Speaker 1: The countdown is on to Fight Time. This is Big
Fight Weekend now here is your host TJ. Leaves. All right,
believe it or not, we are winding down the month
of March. Really the the biggest fights for the month
of March here towards the end of the month coming
up in Las Vegas. Also, heavyweight phenom Moses Etama is
back in England and we're ready to cover all that's
happening there. Plus we go down under Tim Zoo back
on the pod, who we've had on before. Zoo is
going to be in action, not this weekend, but next
weekend April fourth, US time, April fifth, Sunday Australian time.
He's here not only to talk about his upcoming opponent,
but the belief of whom he's fighting next, including the
name Errol Spence. You'll hear from Tim Zoo in his
own words. We got fight news and much more. It
is the Big Fight Weekend preview podcast. Welcome back in
on the somewhat competent host TJ Reeves. Hello, Dan Rayfield,
who's going about eighteen different directions right now? I did
not even cover before I hit the record button with you,
My twins and wife have already done spring break that
has already happened. Is Young Rayfael on spring break?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: Is it next week? How soon is it? Because we
we have like millions coming to Florida right now on
spring break as we speak for the month of March.
So I'm just curious, are we spring breaking in Northern
Virginia yet or when does that?
Speaker 3: Yes, we will be spring breaking in Northern Virginia. We
have a half day of school on Friday because it's
the end of the quarter, and then next week we'll
be spring.
Speaker 1: Next week is spring break. So we're covering all of this,
and there's a bunch of people traveling every which direction
in certain airports in certain places. Bring your patients with
how long the insanity has taken?
Speaker 3: Well that I don't have to see the inside of
an airport at least for this is true.
Speaker 1: From what we've been watching. Although I am flying next
week for the basketball final four, the men's Final Four
to Indianapolis, and hopefully some of this well, And you've
got your Duke Blue Devils coming up on Friday night
playing in Washington, d C. On top of everything else
that you're sharing with me off the air, Before I
hit the record button. How are you not at what
is that now? The Verizon Center? What is the Capital
One Arena? What is what do they call that thing now?
The Downtown Wizards, Capital's Hockey Wizards Basketball Arena? Because your
boys are in town playing Rick Patino, Oh, by the way,
and Saint John's. For those of you worldwide that don't
get into the college basketball, you're missing out. For those
of you in North America, for those of you in
America America, you know what we're talking about. It is
Duke and Saint John's Friday Night, and I'm just criticizing
you before we ever begin the pod. How are you
not there for that on Friday night?
Speaker 3: The reason you can't criticize it because, as a man
who has been married for a very long time, you
tell me the situation. Okay, honey, I'd like to go
to the basketball game on Friday night, which happens to
be at our wedding anniversary.
Speaker 2: What do you think.
Speaker 3: Next question?
Speaker 1: So, under the category of do I want to stay
out of divorce, Court Rayfield makes the wise move that
you will honor the anniversary and the anniversary dinner on
top of this, and what number is this that she
has put up with you. By the way, before we
launch into the pod, how many.
Speaker 3: Years well as far as married officially, it'll be twenty
two twenty together for you congratulate together thirty.
Speaker 1: Those that had the under sadly mistaken kudos to Missus Rayfield.
We say this from time to time. All Right, Missus
Reeves and I about to celebrate number three zero thirty
thirtieth anniversary. Our wives are both named Jennifer. You can
look at that crazy Yeah, who knew?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 1: Happy anniversary to Jennifer Rayfield. Happy anniversary in another about
six weeks to Jennifer Reeves. They have put up with
this with us a long time for a lot of
different reasons. And you're right now confess and then we're
gonna move on. You're going to anniversary dinner and the
Duke game is the early game. Are you allowed to
peek at the phone?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Of course video. Are you just gonna DVR and come
in cold after the anniversary dinner and then watch the
Duke game or work?
Speaker 3: Definitely have a DVR. And I'm allowed to check the phone.
Not going to dominate the conversation, but I'll check the phone.
Speaker 1: Because Missus Rayfield don't care about Duke Saint John's. She's
got much more going on, but you do. But anyway,
there you go with the hoops and everything that's happening.
I keep saying this after I was there on Sunday night,
after we did the weekend pod and Iowa upset the
Florida Gators. What time does the Gator game begin in Houston?
For all of my Gator friends that are around me
in Tampa Bay and that I know every which direction,
Ouch Bay, the defending champs are out, So there will
be a new champion this year. Maybe it'll be Due,
maybe it'll be Arizona, maybe it'll be Michigan. I don't know.
That's the college hoops. Let's get to the boxing. Thank
you for finding us Apple Spreakers, Spotify on the pod feed.
More and more, more and more of you have been
finding us rat us and review us. That helps out
as well on the pod feeds. Five star rating and
review goes a long way. So before we get to
tim Zoo a little bit, let's get in the preview mode.
It is here, it is fight week, it is in
Las Vegas. It is for the WBC Junior Middleweight Championship.
A delayed fight after an injury to Sebastian Fundora's hand
last fall pushed this back to March to this weekend
as he meets former Unified welterweight champion Keith Thurman, who's
from my area here. I would love to tell you
that this is getting some local notoriety, but really, Raphael,
right now, it has not reached the radar. With the
start of the baseball season for the Tampa Bay Rays,
the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team doing very well, and
they're back playing off the Olympic break. We had the
Gators here for the March Madness. This is not really
on the radar in the local market per se. But
that doesn't mean for what we do with fight fans
if they don't know the name Keith Thurman and one
time is ready to take on Fondorra, so get his
rolling with thoughts here is the fight is about to happen.
Speaker 3: I happen to like this fight. I think it's going
to be an entertaining fight. I don't see a way
it wouldn't be entertaining, you know how, whether it's a
knockout or ghost twelve rounds. Because Keith Thurman has always
delivered entertaining fights throughout his entire career. Fundorra sort of
the same thing. And I know a lot of people
are sort of kind of poop poo it because Thurman
hasn't been the most active guy in the worlder We
have covered that at nauseam. He is thirty six year old.
But if you ask me a healthy Keith Thurman, which
he says he is, and the reason for the layoffs
and for the inactivity has been the leo has been
the injuries, not because of a disinterest in fighting or
any other particular issues, and not tied up with management
problems or promoter proms. He's had. He's had physical issues. Uh,
they seem to have been overcome at least for now, thankfully.
He did come off of a long layoff, about a
three year layoff, where he fought in March of this year,
so it's not as though I'm sorry March of last year.
So it's coming off a year layoff, which for him
is actually not that big of a deal if you
take a look at the at the past history of
the way it's gone from over the last several years.
And in that fight he went to Australia, he scored
a third round knocket against Brock Jarvis. Okay, not a
great fighter, but a guy that only had the one loss.
Took him about a round to sort of get his
rhythm and then he took it to him and looks
pretty sharp now. When they were doing that match, it
was all about that was supposedly to set up him
to fight Tim Zou, and Tim was commentating on the
fight and for whatever reason, and he talked about it
in uh in our interview that we had that's on
the previous podcast where he ended up taking the rematch
Tim Zoo did with Fondora, and so Tim Wash went
forward for that fight and that left sort of Keith
looking for some thing else. Obviously, you know, Tim Zu
got knocked out by Fundor, which we talked about on
the interview here coming up on the show. But Thurman
was bummed out about it, but he got himself, frankly,
a better opportunity because now he's got a fight against
Fundor where he has a chance to become a two
division world champion. Of course, he was a long raining
unify champion at at welterweight and fought you know, pretty
much all the top guys of his time, you know,
never did get the fight or didn't pursue the fighter
for whatever reason. PVC didn't make the fight him and Spence,
but he fought plenty of other quality guys of his time.
Now he's this is like a little bit of a
different generation for him, fighting Fundor, who's much younger by
about a decade. And we're gonna see what Thurman's got
left now. One thing, if you're on the Thurman bandwagon,
if you think he's got a real good chance to win,
a couple of things. One he lets his hands go. Two,
he's got a great chin. He's been down one time
in his entire career. That was against Manny Pacyao back
in twenty nineteen, a fight that you know, he got
dropped in the first round and then you know, ended
up losing, you know, a competitive fight, but a clear loss,
even though they called it us but decision. He's won
a couple of fights since and including against Barrios and
the Brock Jarvis fight at Reference. And he'll come to
fight and he you know, and all you can do
is ask for the opportunity and for a guy that's
always made good fights and has a great personality. Uh,
and he's got to root for. And in terms of Fondora,
you know here he goes in a good name. Uh.
Even if some people think that that Thurman is kind
of over the hill, I don't. I don't particularly think that,
only because the age is one thing, but and the injuries.
But when he's healthy, he's been superb. I mean, his
only loss of his career is a decision against Manny
Pakiow And that's litany.
Speaker 1: Of while we're here, before we talk about Pondora, and
I want to get into the whole height and reach aspect,
which you actually wrote about on the Substack. And I
do read the Dan Rayphield fight for each units Substack,
So the folks should get in there on that. It's
perfectly legit. I mean, we've done this podcast for long
enough where we've talked about Keith Thurman on and off.
Obviously I have affinity for him because he's in my area,
he's a likable guy, et cetera. But I am sitting
here on the preview pod where you're talking up about
what he did a year ago with Brock Jarvis, and
I'm still sitting here going I don't know really what
we're gonna get he's thirty seven.
Speaker 3: Fair, that's fair.
Speaker 1: He's thirty seven. He's been largely inactive. He certainly has
not been in the ring with a world class fighter
in a long time. And you can you can say
all you want about what he used to be in
the twenty tens. I'm not picking on you, but I
don't know. I don't know what we're getting on Saturday night,
And in particular, let's segue it into he's got a
real challenge with the height and reach of Fuondorra and
how he solves that. So go ahead.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not sit here telling you that he's
gonna win the fight. What I'm saying to you is
it's not, in my opinion, this wild, you know, massive
mismatch that some people portray.
Speaker 1: It as because it's a mismatch, but a lot of.
Speaker 3: People are saying like it's a shitty fight. It's not this.
He hasn't fought in a long time. I'm like, okay,
that's all that's true. He hasn't fought for a year,
and obviously before that he had you know, the long
way with because of the injuries. But if he's to
be believed and the fight is still on as we
are here a few days beforehand. He is not injured
and he's going to go forward with the fight now.
Fandora is a very interesting character. We've talked about him
twenty times. He's very good. He throws a lot of punches.
He's obviously humongously call at six foot five, six foot
five and a half for a guy that's not only
does he make one fifty four, but if you ask
him or his team, his dad, his promoter, Samson Lukewitz,
any of the people around him, they'll tell you he
doesn't particularly struggle. They even, like half joking half series
talk about for the right circumstances going down to one
forty seven, which is absolutely crazy. Yeah, yeah, but he
makes the weight, to my knowledge, never really had any
major issues. Hasn't like even had a kut on the
scale and walk away to try to lose an extra
couple of ounces because he was slightly over on the
first try. I mean, he comes in good condition, but
he has shown some vulnerabilities. He did get knocked out
in a massive fashion against Brian Mendoza in twenty twenty three.
Was a not got of dear contender in the seventh round.
Speaker 1: By the way, you'll hear that name again here in
a few minutes. Oh, yes, he's on the undercard, Yes, sir,
and Mendoza caught clipping with the big right hand.
Speaker 3: And and what's's best punch.
Speaker 1: One time's got a right hand.
Speaker 3: There's yes. So even though we've talked about Keith's situation,
we know where Fundor is. I think it's fair a
lot of people would look at at Fundor and say
he's the number one fighter in the weight class at
one fifty four. Since that knockout loss that we just
talked about against Mendoza, he has won three fights in
a row. He had the blood bath split decision against
Tim Zu Uh because mainly, you know, that was a
blood bath because that terrible accidental elbow that opened up
that tremendous gash on Tim Zu's uh, you know, his
forehead scalp area that just bled the entire fight. But
that was a close even with the blood, it was
still to split. You know, it was very very close fight.
And I think most people looked at that fight and
saw before the cut happened in the second round, that
that or at the end of the third run. I
forget it was early that Tim was totally dominating. Okay,
but Fondora wins the fight Farren Square. He comes back,
he takes a fight against Cordel Booker, you know, a
second tier type opponent, blasts him out in the fourth round.
And then in July of twenty twenty five, he looked
really good in the rematch against tim Zuo. Now some
people would chalk it up to say tim Zuo was
not what he once was, and he's taken a lot
of you know, punishment. He had the terrible gash and
loss to Fondor. In the first fight, he got knocked
out badly by Mirtazalev, and to the fights he won
besides that war against pretty much nobody's but nonetheless, Fondora
made him quit on the stool after the seventh round
and he got the victory. And here he comes back
in the ring for this fight against Sermann. So, look,
I think this fight can go a lot of waste.
I'm in number one. I'm intrigued by the action that
it could possess because of the fact that they both
possess styles that are very crowd pleasing and fan friendly.
And two, some people I think are underrating Keith and
some people might be overrating vondor if they kind of
get a little closer in where they probably really are,
it perhaps will be a more competitive fight. So it's interesting.
Speaker 1: Uh, well, there's no doubt and you're gonna you're gonna
hear from Tim Zoo in his own words in a
few minutes. There's no doubt. He hurt Fundora at the
beginning of their first fight, before the gash on the scalp.
He heard him. I think in the first round of
that fight at least stunned him, and there were a
couple of occasions where he caught Fundora in the rematch,
It's just Fundora was better over the longer haul and
battering him and they finally called the fight off. And
I again, I think that you simplify it as can
Keith solve the reach advantage. Does Fundora help him out?
This has been another criticism we've talked about him by
staying at too close range, staying in close and not
using the reach as much of an advantage. And does
that benefit Thurman if he does. That's another unknown going
into Saturday night.
Speaker 3: The thing that he if he if he is going
to come into him close and try to fight Keith
on the inside. You know, it would behoove Thurman too
throw the upper cut. It would behoove him to throw
some body shots.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, Keith, to my recollection, has never been a
big body puncher. But there there are there, there are.
Both guys have their vulnerabilities, uh you know, Fandora, you know,
whatever the vulnerabilities are. Certainly whatever you think about Thurmany's lot,
the youth is not can't be under estimates a ten
years younger approximately.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: Fandora is also a Southpaw. So there's there's a lot
of uh like it's one of those fights tjs. Like
I said before, there's there's a lot of things that
both guys have that are positive. But there's also reasons
to think that the other guy, uh you know, can
maybe work his way in there and do some good
things in it. So we'll have to wait and see
how it plays out. I mean, uh, you know, I've
seen a whole litany of people predictions. I haven't seen
people saying, like, you know, Thurman's gonna knock him out,
but a lot of people say that Thurman can win
a decision, that Fondora can certainly outbox Keith one thing
I know is this, it's good to see Keith Thurman
back healthy and in a big time fight. I'm happy
about that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And he's a great he's a great interview, he's
a great quote. He certainly hyped it up. We heard
him here on the podh et cetera. And he's already
been doing a little bit of media leading into this
weekend in the press conference and build it up.
Speaker 3: He's done more of the media than than Fondora's.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's walking for everybody exactly, but.
Speaker 3: In many respects. No knock on Fondora, but Thurman's essentially
the A side because of his positioning with all the
interviews and way more than Fondora is doing. I mean,
and Fandora is a good guy and everything. You never know,
no issues whatsoever. He just if you're if you're on
my side of things and doing interviews and trying to
talk to the guy, you could ask him the greatest
question in the world.
Speaker 1: He just doesn't give you anything, not a lot, not always.
But then again, maybe they like that. They seemingly like
that just go in and let the other guy do
all the talking.
Speaker 3: Is like Bernard Hopkins Junior in that respect, and talk
there we go.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: So that's the main event of the PBC Prime pay
per view in Vegas. The undercard I will dub as
pretty good with the names I mentioned. Mendoza, the veteran
in with Joenna's Taez and Tayas, has recently taken a
loss in his pass so this is there's some intrigue
here in the in one of the fights on this undercard.
So go over the undercard real quick for Saturday.
Speaker 3: So I like to refer to the TAAs Mendoza fight
which was made on so much short notice because to remember,
the original co feature on this event was supposed to
be the IBF heavyweight eliminator between Richard Torres and Frank Sanchez.
Sanchez has a knee problem, so that fight was shelved
and will take place presumably later in the year. So
they had Teaz, who was training for a smaller fight
on a box lab card, who has worked with Pbcuh,
they put him into this fight against Mendoza. It is
the battle of the former junior middleweight interim title holders.
Taz I have viewed as an outstanding prospect for a while.
He did win that intern belt, he took a loss
to Abboss Buru in his you know, two fights ago
where he you know it competed. It was a contender
for Fight of the Year honors. He got knocked down
with literally the final punch of the fight in the
twelfth round and he lost, you know, a pretty clear
cut decision, but a hell of a fight. He did
come back in December that that fight, by the way,
was in August of last year. He did have a
return fight in a in a December and scored a
fifth round knockout against the journeyman Kendo Castaneda. And so
now he goes in this fight with Mendoza, and Mendoza
he's the guy that's got the one big win against Fandor.
He knocked him out clean in that in that fight
back in in in their meeting for the for the
interim but he won the interim title as it were
at the time. This was back in twenty twenty three.
So even though Mendoza is a guy that's got you know,
four losses, he's never been knocked out. Uh, he's not.
I don't view him as an old shot guy. He's
coming off of a win and the losses that he's
taken have been to like you know in recent years
pretty good guys. He has a decision loss to Jesus Ramos,
who now holds an interim title in the in the
middleweight division. He has a decision loss to Tim Zoo
when Tim was pretty much at his best, and he
has a decision loss against the Iron Jawed and you know,
excellent contender, say hey, Boachuk. So losses suck, but they're
certainly forgivable losses. He lost the back to back fights
to Zuo and Bochuk following his big victory against Fondora.
But he makes good fights and he's a credible guy,
and you know him and Teaz are going to do
this fight. It's not an official eliminator, it's not for
a title or anything like that, but what it does
is that lines the guy who wins is going to
get a pretty significant win within what many consider the
best weight class in boxing, and one hundred percent, the
guy that comes out of this fight is in a
great position to fight for a title against any of
the guys that are willing to give him the shot.
So that you know, I view those types of fights
as like a de facto eliminator. You don't need a
sanctioning body to say, so it's just a matter of
who comes out on top. So that is the new
co feature in this and on this card and then
further down the show. One of my favorite prospects in boxing.
I think he's absolutely phenomenal. I think he's been dramatically
under publicized and kind of not that well known to
the public. But if you get a load of it,
take a look at the guy, he's got a chance
to be something special. And that's the Cuban middleweight Ley
Hernandez talk about the middleweight division a thousand times about
how shitty it is. You Emily Hernandez can can bring
some life into it. In my opinion. He's taken on
the well traveled Olympian and former title challenger Terrell Gachet,
who's losses have typically been against the best guys. And
and the thing about Gashay, you know he's got five
losses but never been stopped and fought. You know, several
good opponents, Elijah Garcia, Carlos a Damas, you know who
currently has one of the middleweight titles.
Speaker 1: Tim Zo, We're gonna do It's like this, like six
degrees of separation of Kevin Bacon, except it's six degrees
of separation of Tim Zuo, who we're gonna hear from
in a little bit. He thought not only fought him,
but he dropped Zoo early in that in that fight
as a veteran.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but he also has lost, you know, he he
loses to the very best guys ericson lubin back several
years ago against against like you said, against Tim Zoo.
He had a fight in a junior middleweight title bout
against Arislandi Laara. He has a draw against the former
title older Austin Trout. I mean, he's fought good opponents.
So for a guy like jo Emily Hernandez uh and
you know, unfortunately this usually doesn't make very good fights.
So I think the onus is gonna be on Hernandus
to be aggressive and go forward if he wants to
make it any kind of interesting fight. He's only nine
to zero with eight knockouts. Uh And he's already twenty
eight years old. But he was on the you know,
he was a top notch Cuban amateur. He had won
a world amateur championship. Does not, like I said, doesn't
get a ton of hype, But I've watched him fight
a few times, and he is explosive and very interesting
and strong, and because the middleweight division is so shitty,
he has a chance to, like at least in a
short order, you know, make himself into like one of
the top contenders. And you know, if he can go
and I expect him to beat Gachet, that's not to me,
it's not a matter of do you beat the guy?
To me, it's can you put some hurt on Gichet?
Can you maybe drop him and you maybe stop him?
Then I'll be even more excited because that's what you
want to see. We already know that Gachet he can
be beaten by the better guys. To me, it's now
it's not can you beat the guy, because you're supposed
to beat the guy, it's can you do so and
have people remember, oh shit, did you see what he
did to Gichet? That's what this fight's about in my opinion.
So we'll see what what you only can do in that.
But he's a very outstanding up and coming fighter. You know,
I think he's got a chance to be a really
top option mid away. And then the opening fight on
this pay per view, because they lost the heavyweight fight
because of the injury to Sanchez, they still wanted to
put a heavyweight fight on there because, as you know,
you talk to like Tom Brown from TGB or any
of the PBC people, people like heavyweights. You know, they
always ask you, like, there are any heavyweights on the show. Well,
they have Joe Goosen trained heavyweight from Armenia, another guy
who's nine to zero with with all knockouts, eight knockouts
out of his nine ones, I should say, a big
strong guy named Gergan Jovanissian, an Armenian living in la
and you know he brings the big punch, and they
put him in with Caesar Navarro, a tough Mexican fighter,
and you know, from that perspective, the idea here is
that can you can you can you build a build,
continue to build up oven Issian and can they make
a fun firefight to kick off the pay per view.
Hopefully they'll do that and we'll see the big guys
go out there. Now Navarrow he's never been stopped before,
so that's something. He's fifteen and three, he's got thirteen knockouts,
only twenty six years old from Mexico, so not an
old shot guy. Now, it doesn't have a big resume
does have a ten round decision loss that Denny or
Pepero the Cuban who is being brought along that people
have some eye hopes for.
Speaker 1: We'll see, well, we got the big fellas also on
this card for Saturday night.
Speaker 3: We have too many heavyweight fights on a pay per view.
Speaker 1: We love that again PBC on Prime pay per view
for that one. Earlier in the day, speaking of heavyweights
in the Segway Manchester, England and the Queensbury main event
on his own, what is it the Magnificent seven? What
is he calling it? If it's so magnificent though that
how come I don't know who most of the other
fighters are.
Speaker 3: I don't know how because it's largely supposed to be
about the British titles and the British Times.
Speaker 1: Okay, but the biggest name that we know is Moses
Etama is back, the rising phenom unbeaten heavyweight who will
now step in and fight American Jermaine Franklin in a
ten round main event. This fight, also, like the Zoo
Thurman fight, derailed by an injury to Etama back last fall,
put back on the schedule now for March and it
comes up on the same weekend as fun Dora and
Thurman here in the United States, So this one in Manchester.
Speaker 3: I think this was supposed to be in January, and
it got to be.
Speaker 1: January, all right, so it's been delayed. But Etama obviously
has the momentum. I say has momentum, but he's only
been in the ring for part of one round since
last August when he fought Dillion White in August and
fought part of one round. Clearly he is in position
for a title shot down the road, and I guess
the obvious question is how much of a threat, how
much of an obstacle is Jermaine Franklin in your mind
for this matchup Saturday afternoon.
Speaker 3: There's a lot to unpacked with the tom in my opinion.
First of all, thirteen and oher with eleven knockouts, only
twenty one years old. Just spend five seconds watching and
you'll understand why people are excited about him. So that's
the first thing. He's a southball with huge power and
the youth, and he's already got like a growing fan base.
He checks a lot of boxes here and people want
to proclaim him to be a heavyweight contender. I did
pick him at the end of two thousand and twenty five,
or as at the end of twenty twenty four as
my prospect of the year. At the end of twenty
twenty five, I picked Emiliano Vargas the top ranks. Junior
Walterway most of the time is a tremendous up and comer.
I have a hard time looking him at as a contender, though,
and that's not I'm not saying that with any kind
of negativity. The guy's thirteen to er. He's only got
twenty six professional rounds, so you know, I'm not a mathematician,
but that tells me he's averaging two rounds of fight.
Speaker 1: And if we go back, we both have the public
school education. You came up with that very good.
Speaker 3: No, exactly, thank you. If you go back and look, though,
what skews that particular number is in his third and
fourth fight, he scored six round decisions. So he's got
twenty six pro rounds, but twelve of them were in
two fights, So he was knocking everybody out in literally
the first round or the second round for every single
one of the rest of his fights. Now he's coming
off of an August fight of this past summer where
he scored a devastating one round knockout against Dillian White.
You're like, oh, Dylan White, he was a top name
and a good contender, fought for the title and all that.
But Dylan White was completely washed. I mean, that's such
a secret and the thing. And I don't really quite
understand this. Why a guy like Moses who was young
and you know, in shape and wasn't I don't remember
there being serious injuries or anything along those lives. And
he only had two fights in twenty twenty four, one
against Dylan White that was in August, one against Mike Balligan,
which was in in May. He's, you know, a journeyman
type opponent, so the activity to me is paramount. So
now he steps in with Jermaine Franklin to me and
I don't know what anybody, and he has the win
against Demse McKean that was a first rounder that you know,
had gone twelve rounds or into the later rounds eleventh
or twelfth round with Philip Pergovic a few years ago.
For me, this is the first quote unquote real fight
of Moses thomas career. Not because I think Jermaine Franklin's
gonna beat him. Okay, let's not get carried away. But
because Jermaine Franklin is a is a, he's a known commodity.
He's not old, he's not shot, he's got a good chin.
He has been in the ring with a lot of
good opponents. And I think the matchmakers here that worked
with Queensbury and that worked with Moses, they did the
right thing here. The idea is to get him the
desperately needed rounds that the young man needs. So he
takes on Franklin. He's thirty two years old, he's from Saginaw, Michigan.
At one time considered a top American up and comer.
Hasn't quite you know, lived up to that billing. But
he's twenty four and two with fifteen knockouts, very reputable, credible,
solid professional heavyweight, even if you don't think he's gonna
be heavyweight champ of the world. And what he hangs
his hat on is that in twenty twenty two and
then the next fight in early twenty twenty three, he
got a twelve round majority decision loss against Dylan White
when Dylan was not washed. And then in his next
fight he gave a solid account of himself and lost
a unanimous decision to Anthony Joshua. He has won three
fights in a rows instent. The idea here, obviously, particularly
if you're on the on the British side of the
pond and you're you know, you're into the the British scene,
the comparisons are going to be made. Can mosesy Tama
do better? Which means a stoppage against Jermaine Franklin, then
we saw against Dylan White Anthony Joshua, two of the
best known uh you know, biggest punchers of of recent
heavyweight vintage in Britain. That's what this is all about.
So if if he can go in the ring and
get the win and get the knockout, that will be
checking the boxes that people would like to see him check.
You get the experience against equality, you know, pro you
get the opportunity to get the knockout against the guy
that's never been stopped and has decisions against you know,
top names like White and Joshua, and I think that
would be the greatest hope they can have and to
get in some round, get into the second half of
the fight.
Speaker 1: While you're saying it is, I think we will be
more convinced or of the attitude. Now we may have
something now if we see this now we may have
been certainly in England it's revvd up that we may
have something. But I think we'll be more convinced we
may have something if we see it.
Speaker 3: The thing in that flight Moses right now is most
of our thoughts and expectations, and I say us, I
mean the public and the media at large, is the
spectacular nature of what he's done, even if it hasn't
been against anybody, very good, and the eye test, but
now you got to get past that. At some point.
The eye test is great, watch him square, you know,
knockouts against nobody's is one thing. I mean, we saw
that like with the rise of Mike Tyson years ago. Yes,
So at some point, though, you've got to do something
that's more substance than style, and a victory, especially a
knockout victory against Jermaine Frankin, would be the first thing
of substance that anytime it will have done.
Speaker 1: Let me share it this way, because you and I
are nostalgic all the time. When Tyson was on the
rise with all the crazy KOs, he then had a
couple of fights on the on the legendary ABC's Wide
World of Sports. You know where I'm going with this,
where he fought a couple of guys in the veteran
James Quick till Us. I still remember this, remember watching
it and if I'm not mistaken, Troy, New York, right
near where you grew up and all of that, and okay,
so and that fight was a distance fight, if I'm
not mistaken, and it was a test. And he also
fought another veteran in Jesse Ferguson. I remember that name,
and it took off.
Speaker 3: That was that was the fight where he tried that
was that the one we wanted to drive his nose.
Speaker 1: Nose, his brain busted him up. But it took a
few rounds. It was not over like the Marvius Fraser
third second destruction. Yes, so there were rounds and you
got work in and he fought a veteran and he
fought a real guy, and you found some things out.
And I don't know to what extent Jermaine Franklin can
do that with Moses the Tama. I'm just drawing a
comparison that if you want to go back forty years
to nineteen eighty five, eighty six ish. That's what we
saw from Tyson. But I'm also with you, we need
to see more activity. I was preaching this last fall
that it was stupid, stupid off the half a round
that he fought with Dillian White. Get him back in
the ring like Toba or November, and they can't this hard.
Speaker 3: And I'm not making excuses, but I'm just telling you
what factually was the case. He would have been but
because of the WBA title situation, he was in a
position to possibly be fighting for the regular title. Remember
there was a lawsuit with you know that surrounded Kubrahpulev
and fight with Mara Gassiev in all the nonsense. So
they couldn't put him in then because he would have
been otherwise unavailable as a turnout, he didn't get the fight,
so he didn't have the fight as.
Speaker 1: Couldn't got hurt.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that was a problem. But if you really
think about it, back when Tyson was on the rise
and they were like the same age by the way,
I forget the exact amount of fights, but there was
one point in like nineteen eighty five or eighty four,
like as Tyson was on the rise, we fought like
ten times or something like that in a year before he.
Speaker 1: Fought for that and eighty five he absolutely both.
Speaker 3: Times or eleven times whatever it was.
Speaker 1: Yes, there was asking a guy to fight a second
time between August and March, not unheard of, and he
got hurt. Let's see if there's more activity.
Speaker 3: It's just a different sport now in that respect.
Speaker 1: Well, but part of it is you get people more
excited by being active on the way up. And this
guy has got some mojo with the knockouts and the
British fans fired up. So let's see if he delivers again.
This will be Saturday afternoon.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: I I hope that Franklin comes to fight now. I
was at Franklin's last fight, and that was when he
fought on the undercart of Crawford against Canelo in a
fight against Ivan Deitschkow, which was a fucking, horrible, putrid, wretched,
fucking fight.
Speaker 1: Did he look slow and shot to you from what
you recall.
Speaker 3: Mainly was because Duischgog refused to fight the guy. But
it wasn't like Franklin was doing watch either. But he
did get the close win, uh you know, and it
was what it was. But I'm hopeful that because of
the pressure that Moses may put on him, that'll be
a better fight. Okay, we'll see if he can learn something.
And you know, the kid can, uh can. And I
don't even think it would be the worst thing in
the world if he had to go to ten rounds
and maybe it's a hard fight or not a hard
fight so much speak, but where maybe he doesn't look
great because Franklin, you know, maybe stinks him a little bit.
It stinks them out a little bit. You gotta get
that kind of fight before you step in with the
real big boys, all right.
Speaker 1: So we have that coming on Saturday in the UK,
and that leads us to the aforementioned numerous times by
me teeing it up and teasing it Tim Zuo, who
is fighting Dennis Nurgia. That is the ten round main
event that is coming not this weekend but next weekend.
It is actually Saturday night in the US April to
fourth Sunday afternoon April fifth in Wollongong, Australia. But before
we get to the fight weekend, Tim Zoo spoke with
our Dan Rayphiel. You've had him on before. Let's go
to that conversation now on this fight, the prospective fight
that he has with Eryl Spence, oh, by the way,
and a lot more. Let's go to that conversation right now.
Speaker 3: Well, it's my pleasure to welcome back to our podcast
this week. It is the former WBO Juniorman away Champion
of the World, Tim Zoo. Tim, you are here in
the United States training for a fight that you'll have
back home in Australia. I'll tell our listeners what you
and our viewers on YouTube what you've got coming up.
You'll be fighting a ten rounder, You'll be at one
hundred and fifty seven pounds, a little bit over your
normal weight in Wallongong, Australia. In your home country April
fourth in the United States, where we can watch it
Saturday night on Prime Video Sunday Easter Sunday, April fifth
in Australia where the fight will take place. So welcome
to the show, and I'm glad to talk to you.
We got a lot to get into, don't we.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for having me, you bet. So.
Speaker 3: Your opponent for this particular fight that you've got come
up is going to be Dennis nursa twenty zero fighter.
But the idea here. I think and everybody that's been
following your career sort of understands that you got to
take care of the business. That's always the case when
you have a guy in front of you. But there's
there's big plans potentially after that. But before we get
into all that, I want to I want to I
haven't talked to you since the fight you had last
summer against the Bashion Fundora, your rematch. I don't want
to bring up bad memories, but I got to ask
you about that particular situation he had the rematch, you
challenge him for the WBC Junior Middleway title. You fought
really well against him, in a very close loss in
the first time you met in twenty twenty four. I
think most folks frankly chalked that loss up to the
severe cut that you suffered on your scalp in the
early part of that fight. You were covered with blood.
Still a great fight, still a really close fight. And
then you have the rematch, you know, a little bit later,
and it was totally a different situation. He won pretty handily,
knocked you down in the first round, and in the
end it seemed like you just couldn't handle it, and
you know you and your team you stopped to fight
on this tool after the seventh round. How shocking was
that ending given how how competitive the first fight was.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think Sundor came to a relentless
game plan that I wasn't able to adapt that sort
of stuck by it. You know, I was knocked down
in the first round. But yeah, it sort of shoot
me for a bit. The next couple of rounds, I
wasn't going to plan and then I started sort of
touching him up that watching him back to fight. That
last round that we had, I sort of started hitting him,
started hitting him with big shots, and I could see
he was rocking. He was he I think his nose
was bleeding. But at the end of the round, man,
he got me. When I was in the when I
was in the corner, he got me, and I was concussed.
I was concusted and I was I sort of didn't
know where I was. It was the last five seconds
of the round. I sort of it was just like bomb,
I got hit and I was like, what the hell
is going on? Like I didn't even sit down, I
was I was just I was dazed. I was dazed.
And I didn't know. I didn't understand what was happening.
So I sort of when I sat down, my coach
sort of started talking to me. I wasn't reactive. I
wasn't reacting. I was just yeah, I was just there.
But yeah, I think Thunder came with the wrong game plan.
I came in with the wrong one. I started moving
and I'm not things didn't go according to plan, but look,
we learned from our mistakes. I'm amendo takes on any
challenge that's out there, and we move on and we
get better and we adapt.
Speaker 3: So you did come back after that fight. You went
back home to Australia, where he hadn't fought for a bit.
You scored a shutout decision against Anthony Velaska. As an
American fighter, he was taking a really big step up
in competition. You got in ten very solid rounds and
after that was over with, you know, you got back
on the winning track. In February of this year, myself
and a lot of others reported about the prospect and
the discussions and negotiations and talks. However you want to
describe it between your camp, PBC, TGB Promotions and Aerol
Spence about a possible fight that was being sort of
earmarked for June also in Australia. Spence, of course, is
a very big name, former unified wealthweight world champion. When
when when you took the fight with Alaska's was that
in your mind that maybe you would get that big
fight or was it just a matter of I want
to get back in the ring and then we'll see
what happens after that.
Speaker 2: No, I didn't. I didn't know. I wasn't aware of anything.
I'll be honest with them. It sort of took me
by surprise because I thought, all right, I changed a
lot of things up in my life and my career.
So I had to come here in Miami now completely
in a different environment than what it was previously, so
I had to For me, it was like the rebuilding stage.
I was like, all right, it's going to take a
bit of time. That's all right, We're going to stay patient.
But I know, I know, I know what I possessed.
I can dog it out. I'm a dog out there sometimes,
but I don't need to show my bravery at times.
I can show my my my i Q and my
intelligence in the ring. So I need to bring that
out and then post five I heard about the news.
The most came to me and talking and I was like,
sounds good, sounds good.
Speaker 3: You like the idea of that fight?
Speaker 2: Of course, of course I'll definitely welcome it. It's definitely
very appealing. Uh Stunistically, it's a very fun fight for
for fans to watch because you don't know which way
could go.
Speaker 3: So then makes me think about it like that. So
you you got in the ten rounds against Alasquez, that
was in December. If you win the fight that you
have coming up, the fight against Bence supposedly would be
in the summer Judish timeframe. And so I have to say,
I have seen so many things go wrong when big
fights get planned, and certainly a match being tim Zu
and Arrow Spence is a pretty big, pretty big fight.
It seems to me that why why take the gamble
with the with the sort of tune up fight against Lergia.
He's not a champion, it's not a big name. You
never know what can happen when the bell rings, as
you have found out in your own career, And I
wonder to myself, I risk such a big fight with
Errol Spence for no reason when you have been acting.
It's not like you've been off for years and you
need to shake off. For us, if anybody would be
doing that, you think it might be Aerol Spencer has
been out of the ring for quite a bit, so
why why take this tune up?
Speaker 2: Fight on other things? Really think it's a tune up?
You know, the guy's twenty and no he's not a
he's not a bum out there, so he's a good boxer.
Speaker 3: The point that compared to the caliber name of a
former champion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, look good question. It's it's what's in me.
You know, I'm in I'm here in Miami doing doing
another training camp with a with Pete Das and new coach.
So we're just getting started with things. We're learning off
each other, so I'm able to present something new. And
that's the main thing I feel like with activities where
growth happens. You know, another training camp, when people start resting,
that's when you start slacking off. You know, you always
got to be ready. Your body's going to be prepared,
physically prepared at old toms and and and that's what
it is for me.
Speaker 3: I wasn't thinking about wrestling necessarily. I was thinking about
you can still train with the trainer and and get
to know each other and and the way that he
does things and likewise him for you without actually taking
the actual fight.
Speaker 2: Now, I'll be honest.
Speaker 3: I I looked at that and I'm like, he's taking
a fight before a Spens fight. I said to some
people involved with the negotiations, said, he's crazy. M hmm,
what do you think about it? I mean, many things
go wrong, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I agree, but look, this is this is
what we risk. Man. I've always always present the toughest
challenges out there, So bring it on, man, It's all
good for me.
Speaker 3: And I do understand your point though about wanting to
get another training camp under your belt with Pedro. You know,
as you guys continue to mesh together. You know, I've
heard different fighters through the year say sometimes it takes
you know, it takes a few fights to get really
on the same page with the trainer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, comfortable.
Speaker 3: It sounds like things are going well with you and Pedro.
My question about that, though, was how difficult was it
before you went on with Pedro to break up with
your uncle Igor, who had been your trainer pretty much
your entire career as far as I know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was super hot. It was super hot. Some
some hot decisions and family, right, yeah, of course pot
look he he, he understood. I needed to get out
of Australia. I needed. Look, I've always trimmed about fighting
and training here in the United States, and this is
this is what boxing is at, you know. So for me,
I wanted to come here train and bebe surrounded by
American boxing, you know, and and and that's what it
was for me.
Speaker 3: And so now you go into the fight with Nurgia.
You mentioned his record. He's twenty zero uh, an Albanian fighter.
You guys are the same age at thirty one.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, I've heard a lot of fighters, Tim, I've
been doing this a long time, and I must say,
when I saw the announcement from your team that this
would be the opponent you were facing in this fight,
I had never heard of him. When I looked him up,
and I looked at the record, and yeah, you mentioned
he's got a spotless record. It's it's looks real nice.
But then you take a look at the guys he's fought.
It's really you know, you don't recognize anybody on his
h on his record, So what is it about him
that you think he brings to the table or what
do you hope to gain from the fight other than
like you were saying in another training camp with Pedro.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the hottest, the best. The hardest thing
for me is that this is he's this is he's
make or break fought. This is the biggest opportunity. You know,
sometimes it's it's it's hot, and when people come to
this top of level, they sort of rise by fifty
percent just because of the occasion. So that's what it
is for me. But for me, it's more about just
getting in the groove, working on things that are that
have been working on it, and putting it all into action.
Speaker 3: All right, So now what about Spence? I mean, if
you know you're supposed to win this fight, obviously we
know anything can happen in boxing, but you're supposed to win,
that would I know the deal is not done yet
as far as I'm know, as far as your team
and the Spence side getting everything wrapped up, but it
feels like that's what's gonna happen at some point in
the near future. What are your thoughts about Errol Spence?
He's been a top pound for pound guy for a
long time. He'd unified three the titles at welterweight. He
would be moving him up that way to fight you
at junior middleweight. He also hasn't thoughts in July twenty
twenty three, as I mentioned, if anybody would need to
tune up, that might be Errol Spence. Last time he
was in the ring, Terrence Crawford demolished him when they
met for the undisputed title. But he's still got a
big name. Tell me your thoughts about that matchup if
it happens.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I think it's intriguing the fact that what
he's achieved future whole of fame already right there. But
a little question marks, a little question marks, answer answers
the NATed. So it's an intriguing match between two different stalls,
you know, starlistically, technically, how it's going to play out,
It's gonna be a splash, that's for sure.
Speaker 3: I have to think with the caliber of his name
and his accomplishment, you combine that with the things you've done,
and you're popular already at home, and if this fight
takes place in Australia, as the people in negotiating and
say it would be can it probably be one of
the bigger fights in recent Australian history, And there's been
a lot of fights in Australia over the last several years.
How big of a deal do you think it would
be for your for your people?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think for Australia it's it's it's history making
top things. This top of Columber fight. You don't hear
about it, you know. I remember when Paki Allen versus
Home that was massive, fifty plus in a stadium, So
I think we're talking to the top those top of
numbers and to experience something like that, No many fighters
get to do that, get to feel that top of
feelings before. So that's what it is for me.
Speaker 3: Now. In your weight class, junior midway, there is a
fight coming up in March twenty eighth for your old rival,
Sebastian Fundor. He's going to defend the WBC belt against
Keith Thurman, who you were actually on course to fight
when you both took fights in Australia and you both
won them by knockout, and when that was all done,
you ended up taking the Fundor rematching, didn't take the
Thermon fight. Could you tell me a little bit like
why everybody was so hyped up for Thermon fight. Everybody
was talking that was what was gonna be next. You
commentated on his fight. You know, he went to your
country and talked a lot of shit and it didn't
end up happening. You took the Fundor fight. What was it?
Why didn't the the Therman fight happen?
Speaker 2: Well? House presented with the with the rematch that I
couldn't refuse, you know, because one of one of those
things that I that I really wanted to get back
and relieve again. And yeah, that's that's the decision that
I'm maing.
Speaker 3: Well, I know you're obviously very familiar, haven't had two
fights with Frondora, And even though you didn't fight te Thurman,
you commentated on his fight. I'm sure you studied them
a bit thinking you might be fighting him. What do
you think about I mean, your your thoughts about their matchup?
That seems uh uh. You know, Fondora's in his prime,
Thermis coming off of a of a he he did
recently fight, but a longer layoff. But you know there's
always that size difference when a Fundora opponent has to
look up at the guy. How do you think that
fight works out?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Look, I think Fundora is hard. He's very hard box
on the reason for it is that when he it's
not like he's punching of the like powerful, but they're
just stingy and they're non stop. The fact that he's
that tall, he can throw a hundred punches around and
not waste energy, you know, So he just goes bum
bum bom. It's like a monotone boom boom boom boom
boom boom when they're landing because there's so long and
the whole time when you're when you're with Fondora, you
don't have that time to to relax, to think, to
strategize or show to do this. But Thurm and what
he's good at it is he's moved and moves around.
He's able to could get Fondora to come walk into
one of his shots, which will which will Yeah, it's
going to be an interesting belt in terms of that.
Speaker 3: Stylistically wise, Derren also has been known to have a
great chin throughout his career. And as I mentioned, you
are in this loaded division besides yourself and Fondora and Thurman.
Errol Spence coming up potentially to fight you. You also
have a lot of other guys in the white class.
He got Xander's eyes. He's a unified world champion. A
lot of people, at least in our country here in America,
I want to see virgial Artis and Boutanas get it
on that day, have bigger names in the weight class.
Josh Kelly recently won a title, taking it from Baker Martazalev,
the other guy that hung a loss on you a
few years ago. Where do you fit in this dream
middleweight division as it is constructed now, because I think
a lot of people look at is literally the number
one division for talent in boxing currently.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Look, I think in terms of being in the division,
I think I've only really lost to the best out
there in the division, and that's that's that's on the best.
But I just made a big win. I did a
big win against someone notable, and that puts me back
in the mix. You know.
Speaker 3: So Dennis Nergia is your next fight. I'm not sure
that people will look at that as a big win.
But if you can take care of your business, I
guess then we'll see the chance to you for you
to get a big wins. Is that how you sort
of look at things?
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, look one fight at a time, of course,
But yeah, we're talking about the biggest names possible in
the in the in the near future, so one step
at a time. I'm fully focused on what I've got
to do to Dennis.
Speaker 3: Why wish you good luck with that fight against Nursia.
I'm happy to see that we'll be able to watch
it here in the United States on Prime video. I
wish you the best of luck, and when that's all done,
maybe we'll see you in the big one against after that. Tim,
thank you very much for I appreciate it. Yeah, good luck.
Speaker 1: He is always very enjoyable to listen to answers the questions,
has some good stuff. The real question is what does
he have left? As we were saying earlier in the podcast,
now this is in he is in Ironman against a
guy that he should do well against, and if he does,
he's back again as a player in the junior middleway division.
I'm saying that final thoughts after that conversation you had
with Tim Zoo.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're exactly right. I mean, he's, you know, the
fights a little bit over the weight it's at one
hundred and fifty seven pounds, but that's because it's just
a ten rounder. Is his future still, he says, is
at one hundred and fifty four. Uh Nurgia is the
guy with a great record twenty and oh, but he's
never fought anybody, so uh it looks good. But you know,
who knows what's underneath the hood, so to speak. But
the onus is gonna be on Tim Zoo to go
in there and take care of business. As I said
to Tim in the interview, I think it's crazy that
you're taking this so called tune up fight because the
mayor of Tim did just fight, you know, not that
long ago, and with the with the Magne possibility of
this Spence fight for him in Australia on the on
the table. I just didn't see any I mean, I
have no idea why he's doing it. I mean he acknowledged,
like you know, I actually said to him, I said,
it's a little crazy, and you know what was he
gonna say? So, you know, because things happen, especially you
know a guy like Chad his ups and downs.
Speaker 1: It's not like you can hurt yourself. There's a lot.
But I'm not gonna say earlier in his podcast that
we need to see more of Moses E. Tama and
then fault Tim Zoo for wanting to stay active and get.
Speaker 3: A paid There's there's the happy medium. Okay, the guy
fought like literally a few months ago.
Speaker 1: But can I can I say this to you, We
don't We don't know for sure that he's gonna fight
Eryl Spence. Eryl Spence has been in the ring calling
out Sebastian Fundora. That never happened.
Speaker 3: That's way long ago. This fight is in the works.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, forgive me. I'm Missouri. I'm the show
me state. You got to show me on whether or
not that's actually gonna happen. So I still think I
don't blame him as much as you do for taking
this fight.
Speaker 3: I'll die on the hill no matter what happens when
he fights Dennis Nurga. Taking the fight was not intelligent
for his team or for him in my opinion. If
you know, good luck to him. Obviously, I'd like to
see this Spence fight. If it's gonna happen, fine, But anyway,
always good to talk to Timm. He was in Miami
where he was training. We were on that we were
joking around before we started to record, and we're on
the same time zone for a change, being that he
was in Miami and I'm here in Northern Virginia and
back to Australia for the homecoming once again and see
if he can move on to a bigger fight.
Speaker 1: Then again, that is next weekend, not this weekend, but
April fourth in the US on the Sunday night.
Speaker 3: I would draw one on the Australia conclusion. By the way,
TJ as a person who also covered Tim Zoo's father's career,
Costa Zoo, the difference in dealing with media is like
night and day. Tim Zu is an absolute pleasure to
deal with, available, talkative. I believe just you know he
asked a question. It gives you to what has evert
in his mind? Is the real answer? He's not, doesn't
have talking points. His father respectful, good guy, no doubt,
but impossible to get anything out of. I can remember,
by the way, sitting in a media room in Atlantic
City one time doing an interview with Costa Zoo. Back here.
This is I think before he was fighting this rematch.
A few months before he was getting a rematch with
Charmbay Mitchell. He was coming off of an injury. Tim
Costa was and I could I might have gotten twenty
words in the whole damn interview. I mean it was
just again, he.
Speaker 1: Was almost it was almost like an interrogation, and the
suspect was not being cooperative, was waiting for his lawyer.
Speaker 3: You're saying, it was just brutal and Tim is the
compreat opposite.
Speaker 1: Okay, and we like that. And now let's see if
he delivers in this fight for next weekend, a little
news and then we are done. So not unexpectedly, we
talked about it on the Recap pod. It was made
official midweek. Golden Boy and Dezone do have a new
multi year agreement. Now you've done some reporting and you're
about to share on that. So that deal is done,
and what does it ultimately mean for the consumer? I
keep saying, and whatever de Zone goes to raise their
prices again because everything is now under their broadcast umbrella
for the most part. But anyway, follow up because you
did some reporting on this deal with Oscar de la
Hoya's outlet getting a renewal with Dezone finally here in March.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it took a hell of a long time. It
was not easy. There was lots of up and downs.
You know. I've reported extent about how much the Zone
pressured Golden Boy to deliver the Virgil Ortiz boots and
his fight. Obviously that did not happen and won't happen
for the time being, especially now there that Golden Boy
and Virgil Art are involved in the court ordered arbitration.
So uh, you know, he's on ice unless they make
some kind of last minute settlement at that very least
through this, you know, until the fall at the earliest.
But they finally did get the deal done. It kind
of was touch and go there. But and I don't,
I don't. This is my conjecture. I think it got
to a certain point where Golden Boy needs a home
period and the Zone while they have plenty of of
other outstanding, uh collections of talent that are on their
platform because of deals with the one that was just
announced with Top Rank, the one they've had with that's
in the middle of a multi year deal with Queensberry,
a five year renewal they just announced with Mattroom Boxing.
They have a deal now with this upstart and that
pro the former Wasserman Boxing they work with Dimitri Salida,
they have they have plenty of different uh uh, bigger
and smaller events. They do all the Ring magazine pay
per views with Turkey, which have major league fights on them. So,
but I felt like they also wanted just another quality promoter,
particularly an American based promoter. I feel like Golden Boy
has delivered plenty of quality events for the Zone through
their relationship. Remember they've been together essentially since the Zone
first started in twenty eighteen, when Canelo Alvarez was still
with Golden Boy and they made a deal to bring
him to de Zone, and that obviously ended up being
the entire stable of Golden Boy. So they have now
a new deal exclusivity. All of the deals that of
the big promoters that the Zone has with Golden Boy,
Queensberry and naturally are exclusive. The top ranked deal is
not exclusive. But that the Golden Boy deal that they
just announced, they didn't say, they just said, moltiir. My
sources tell me it's a two year deal and there
is option language for an extension at some point in
the you know, before it is up. But what it
means is for the consumer, I don't think it means
in any kind of immediate price like. And the reason
I say that is because right now the focus from
the business side for the Zone is to continue to
upsell their existing subscribers for their Ultimate Plan, which they'll
tell you that besides what you would normally get with
the base plan, you get supposedly twelve so called pay
per view fights that are part of that package. So
you will get you know, they're involved with Benavidez of
course against Zerto Ramirez. It's going to be on Prime Video,
but that is also going to be available on to Zone,
I believe, part of that Ultimate plan. And you know
that there's gonna be other fights that they make that
are going to go into that Ultimate Plan. And so
for de Zone they need as many you know, so
called big names and top level fights to continue to
make events for that part of their package to get
the subscribers to keep paying for it. And Golden Boy
has a good stable. That's the bottom line. And so
you know, not I'm not trying to do a commercial
for his Zone, but if you have this, if you
have purchased the Ultimate Plan, I think so far it
has been worth it. You did get Chikor against tia Fimo.
There was you know, there was the Ryan Garcia Barrios event,
There's gonna be the fight coming up next week with
Deontay Wilder and so Sora. You know, there's gonna be
the Benavida's fight against Zero and so on and so forth. So, Uh,
the point was they they needed another. Uh if people
they were familiar with that a quality stable of which
Golden Boy does, whether it's champions and prospects and contenders
as well as Golden Boy needed them.
Speaker 1: Let's and let's be truthful. Let's be truthful. If you
are the consumer, this is your outlet where you're probably
gonna have three out of every four weekends for the
rest of this year. I'm just saying this, are gonna
have one of these promoters putting a card on on
his zone, You're gonna get You're gonna get doubled up
on Saturday with ones in the UK earlier in the
day and then ones in the United States.
Speaker 3: I was just gonna say, a lot of times you
got two in one weekend, Like well, when if you
listen to the to the to the executives from the zone. Uh,
they spoke about this, not because Goldenway didn't do like
an official news conference. They sent out a press release
because it's just it's not technically an extension, but they
basically have been with them since twenty eighteen, even though
they've been lapsed since since the end of twenty twenty five.
They had done the two one off cards with the
Zone together that were just outside of the parameters of
a particular contract. But the point is that the Zone
executives talked about at the Top Rank press conference that
their goal, and I think they can do it. I
mean maybe barring like a big holiday or something, to
make sure that there's some kind of pretty solid top
level world championship boxing event every single week end of
the years, every Saturday night, you know, through the through
the calendar, and you know, perhaps on a Friday night sometimes.
Speaker 1: So the only concern, once again one more time, is
they're going to raise the rates again because if they
have it all under one entity, their attitude can be
This is why we have monopoly rules and trust rules
in the United States on Well, if you're a fight fan,
you got no other real option right now but to
pay what we're charging.
Speaker 3: I totally agree to that, except for at least for now,
and I don't know how long it will last. They're
heavily invested in the Ultimate Plan and they just started
promoting that. So I don't think you can start promoting
that and three months later suddenly raise the price on it,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I still see, we'll see, but they do have the
deal with them. Okay. Actually we do have some good
news real quick on the health of the nineteen year
old novice female fighter Isis Scio, who fought on the
pro Box card in San Bernardino, California, the undercard of
the Lester Martinez main event. When when we left the
year Sunday night, the news was grim for the recap
podcast because she had been put in a medically induced coma.
Am I am I using Harperpole to say, this is
a medical marvel here that we're talking about. She got
discharged from the hospital midweek. That's a medical marvel. To
have recovered that well in a matter of days. That's
great news. We need more great news in our lives,
great field.
Speaker 3: That's great news. It's surely great news. That's the first
and foremost thing we never were I mean, not that
it's our business, frankly, I mean it's somebody's private medical
situation or family did put out a few details, but
we never knew the exact extent of what happened. We
don't know a specific how she is now even I mean,
clearly she's better now than she was when you're in
a coma. Obviously if you're able being able to be
released from the hospital, so obviously, yeah, great news. But
what what kind of residual issues are are stomached hear?
What the actual injury was specifically not clear, But the
bottom line is the young woman got knocked out very
very badly in the first round. It sounded terrible, like
you said. They took her out of the ring on
a stretcher, she went to the hospital, they put her
into the coma. Obviously, there was a lot of you know,
concerns and worries about everything that was going on. And
here we are, you know, several days later, and she is,
you know, was taken out of the coma, taking off
the ventilator, was able to breathe on her own. Eventually
was able to get up and walk around and get released.
So I would imagine her boxing career is over. But
you know, she's a young woman with a hopefully a
very long and productive life ahead of her. I did
see the comments that her opponent that knocked her out,
Jocelyn Camarillo, who was a you know, the the favorite,
the undefeated woman, the woman that it was a three
time amateur national champion that that scored the win. She
put out a very heartfelt, uh statement on her social
media because she had been I think unfairly criticized by
some people for her brief celebration before she kind of
realized what was going on, and she made the point that, hey,
that was my first ever knockout. I got caught up
on the moment. I was excited, and as soon as
I realized what was going on, I shopped and kneeled down,
and she would want to.
Speaker 1: Kneeling down and praying with somebody from her corner because
at that moment, I mean, let's bring this back to
a humanistic level. You're going, oh my god, she could
be seriously hurt or dead. So cut a little slack there.
But I just come back to we have so many
different things wrong with the world, inside and outside of sports.
This was I mean, I was delighted to read the updates, including.
Speaker 3: On the day. I know this. In the years I
have covered boxing the vast, vast majority of these things
that happen. If you if you know that a boxer
has been injured to the head and is in a coma,
very rarely does it have a very happy ending. And
if this was ultimately doesn't she's out of the hospital.
That's wonderful.
Speaker 1: That's tremendous. For now, that's the best of the updates. Okay,
now let's get into the political morass. You like the
words I did not say more ass I said morass,
the political morass of the Muhammad Ali Act, which has
now made its way through the US House of Representatives
and it's on its way to the United States the
United States Senate, which by the way, is preoccupied with
some other things at the moment, but the Muhammad Ali
Revival Act is on its way to becoming adjusted and
a new law. And currently right now it has the
backing of the President. He has said that he will
sign it if it gets to him, if it passes
the Senate. Interestingly, there is some opposition at the moment.
So fill in the details on what has happened this week,
Dan Rayphield.
Speaker 3: Okay, this is not a surprise, and the reason it's
not a surprise is because anytime, you know, we shall
go back and watch the Schoolhouse rock on how I
bill becomes the law before it gets to the floor
of Are you going absolutely, I will?
Speaker 1: I am just on.
Speaker 3: Okay, enough of that, try and to.
Speaker 1: What become law. But that's what's happening here, my God,
go ahead, okay.
Speaker 3: So when it came before it gets to the Before
any law that's in the process of being going through
the process of becoming a law, it comes out of
the committee and they have to vote to send that
out of the committey before we can even get to
the floor of the of the House of Representatives or
frankly the Senate. And so in the in the case
of this one, in the House of Representatives committee, it
passed like thirty to four, massive bipartisan support. So if
you can send legislation out of your committee with that
big of a support, the chances are when it gets
to the floor for an actual vote that that the
result is going to somewhat reflect how the committee voted,
because it's of course made up of both parties. In
any event, this was such a massively bipartisan, overwhelming passage
on the on the in terms of the House of Representatives.
They didn't have to do like a a roll call vote,
where you know, everybody has to give their vote. They
did what they call a voice vote. You know, all
those in favors say I, and basic said I, and
maybe there was two or three few people voice.
Speaker 1: By the way, can we just digress for a second.
I love those roll call votes. When those when the
when the clerk is calling the names, it's just hilarious.
It's mister ray Field of Virginia, and then Miss sty
of Florida, and then on and on down the list.
But they didn't even do that. They just did because
they knew they had overwhelming support. All in favor say
I I, those opposed saying hey, if you okay, so
now and it passes. But now there are still some obstacles,
and there's opposition from a prominent person.
Speaker 3: Right, so the Senate will go so they have their
version of the bill also, And what happens is if
they pass it, and you you have to think that
it passed that overwhelmingly. Not to say that the Senate
in the House always agree on stuff, but if it
was that overwhelming in the one part of the Congress,
that the other part you gotta figure is gonna pass
it without a problem. And this, of course, for those
who are unaware, this is the ZUFA Boxing Keko back
Bill that will allow them to change and alter the
original ALI Act that was built for supposed protections of
fighters of certain things about a firewall between the manager
and the promoter, about having financial disclosures and you know,
other things related to their careers. But they want to
do the similar setup as the UFC, which is to
create what they call a UBO, which will allow the
promoter in this case TKO or you know slash ZUFA
to make their own rankings, to be the manager and
the promoter and not have to do certain disclosures. And
I have stated a thousand times that for some boxers
this is gonna be a good thing, and for others
they might want to think twice about it. But it's
gonna become the law. It's probably going to pass the Senate,
and it's gonna get to the President's desk and he
will sign it. He's a very close friend of Dana White,
who was obviously the CEO of UFC as well as
of Zuper Boxing, and so it's going to be the
new reality, and so there will be the ubo of
ZUPA Boxing will operate in its silo, in its way
that they can do things. And then there are still
going to be the legacy promoters, the bigger ones of course,
the top ranks and Golden Boys and Matt Rooms and
Queen's Berrys all that. Now, keep in mind this is
strictly in the United States where it will impact. It
will probably damage the club scene for various reasons. If
you read those legislation, that's not a good thing. But
it will also in certain respects, will increase things that
I or make better certain things. As one example, at
least in the United States of America, should this bill
become a law, it will accept in extreme circumstances of
injury and unavailability for the different reasons, but not the
Will and Nelly bullshit that we've seen for years. It
will make illegal interim champions, and I'm all for that,
you know.
Speaker 1: So in other words, the hokey pokey stuff of regular
vacant interim whatever. Yeah, that's that's part of what the
problem is on what is a world champion or not?
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, so.
Speaker 3: That will be you know, that will be a major
thing that will be addressed and in any event, again
it's not a dune deal yet. But the passage in
the House of Representatives, which frankly is not wasn't a surprise,
although I have to say I was maybe slightly surprised
that they can do it on a voice vote, But okay,
but it's on the way to becoming a law, and
there are there's a misconception I think from some fans
who and I don't quite get people who claim this
wild outrage. It's beyond me because I guarantee they haven't
actually read the legislation number one. But besides that, it's
not This is a huge misunderstanding I think from a
lot of people. It's not as though ZUFA can be
a UBO and they're changing the rules only for them.
It means, and I don't know if I like this,
but it's just the reality. It means any other promoter
can also go to the UBO route if they choose to. Now,
there's certain requirements that a UBO to exist have to
UH be able to provide, such as a certain understand
training area, yes in medical coverage and that type of thing,
which certainly UFC is equipped to do. With their gym.
But like as an example, like Top Rank has its
own gym in Vegas. It's a first class gym, you know,
with a sprucing up a couple of things and adding
a few things. If they decided to, they could probably
do it also, and others can make that investment.
Speaker 1: But I don't think to go down the road of
you're not gonna work with boxing organizations. You're gonna have
your own rankings, you're gonna have your own titles, the
whole bit. I will just say this. There may be
some benefits, but I am still on the front end
going to remain consistent. This is a bad thing ultimately
for fighters when they're tied up long term under this entity,
and the entity is not only the promoter, but is
their manager in charge of their money. The whole bit, I.
Speaker 3: Under they still have managers, but the financial disclosure element
is the is the issue to somebody.
Speaker 1: And the other thing is if you're tied up long
term on multi fight deals, which they will be four
or five fight or more deals.
Speaker 3: So but here's the thing about that, though TJ, all
the top champions and all the top fighters are all
tied up with promoters. You think that the top rank
and golden boy and match.
Speaker 1: In that case, that's the free market, and you've negotiated
that according to what somebody else might pay you. In
this case, you come under this umbrella and you haven't
negotiated with the free market. You're basically negotiating only with
the one.
Speaker 3: What you negotiate is you negotiate your original contract that
you go from there. Now, you mentioned about the opposition.
So Oscar de la Hoya, who is against this, has
said publicly in various formats. He was on Ariel Hawani
show as one example, talking about it. He said, he's
going to Washington. See he's been talking to different senators.
He has been apparently invited, or he's going, or he's
got meetings set up with different senators. He will lobby
against it. If he was going to do that, he
might have wanted to start a little sooner. I suppose
instead of coming down to the wire. I'll see if
he can use his star power, his name, you know,
his experience in the in the business obviously is significant
for twenty plus years as a promoter, not to mention
as a fighter. So he sort of should understand both
sides of the equation. And see if he can stop
it from passing. I mean, I don't know if he
can do that, and you know, we shall see. But
my perspective again, people have ripped me about this on
social media time. Everyone w't give a fuck. But here's
the point. If you are a boxer and you are
considering a deal with the ZUFA Boxing or another traditional promoter,
try to surround yourself with people that can understand it,
or if you can understand it yourself, give it a read,
give it a look, talk to your lawyer, talk to
your manager, and decide what you think is the best
for your career. And I will say once again, if
you if you think that the ZUFA backing of this
bill and that it becoming law is the devil incarnate,
Okay that is your opinion. That is fine, But no
boxer anywhere on the planet is forced to sign into
this type of setups. They don't have to go to
the UBO route, you know. And by the way, if
they think that the legacy promoters are so fucking great,
if they had done their job the way they should
have been doing it for the last fifty plus years
or sixty plus years or eighty plus years this wouldn't
exist because they would have been a better steward of
the business. But they have so dramatically fucked it up
for years that it allows opening for the ZUFA way
of doing things with UFC to come into play. So,
you know, it's hard to root for one side or
the other. I don'm not room for either side. I'm
just I feel like I'm just calling balls and strikes.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, and they and this is one other
aspect that We're not going to go on from the
other five minutes because we've got to move on to
other things.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: What could also happen is the Senate could decide we
want this altered somehow, some way, and in the procedure,
I'm just a build on Capitol Hill. It goes back
at that point to the Congress and goes back presumably
to the committee to take a look at the possible
revisions on the next step.
Speaker 3: Now, I mean, anytime you do that, there has to
be again, people have to understand the way it's done.
The Senate has their version of the bill and the
House has their version, and at some point of both
sides past their version, they have to get together and
hammer out whatever difference is sometimes easier said than done.
Speaker 1: Granted, the belief is though they're going to get the
fifty one votes however wherever, and it's going to pass,
and it's going to end up on the President's desk
and be signed in the law. That's the way it works.
Most feel like I'm in my wife's fifth grade Civics
class where she's teaching them this stuff. In the fifth grade,
we learn all of this stuff about how's legislation gets made. Okay,
So along those same lines, one of the test cases,
if you will, for this whole thing with ZUFA boxing
their own rankings, etc. Is ji Opataiah the latest. Not surprisingly,
he was stripped officially by the IBF earlier this week.
That's not the end of the story, probably, but it
is what they have chosen to do. So give us
the latest, real quick on did you hear any more?
By the way, from the mystery texting lawyer sending you
anything else?
Speaker 3: I have tried to reach out on multiple occasions and
have so far had not been.
Speaker 1: That's gone cold. That's interesting, But he's officially stripped. The
IBF ruled such.
Speaker 3: Yeah, not totally a surprise. I mean they stated in
their original missive that came out after the press conference
about the reasons why that they were not going to
sanction the fight because of the fact that the ZUFA
World title so called world title was you know, the
dominant or a dominating part of it, where they were
led to believe it would merely be a token of
appreciation or you know, a bable if you will, that
was never gonna happen, but whatever, so they did not
sanction about and if and again if they don't sanction about,
they have very specific rules lim It's rule like five
F or something like that where if you are the
champion and you participate in an unsanctioned fight at the weight,
whether you win or lose, the title be vacated. So,
for whatever reason, it took them two weeks to have
their you know, their conference call with their board of
directors and the president of the IBF, Daryl Peoples, to
go through that situation, and in the end they decided
to strip over the title. So that's not a surprise,
which Iopatia, even before he was officially stripped, that lawyer
has been talking about there'll be a lawsuit about the
situation because they did they withdrew the sanction of the
fight on forty eight hours notice. Now, if technically speaking
he had not participated in the fight, there would have
been no issue because he wouldn't have taken part in
a unsanctioned fight. But you can't pull out of a
fight forty eight hours ahead of time with no injuries
or no real reason, and you're in breach of contract.
You fuck up ZUFA, you fuck up Paramount, you fuck
up all the guys on the undercard, you fuck up
your opponent. You know, you just can't be doing shit
like that. So you know, it was unfair to for
not just the idea for anybody to put a fighter
in a position where, you know, either keep your title
or which I.
Speaker 1: Will just say this because there's opinions on all of this,
and like you just said a few moments ago, just
calling it as you see it in balls and strikes.
And if they got there and they believe this is
a whole bamboozle thing, they're going to act like in
the in the preliminary build up that it's an IBF
title fight. But once we get to fight night, they're
not going to mention us. They're not going to bring
the belt.
Speaker 3: In the ring. That's not gonna say.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying if they believe that that was was
was what was going to happen, then I can understand
that once they got there on Friday and realized it,
that they had misgivings about that.
Speaker 3: First of all, you never know what's gonna happen on
fight night number two. I don't think anywhere anybody's rules
it says it has to be in the ring. But
be that as it may. The big part of this again,
I go back to the whole concept of don't judge
me by what I say, judge me by what I do.
So Dana can rail against the organizations all he wants
and say we're not going to work with them, blah
blah blah. In the end, they did agree to work
with the IBF. The supervisor was brought to town. The
sanction fee was paid since returned after they withdrew the sanction.
They included the IBF in the graphic if you watch
the stream of the press conference, Jiopataia spent the entirety
of the news conference in the pre fight photograph session
in the in the in the ring that I on
the way in on the night of the fight, postfight
all everything that he was involved with. Everywhere he was
he had the IDEAF belt with him as well as
his ring magazine title, and the ZUPA title was there
of course also, so I don't I don't buy that
as a as a legitimate reason. But regardless, he is
stripped of the title. Will see if it proceeds to litigation.
And it's disappointing that the guy that is, by acclamation
the number one cruiserweight in the world has now been
stripped of the IBF title twice for reasons that have
nothing to do with missing weight or peds or anything
like that. It's just for unfortunate.
Speaker 1: Their procedural stuff, and they're getting irked irked by this, Okay,
so stay tuned last chapter nine and.
Speaker 3: Let me just say one our thing. By the way,
ZUFA Boxing currently is talking to a variety of different
other fighters, some of which hold titles, and I am
told that they are absolutely willing, ready and able to
allow those boxers to maintain their world title belts and
pursue unification fights with the other organization if they want,
while they also will continue to do their thing as
they create the ZUPA titles for their you know the
athletes that they signed that don't have titles, or that
do have titles, that fight in those weight classes. So
you know they are clearly fluid in their mentality of
how they're going to approach the organizations. It doesn't have.
And by the way, there's no rule anywhere that says,
just because you're going to allow the titles or not
allowed titles, you don't have to be friends with these people.
You don't. You can do business with people that you
don't enjoy being around her, that you don't want to
work with. But because it's just the way you got
to do your business. No one never said they got
to sing songs in.
Speaker 1: A whole hand, I understand, But it's also wanting all
sides of the argument. They were talking about putting them out.
Speaker 3: Of business, but they changed their mind, of course.
Speaker 1: Because they realized they couldn't do it that way, at
least early on.
Speaker 3: So let me givetit for that of not being so
stuck in the mud and dug in that they don't
have the.
Speaker 1: Last chapter with Opataia not written in particular, if the
lawyers there will be lawyers, if they might.
Speaker 3: Get any more phantom text messages from us from two
more things.
Speaker 1: Speaking of the IBF, we're like all IBF all the
time on this part of the pod. Real quick IBF
featherweight Champion Angelo Leo is back. He has a date.
This was a purse bid by the IBF that actually
Manny Pacquiao Promotions won the purse bid and Rayfield fill
in the details on Leo's featherweight title defense. Who WIT's against?
Speaker 3: Win go well, he has a mandatory defense against Ray
east Alim, a good contender who won an elimination fight
by upset when he went to Japan and scored the
victory against the Japanese fighters. So you know, good on
Ra east Alim, a good old fashioned a Las Vegas
American fighter that's been working his way up these rankings
and doing this thing for a long time. He's not
a young fighter anymore, but this is an incredible opportunity
for him and he'll get the chance to do do
a fight. Now, you said about how Manny Pakiao's company
they won the purse bid, which they did, but what
they've done is they made a deal with Dimitris Salitas
Salita Promotions to put the fight on one of their
de zone cards because they do have. They're one of
the companies that has a deal with his own. Also,
it may not be at the same level of the
bigger promoters, but they do have fights regularly on his
own and so this fight will take lice on May ninth.
They will take it to the Gateway Center in Atlanta.
They view Atlanta as an underserved market, which is cool
because rays Alm is from Las Vegas and Angelo Lea
was from Albuquerque and lives in Las Vegas. So they're
taking this to a to a just a good American
city where they hope they can bring in fans for
what looks like and they've.
Speaker 1: Had some world title fights in Atlanta, and there is
there's recently I'm talking about it's.
Speaker 3: Very very there's been very rare. Have there been that
type of events in Atlanta. There's been a few. I
can just say you this. In my twenty six years
of covering boxing, I've actually never been to Atlanta to
cover a fight. I was going to go once for
one of the Tank Davis fights, but it was like
at the holidays or something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was at the end of the year, and
that was a pay per view if I'm not mistaken
and remember, but there hasn't been a lot of core
fight Jamel Denering I think in Atlanta, so they go
to that recently. Recently, they've had a couple of fights
in the last two or three years, but it's few.
I mean, Evander Holyfield defended the heavyweight title a couple
of times in Atlanta.
Speaker 3: And there go back thirty years ago or more correct
correct on that anyway, But anyway, for days Leo the
thing about Angelo, and you know, he had that monster
knockout of Luis Alberta Lopez in twenty twenty four on
the summer of that year to win the title. Spectacular knockout,
knock out of your type contender. He's only had one
fight since August in twenty twenty four. You want to
talk about activity, he's been terribly inactive. He had the
one fight where he went to Japan. He fought I
believe it was a mandatory fight against Tomochi Cameda. That
was last May twenty twenty five. He won the decision,
majority decision, and for whatever reason, he has not yet
fought since then. Uh, and so this fight went to
the purse bit so he'll be back in action. Literally,
it will be a year layoff since his last fight,
and we'll get a chance to defend the title against
a lead twenty three and one, by the way, with
twelve knockouts. You know, he's been a pretty good contender
for a number of years.
Speaker 1: All right, So featherweight is actually a hop in division
because Brandon Figarola just won in February in Liverpool, England.
You also have Shoeshoe Carrington that has a belt. You
have rafy L Esponosa that has a belt. So there's
some intrigue.
Speaker 3: Oh, one of those fights, you know, any of those
fights are probably you know, whoever is the winner will
be makeable. I mean if they look at the witch
ass you mentioned, by the way, because Angelo he's co
promoted by by Probox and by Top Rank, and then
the rest of the featherweight title holders. You have Shoe
Shoes with top rank, You've got Espinosa's with top rank,
and Figureo was with PBC and they are all able
to work together these days. So I would love to
see some of those fights a get made. There's been
a lot of discussion and rumors that perhaps we'll see
in the near future a Rafael Espinoza versus Brandon figaroa
fight that may be a possibility in the upcoming time.
Shoeshoe will probably fight this summer. They'll try to find
an opponent for him. We talked about recently Michael Conlin,
who lost, if he had won, was a potential opponent
for him. So you know, hopefully these guys will get acted.
But it's it's shaping up like a nice division right now.
Speaker 1: And one more note, Carlos adamis off the win for
the WBC middleweight title after all the problems making way previously,
finally had the title defense and the win over Austin Amo.
Williams now says, or at least he's indicating through social media,
he wants to move up to super middleweight, so stay tuned. Yeah,
he has leverage, though with that title, how much leverage.
Maybe he doesn't have any more leverage. Maybe he realizes
there's nothing here and he'll move up to one sixty.
Speaker 3: I think that's probably one of the things, Like the
level of magnitude of fight he can get at one
sixty is really not that much. I mean the other
so we've discussed this before. Jannebec is still the WBO champion,
but on ice because of the suspension. He was stripped
of the of the other of the other belt he
d which was by the IBF because of the situation
with the testing and his unavailability for the mandatory, So
they'll go fill the title, so but that won't be
something that will be necessarily a big deal for Adam
for a damas in that situation. And then the other
title holder is the WBA title holder, which is also
with PBC, which is Arisoni Laura, which has other than
signing for the fight with Janabek where he tests the positive,
that's not nobody, but they have the same trainer, and
so the chances of that happening are limited. There's not
a lot of good contenders. So if he goes up
and he fights at one sixty eight, which he spoke
about as a possibility, you know in the post fight
after he defeated ma Williams, you know, there's certainly a
lot bigger names in that way class. You know, we'll
see if there's something that can be done for him
in that weight division. But the main thing was he
posted the social media. I don't know if this is
like one hundred percent, but he did post that he
was interested that you know that I've done what I
got to do here at one hundred and sixty pounds,
and now I'm gonna look to go up and you
know see what I can do, you know, at the
heavier weight class. Like in other words, he put the
he put down the gauntman. If you will, he says,
you know that. He said, he makes one sixty easily,
but I'm gonna make one sixty eight shake even more.
You know here I come, you know, tell one sixty
at I'm on my way.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: These guys ran for me at one sixty. They moved
up in weight, but now I'm going to catch up
to them, is basically what he was saying.
Speaker 1: Sign me up for a rematch with Shiraz down the road.
Speaker 3: I would love to see that, Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1: Thy tune, okay, busy pod. As we head to the weekend,
Fondora Thurman pay per view main event, Las Vegas, PBC
on Prime. Earlier in the day, Moses E. Tama the heavyweight,
British unbeaten rising heavyweight. We'll fight Jermaine Franklin. Good stuff
with Tim Zoo. What do you say we come back
and recap the weekend? You and I after this is
all done, happy anniversary for you on fightday. Appreciate it
again to the audience, find us going into the weekend
with the preview mode and recap mode coming off the
weekend on this pot Feed, Apple, Spreaker, Spotify. With that,
I think we're good, Dan Rayphael have a great weekend.
We'll chat some more coming off the weekend about the
results and any other fight news. Well, enjoy, all right,
there he goes, there's Big Dan Rayfaeld. Fight Freaks unite
as the substack, follow and subscribe. You have been part
of the Big Fight Weekend podcast here