights. They made this day of
Reckoning four times now day of reckon. It's my TJ boys. They they
did it over the course of like those eight fights on their own may have
taken several weeks to negotiate. They put them together in like a few days.
Basically this big giant cart. They got Joshua Wilder signed after years of
not being able to get a fight signed. They got the money talks,
and if you have endless amounts of it, you get it done. You
can get it done. So I understand all of that. But by the
way, Husak Fury should have taken place on the twenty third, and it
already been in the books, but it didn't because of what happened. He
got touched up against the Naganu and you know, wasn't prepared to get back
in training so quickly and get back in the ring. But that fight's gonna
take place in February and clarify because I get lost in all of this and
we're almost done on the show. The Usak Fury deal is a is a
rematch deal and it's a rematch deal in Saudi Arabia or do we know that
for sure that the rematch is definitely there also or could the rematch potentially be
somewhere else? We don't know. No, No, we do know they've
bought the fights they've got if there is a remat at Sin Saudi Arabia also
unless something dramatically changed, but they paid. They put up the money for
two fights, a second fight if it happens. It's not like they're paying
that as we joke. Now, you know all got to pay Joshua and
Wilder, so you can give that money. I'm gonna tell you how the
Saudi's operate. This is something I've heard from people that were involved in the
Day of Reckoning. So there were eight fights on that show. That's sixteen
boxers. You know, I'm good at math, So I'm not going to
tell you which the fighter, which fighter I'm talking about. When they were
doing the deal for this fight, one of the one of the boxers talked
directly with the people that were making the fight. I think it was directly
with Turkey. You told us, you told us about asking for more money.
Yeah, so we asked for more money and didn't know, and you
know, said gave the strike, I'm a little in rough shape, this
and that, and was very appreciative of getting the position and the money they
were going to pay them anyway, and sort of like just threw that out
there and they didn't blink. And when they didn't know how much even if
they were going to give them extra money. When he got the Bout agreement,
there was four hundred thousand dollars more than that negotiating. They don't care
about the money. You don't understand. You brought that up on the US
Show and I said to you, our goal for twenty twenty four is to
get with the Saudi's, the Chinese, the Martians, somebody that's going to
give us an extra four hundred grand just because we asked for it. We
got to get one of those kind of deals, right phel where you just
ask for a little more and you get four hundred grand more. I've been
having this conversation with different people. I had this conversation with my wife because
she didn't really you know, she was sort of interested in this. I
tried to explain normal business people or most people that you and I would know,
have limits that's right. Even if they're rich, have limits of what
do we have in the bank, What can we afford to be in debt
for before we are bankrupt and gone exactly we have coming in? Yes,
can we afford to do everybody, no matter how rich you are, generally,
unless you're like Bill Gates or even if you're Bob Aaron. Let's say
you got a budget. Right in their world, there is no budget.
It's literally limitless. They can buy any fight they want. Think about,
what would you think is the most expensive fight in the world. Try and
that fight they can afford just because they feel like it. Yep, one
hundred million, no problem. It literally is like me. It's like you
and I. We we see each other in Vegas, you know, and
I go buy you a cup of coffee, Like, is the three bucks
gonna break my bank? It doesn't. It's not like it registers. They
can do that with the biggest fights in the world and any fight they want
they can app which why I made the joke to somebody else. You know,
if if there's a conversation about them doing Joshua against Hrgovitch, for example,
and they decide no, they want to do Joshua against Naganu. Let's
say they can pay for it, and I'm sure what happened. End of
story. So that's this all started with what are we looking forward to or
what are the storylines developing for twenty twenty four. So to me, the
two biggest things in the business are what is the commitment in Saudi Arabia to
do the bigger fights at least in the context of their read season and what's
gonna be the result of this deal between PBC and Amazon those and I will
just give one addendum. I got you. I gave you one addendum,
which is I'm anxious to see the Fury Usik fight, which we were robbed
of in twenty twenty three because Tyson Fury screwed around and wasted all of our
time in the first half of the year for that fight. I'm interested.
Is there a rematch for Terrence Crawford and Aerolspince or not and win when in
Where is Crawford fighting next? What about Canelo and Bena Vetez. Are we
going to get that for the first weekend in May maybe Cinco de Mayo?
What's the what are we waiting on? I mean, that's a tremendous fight.
If that's what it is, I don't know, but I'm interested in
seeing how all those things unfold. We'll see, I think, and it
as it relates to that fight. I do think that Canelo will eventually fight
him, because he'slwy shown that he would fight the top guys. I suspect.
I don't know this. If it does happen, I think it's the
second fight of the twenty twenty four calendar for Canelo, which would mean a
September of next year, and that they'll do something else in May. Benivide's
will fight at least, you know, another time, and then hopefully they'll
fight at the end of the year. But I do hope it happens next
year. You know, fights make fights, as we always talk about,
and you know, we've seen that the wins by Canelo and the wins by
Benavides had made it, so we want to now see that fight between those
two guys. They are two exciting fighters, and uh, and I just
hope we get as big of a year in twenty twenty four as twenty three,
which you know we're gonna probably get Ryan Garcia against Devin Haney. Uh.
They're they're very uh you know, involved in discussing that fight right now.
You know, hopefully we're going to see some of the other bigger names
in these bigger fights. And I suspect with the uh you know, with
the success of that fight between Tank and Ryan, that it will propel others
to decide to fight the bigger names. We're seeing it in the heavyweight division.
With the fights are putting on, I think we're going to get better
BF against against Dmitri. People provided better BF win and that will be probably
one of these fights that take place in Saudi Arabia. So other than an
un you know, we don't know what's gonna happen with the broadcasting situation in
terms of fights being made. Like boxing is in like a pretty decent spot
right now. A lot of undiscuted fights, a lot of champions fighting other
champions. I mean, that's a good thing. That is a good thing.
All right, Well done again, We've got the bet Us show coming.
One final time you and I commiserate in twenty twenty three, that is
Friday, one Eastern time as we release this podcast again, I say what
I said at the beginning of the pod. We do have the Ioka title
fight, but because of schedules, the fact that that's early Sunday, we're
not going to have one in terms of a fight freaks U Night recap coming
off of this weekend. You just got to deal with it, peeps.
We'll be ready for Virgil Ortiz fight week for next week in the preview mode
for next week. If any other development's warrant though, we might come your
way with something special with that, but it's in terms of a recap podcast
off the weekend not going to be the case. All of that being said,
we've put up with each other for another calendar year. Well done.
We've gotten to the finish line on this again, a bet Us show for
you and me on Friday at one ey short time, and then we're going
to ring in the new year coming up. We're almost done with twenty twenty
almost even when the year is done, what happens the next day is new
year. Now, you got to start off. That's right, the calendar
let us for twenty twenty four. I don't have to put up with you
till next year after Friday, because if we're starting with the New Year's jokes
already, I'll see, yes, I'll see you next year. Dan Rayfield,
thank you. Have a good weekend. Be safe. Do you w
on the bet us show moment? There you go, I'm merely TJ Reeves.
You've been tuned in here to the Big Fight weekend preview, follow,
subscribe, rate us, and review us wherever you get the podcasts. We've
got much more on the way in twenty twenty four. We thank you for
being with us now, Happy New year, Be safe.