Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, off of a weekend that has seen Ji
Opataia win his title fight.
Speaker 2: Notice how I praised it that.
Speaker 1: Way on the Fight Freaks United recap Because he went
into the weekend as the IBF champion. We knew he
was the ring magazine champion. Dan Rayfield always says he's
the lineal champion. They have created the ZUFA Boxing cruiserweight champion.
So he wins all of that, wins easily. But that's
not the whole story. We're here for that. We've got
some fight news. We've got more welcome in. It is
the Fight Freaks United Recap podcast. I am the somewhat
capable host, TJ. Reeves, Hello, Big Dan Rayphiel.
Speaker 2: Good to be with you.
Speaker 1: Am I wrong to say that there may be as
much interest in what we're about to do about what
went on outside of the ring with the IBF and
the stripping of the title as what went on inside
the ring?
Speaker 2: Fair right? Yes?
Speaker 3: For first of all, I'll say to all of our listeners,
happy birthday to the somewhat capable host.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 3: On Sunday night after Opataia's fight with Lanton. But to
answer that question, you know I've been saying we've been
how long we're doing this podcast TG, like three years
or something like that.
Speaker 2: We're going to we're going on four now.
Speaker 3: Four years, and they said it wouldn't last.
Speaker 2: That's correct.
Speaker 3: I've been saying on almost a weekly basis, practically the
IBF does IBF things, and this is exactly one of them.
And if they think that this is somehow going to
help their business, and I'm not taking size in this
whole zoofa versus the sanctioning bodies. I understand where both
sides are coming from. But the IBF, when they do
the shit that they did, they're just digging their own
fucking grapes, all right.
Speaker 2: So that's one way obviously to look at it.
Speaker 1: I'll have opinions on what I think, but we'll get
into the fight as well.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 1: Thank you for finding us on Apple, Spreakers, Spotify, all
the podcast outlets we come your way going into the
weekend in the preview mode, recap coming off the weekend,
find the Big Fight Weekend YouTube page as we well,
uh and you'll get extra content there, interviews, nostalgias. Sometimes
we're live there differently separately on the YouTube page. So
like and subscribe on there, so, uh, we'll get into
the fight again. The fight did not have a lot
of drama. Opataiah successfully wins again. The IBF had already
announced they're not sanctioning the fight and the and the
belief is they're stripping him.
Speaker 2: Let's get into that part first.
Speaker 1: That since you and I talked, that was the backdrop
going in. Interestingly that on Friday night, Opa Tiah is
doing the press conference for Zufa Boxing and he's got
the IBF belt sitting there right in front of him,
talking about defending the IBF title.
Speaker 2: But that was not the whole story.
Speaker 1: Obviously, the IBF decided we're not gonna be part of this,
We're not gonna sanction this, and we're gonna we're gonna
go ahead and strip him for it being an unsanctioned fight.
That's what you're referring to, So pick it up from there.
We knew this obviously for the last day and a half.
Speaker 3: Well, they sanctioned. They did sanction the fight. According to
Zupa Boxing, all of their sanctioned fees were paid on Thursday.
Levi Martinez, who has been a former judge, was the supervisor.
He flew in from where he lives in New Mexico.
He was on site in Las Vegas and they were
ready to do the fight. And as you said, ji
Obtaiah came to the press conference. He had the belt
and the ring belt sitting on the on the dance
right in front of him. You had somebody else from
the promotion holding the ZUFA title, which was vacant because
this was the first one they've created, and the IBF
depends on who you believe in the So after the
press conference was over, this was like Friday night. You know,
in the news business, we call taking out the trash
when you announced something late Friday night exactly. They announced
that they were that this was going to be an
unsanctioned fight, and the reasons they gave were because when
they first decided to sanction the fight, it was impressed
upon them that the fact that the ZUFA belt was
going to be at stake was merely going to be
a trinket of appreciation, a trophy type title whatever, which obviously,
and I say this from a technical perspective, no matter
what you think of the zoofa belt, it is a
trophy title at the moment because technically the legislation that's
going to allow the ZUFA boxing folks to have a
belt under the UBO. You can go google all this shit.
We're not going to get into a dissertation about what's
going on in the Congress right now. At that point
they might have a case to make, but presently there
is nothing more than this was a trophy belt, because
it's really not an official belt from the standpoint of
the Muhammad Ali reformat that has certain elements that involve
what you can do as an organization from a promoter
in terms of having a belt, having rankings, combining those
duties with being a manager, etc. Anyway, they decided that
for some reason they weren't going to sanction the fight
because that which is a lot of horseshit. That was gobbledego.
The real deal is this Darryl Peoples, who's the president
of the IBF, who's a good guy. I like there.
I've known Daryl twenty something years. I've never had a
crossworder than my entire life, nothing but respect. But in
this particular cases, I was told who he was not present,
but that he saw the way that the title was
presented in the press cards and he thought it wasn't
displayed prominently enough that it was an embarrassment to the IBF,
that it was sort of taking second seat to the
ZUFA title and all that nonsense. And as I joked
with one of the Zufah public relations people, I said,
I was looking at the photos from the you know,
from the photo link that they that they dispense to
the press, and I was like, I can't find a
picture of Obatai or the fight without the fucking IBF
title in it. So how could you say it's not
prominent displayed. It was sitting on the day, is right
in front of him, like it was in every picture.
He was holding it at the press cards, he held
it at the way in strap, he was even holding
it over his shoulder in the post fight interview. Now,
once he got into the fring and they you know,
he made he fought at the weight, so if he
had been over the weight, maybe there'd be a different outcome.
But he fought at the two hundred poundliament as did Glanton,
and once that happened, uh, he will he is stripped
of the title. So I mean, that's the that's the
end of the story. The title is vacant. And all
at some point knowing the IBF, the next couple of days,
I'll send out their letters ordering you know whoever their
next two top contenders are to fight for the for
the vacant title. My perspective on it is very simple.
If you wanted to santion the title fight, do it
and be done with it. If you don't want to
sanction the title fight, say the reason why and pull it.
But don't wait till the fucking you know, the Friday
night before.
Speaker 1: So you again have been digging around all weekend. We
you know, we went into the weekend just like everybody
else that does this saying are they going to get
it resolved? You just lay it right right, You just
laid out they had a representative there that ZUFA Boxing
had paid the fees. So and by the way, it
just doesn't it doesn't seem to add up that they're
just insulted by how it was positioned. That seems that
it seems to be there has to be something.
Speaker 3: Else, Daryl. People sent an email expressing those emotions too,
or some people involved in the event. I don't have
a copy of that email, but I was read the
email over the telephone when I was reporting on this story, right,
and he's got his balls in a bunch as the
bottom line, it seems to me. And he just wasn't
having it. He took his ball and went home, and uh,
you know that's the.
Speaker 2: Way that's there, that's their prerogative.
Speaker 3: Well, yes, and no way to do. But you don't
sand bag a promotion by doing it on the friday.
All right, all.
Speaker 1: Right, so you've said it, You've said a lot on
that point of view. Let's just say a couple of
other things then we'll get into the the part of
the fight. You've got a promoter and a promotion that
has said we're we're basically going to put the boxing
organizations out of business.
Speaker 3: Then don't thank it in the first place.
Speaker 1: Okay, I got you for that part of the answer.
But as I have said on more than one occasion,
and it's now come into fruition, you can't have every
lane of the argument.
Speaker 2: Why do you care? Why do you care about the IBF?
Why do you care about any of them?
Speaker 3: Do I care?
Speaker 2: No, I'm talking about if you're zoofa boxing why do
you care?
Speaker 3: Well, here's the reason.
Speaker 1: It's very I understand that you're going to give me
a reason. But you can't have all sides of the
argument either. If you can't hold on either you care
about it, either it is significant or you're saying to
Jai Opataiah, don't worry about that anymore. We'll pay you enough,
we'll get you enough big fights. You don't need that title.
To me, what has happened here is they convinced him
because he said, so, you can be the IBF champion
if you are with us, even though they're saying on.
Speaker 2: The other hand, no, we don't, we don't.
Speaker 1: Want to do business with them, we want to put
them out of business, blah blah blah blah blah. But
when the rubber meets the road, the phrase that's out there.
You were saying that on the preview pod as well.
When it came right down to it, they didn't come
up with the agreement for whatever reasons. And to them,
to zoof of Boxing, it doesn't matter to them ultimately.
Speaker 2: Now to the.
Speaker 3: Fighters, it does matter. I'm gonna tell you why, because
they hold on, hold on. No, I'm not gonna hold on,
hold on, hold.
Speaker 2: On, let me finish the car. I'm going to complete
the point.
Speaker 1: Please let me complete the point to them, it ultimately
doesn't matter to the fighter. It absolutely matters in this
case because he's the IBF World Champion and that's his leverage,
that's his dollars, and so if if ZUFE isn't going
to be able to make up that money get him
bigger fights, it matters to the fighter more than it
does to ZUFA.
Speaker 3: In that instance, the money is obviously important. However, Jai Obataya,
long before he signed with ZUFA Boxing, has dreamed of
being an undisputed champion. You cannot deny. I mean, money
is important, of course, and as Jay said in the
interview wait I did with him that we played on
the pod the other day, if I'm undisputed, the money's
going to be there. It's not only about the money.
He has a burning desire, as do thousands of boxers
whoever put on the gloves to be a champion, to
win the belts, to achieve their goal. His particular goal
is to win all the belts. If you want to
be the undisputed champion in today's present boxing, you got
to have the four titles. Now, maybe that will change
at some point. It used to be three. Used to
be two. Maybe the IBF will be gone someday. Who
the fuck knows. All I know is this, the ZUFA
Box people went to the things that they had to
do to get it done, to get the fight sanctioned,
even though they didn't want to do that, but they
did it because they made a promise to the athlete
that they signed, and they delivered. On their perspective, they
didn't they didn't take the belt out of the press conference.
If you watch the press corrts, they actually had the
ib risked it in their graphics, so they were not
trying to piss on the IBF. That doesn't mean it
was going to continue like that for eternity, but for
the time being, they need to satisfy the athlete, and
in the end it was the IBF that fuck it.
I'm not super boxing, and I'm gonna say this again.
I've heard all these people say, well, you know, the
Zoofa people, they want to put them out of business,
and the IBF did the right thing. Blah blah blah
blah blah. Everybody fucking forgets these are not about holding
hands and singing fucking songs. Okay, this is about you're
in a business and the bottom line is he's the
IBF champion that the IBF doesn't like it, so fucking
be it. I dealt with PBC ten years ago when
they wouldn't do the same shit with the WBC or
the WBA or the WBO or the IBF, and they
wouldn't put the titles in the graphics, they wouldn't let
the fucking supervisor in the ring. They took to physically
remove the belt from the ring apron to not show
it on television. So this ain't my first fucking road
when it comes to sanction bodies clashing with promoters and outfits.
Speaker 2: So understood there.
Speaker 3: If they've got if they're so fucking like emotional about
the fact that, oh, we're not being treated at our
belt is lower on the dais than the zoofa belt
is in there, then fuck damn.
Speaker 1: Well, that's that's why I'm saying. To me, it doesn't
all add up. There has to be something else that
may have happened there.
Speaker 3: To me, I think they just tried to say, you know,
Daryl got upset. He tried, they tried to sandbag the event.
Didn't work.
Speaker 1: Uh. The end result in this is Opa Tiah wins
and I'm gonna have a couple more thoughts. So the
fight was a fairly one sided fight. A lot of
holding throughout the fight, target practice at times for Opataiah.
Glanton was obviously tough, but he took punishment throughout the fight.
I know there's criticism as we do this late on
Sunday night, that the ref was too involved with taking
points away. Blanton did land a couple of blatant low blows.
He took a point away that he should have on
that after he had landed one significant low blow and
then landed another one.
Speaker 2: But there was no real drama in this Dan.
Speaker 1: As the ninth became the tank became the eleventh, it
just became as is Glanton gonna last the distance?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: So there we go. So any any more on the
x's and o's in the ring.
Speaker 3: Well, just as far as the fight, look, I mean,
if it was not it was like a bad fight.
It wasn't. It was not gonna be remembered as a classic.
I mean for a fight that ended one nineteen to
one oh six on three score cards, it was, you know,
entertaining to watch. Uh, the referee was overly officious. It
was Alan Hudg Huggins. Uh, he did take a point
for holding against Glenn. He took another one on the
low blow. I thought the low blow one was legit.
The holding was kind of bush and then late I
think it was the eleventh or and he took a
point from Opatai for holding, which was ridiculous. In the end,
it didn't matter because Oba Tai won every single round.
Glanton as tough at NOWS. He didn't get knocked out.
I'll get more work out of that. They were making
the point on the broadcast, and I happened to agree
that if Glannon was fighting some other top ten type
cruiser weights tonight, he probably would have won or certainly
been competitive or had a heck of a chance to win.
Opataia didn't get the knockout. It's the first, uh, you
know time he You know, he's had a couple of
spectacular knocks. But I'll tell you one thing, he keeps
his streak alive of making his go to the hospital.
Because even though Glenton went the distance, he got a
massive hematoma in the middle of his forehead that was
from a punch, not from a head butt. Yeah, blood
coming out of his mouth and Dana White said at
the post fight news commerce they made him go to
the hospital just to get checked out. They should have
I agree with.
Speaker 2: That target practice.
Speaker 1: He was bleeding, he was swollen, they said right away
on the broadcast. And they did a good job with
the endswell that it reminded you of that ugly Hassim
Rockmand heavyweight.
Speaker 2: Not on the middle of the head. That was grotesque.
Speaker 3: By the way, I was at that fight. And yeah,
after the fight, I was talking to Rockman. We were
joking around and I touched that hematoma.
Speaker 2: Uh only you. But anyway, one sided fight.
Speaker 1: Opataiah didn't ultimately get the knockout, but he wins.
Speaker 2: He gets his hands hand raised.
Speaker 3: And that is that is his eighth lineal title defense.
Speaker 1: And so and the bigger issue now is what is
next if you're him and what happens here And so
let me say two other important things. This whole thing
with the ALI Act, it is in it because Opataian
needs to have separate representation, a separate management that looked
at his deal in the first place and understands, Okay,
if this is not good for us, we got to
have a way to get out of the deal. And
if he didn't do that, that's on him. Well first
of all, Ultimately, ultimately, if he wants to be an
undisputed champion, it does not appear they're gonna play nice
and work well with others to help him be that,
and so.
Speaker 3: Boxer the fight and after the fight, they will still
help him do that. Dana was talking about that in
the press covers. He's still with Nick Francis and the
folks at Tasman Fighters. They're experienced boxing people. Uh, they
would not have done this if they didn't have that
assurance that they could pursue that. Now, whether they can
make the fights or not, I don't know now. In
the in the post fight, they talked about perhaps he
fights the winner of the May second fight between Zerdo
who's got two of the belts and David Benavitez, who
is challenging. That fight takes place May too, that the
that the winner perhaps might fight Opatai in the latter quarter.
Speaker 1: Here and here I laughably laughably say, of course they're
going to suggest that that would be the fight. Well,
I'll put it like David Benavitez at Zerto Ramirez would
be crazy right now to go get involved with anything
with this for fear that their organizations are going to
do the same thing the IVF did and take the time.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'll put this out there. Uh, there's rumblings
if O. But I mean, if if Benavitez wins against
against against Zerto come May two, the rumblings are maybe
his contract is coming up with his people and that
perhaps they'll will make a big offer to sign him
at at ZUFA. That would obviously be a big feather
in their cap to sign one of the top American
stars and one of the best fighters in the boxing
to their stable. That would make it easily doable. My
point is there's a long way between now and the
end of the year. Now. I think if Opataia, depending
on how his health is, he seemed to come out
of this fight with no problems, he wants to stay active.
He talked to me about it in the pre fight
interview that we did about in for him, he has
this fight now that just took place. To let the
other guys do their big business in May. He would
like to come back in the summer and then fight
the winner in the fall. If he did fight in
the summertime, you have the WBC champion and Noel McKellan,
who is out there is available to make fights. He
came to a ZUFA card when they introduced Opataiah in
terms of his signing, they posed them for photos. That's
the fight he would like to have. I think ZUFA
could probably make that if they wanted to. There's gonna
be options. They say they will continue to support his
pursuit of winning the belts. Whether they'll actually do that
or not. It does take two to tango. We'll see.
You know, Listen, I'm sick and tired of people saying
you can't just because you don't like somebody doesn't mean
you can't do business with somebody as long as it's
right for you and for your client and for the
other side. So I think that in the proper circumstance,
ZUFA in this business, there's gonna have no choice but
at some times occasionally to work or at least deal
with the organizations and what they showed they were willing,
ready and able to do so. With the IBA, it
may not have been let's hug it out, but they
agreed and that deal was done. They paid the fees
and the guy was you know, the supervisor was there
and by the way, let me add also just to
add to gi Opataie's case. And I'm not I'm not
sure what will happen, but maybe there'll be a lawsuit
of subtype, but just to make it official from from
their perspective, even though the supervisor left and they didn't
have to do this once the once the IBF took
it its ball and went home, they conducted the Sunday
morning weight check as the IBF would normally have done,
and both Opatai and Lanton came in within the prescribed limit.
They could only go as heavy as two hundred and
fourteen pounds. Opatai and Glanton were you know, under that weight,
So they followed all those IBF rules to a t.
Speaker 2: All right, stay tuned.
Speaker 1: There will be more you'll be reporting on this as well,
but for now, the IBF says we were going to
trip him and they are going to follow through from Yeah,
from what it appears, stay tuned statute, because more than
one person has said, well, wait a minute, they could
relent down the road because they did this before and
put him in a vacant title fight against somebody else
at the IBF. We're talking about they did that before
with him, so stay tuned on what they actually But.
Speaker 3: Even if they did that, then then what do they
have to do. They have to like give zoofa like
measurements of where they have to place the belt and
all the bullshit. I mean, it's you know, I feel
like that ship has held for the moment. I mean,
I don't see them necessarily doing that. But what they
should have done is just fucking sucked it up and
let the guy fucking fight for the title. They didn't
break any roles. The statement that they put out was bullshit.
And by the way they talk about how in that
statement they only recognize the WBO, the WBA and on
the WBC. I can tell you chapter and verse of
the number of boxing matches that have been involved with
IBF titles that also have included non big other organizational belts,
the legendary WBF title, the IBO title, the Any of
our listeners who think I don't know what I'm talking
about with that, go just do yourself a favorite. Take
five seconds and go on box wreck and look up
Vladimir Klitschko's record and see the number of IBF championship
fights and he was involved with it also included the IBO. Okay,
do the same thing with Roy Jones, who was an
undisputed champion who had the WBO, the WBA, the IBF,
the WBC at various times in his career. And look
and see how many times he had fights involving the
ib or the IBO.
Speaker 1: Last chapter not written on all of this. That is uh,
that's for sure.
Speaker 3: I'm fired up at twenty to one an.
Speaker 2: Okay, believe or not.
Speaker 1: There was another fight as well, and this is the
former WBA featherweight champion Mauricio Bronco. Laura was in action
and actually scored a quick knockout, and Dan is all
about this.
Speaker 2: This is why we love you.
Speaker 3: I don't know if I say that.
Speaker 1: Well, because you had to see it in Spanish? Am
I not mistaken through ESPN Knockout? Yeah, and our and
our boy Chava Rodriguez and and the call of the
fight through ESPN Knockout. So tell me more about Mauricio
Laura getting a main event KO on Saturday night.
Speaker 3: I mean, by the way, that's one of the good
things I guess in the post ESPN Top Rank World
is that now they put these most weeks the ESPN
knockout cards, which are for South America, Central America, Mexico.
They put them on in America via the ES Well,
it depends, but either ESPN deport Days or ESPN Plus.
Sometimes it's both. It's always ESPN plus I guess anyway, it's.
Speaker 1: Also now one of the new ESPN Unlimited. If you're
actually describing twenty nine to ninety five a month, you
get it all English or even in another language.
Speaker 3: If this was one of those cards. But as far
as it being in Spanish, TJ. I've spent thirty years
watching Spanish language boxing. I don't necessarily understand every word
that they say, but I understand boxing. You don't need to,
you know, what's the old thing you talk boxing? So yes, anyway, I've.
Speaker 1: You know, you're easy Kiada from your derret show that
you're left from your right by the way in Espanol,
you do know that?
Speaker 2: Go ahead going out on Laura and the ko.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so like look, Laura, you know he was for
a minute and a half there was like he was
sort of on top of the world. He kind of
came out of nowhere, had traveled to England, had scored
a huge you know, this was one of those things
where if you talk about it now, people like to
bust on matching because of the number of times they've
brought some sort of obscure Mexican fighter to the UK
to fight one of their guys and suddenly the Mexican
fighter pulls the upset. This was exactly what happened if
you go back in twenty twenty three, the very Unknown,
or even before that, actually when he fought Josh Warrington
back in twenty twenty one, that's when Laura again out
of complete obscurity defeat of Josh Warrington, won that title,
got a technical draw in the rematch, and then eventually
ended up fighting Lee Wood and beating him somewhat. You know,
there was some dispute over the stoppage whatever, and then
he lost in the rematch. So that was over the
space of like two years, and then he kind of
has disappeared since then, but he's still doing his thing
in Mexico. He has now won four fights in a
row since then, and Saturday Night on this card we
just mentioned, he did the job again. Now, he was
not matched with a particularly top opponent. It was actually
a horrible opponent, but he looked good. He stopped him
in the second round. It was a one sided ass
kicking and he put his punches together very well against
the opponent his Mexican country and Rafael Rosas in the
second round, and the ref had kind of you know,
it didn't put him down to end the fight, but
was just hammering him on his feet, and the referee
stopped the fight. And your boy Rosas now, who is
now twenty eleven and two, has now lost ten of
his last eleven fights, So this was a sort of
a preordained kind of outcome. But for Laura, you just
keep the train roll until something comes your way, because
I mean, listen, the featherweight division has a lot of
talent in it right now. Guys are always looking for challengers,
looking for good fighters, looking for opponents, and maybe Mauricio
lar who's still, by the way, only like two eight
years old. He's by no means in my opinion, is
he like a shot fighter. As long as he comes
in shape, he can make the weight. He could still
probably do some damage here in that.
Speaker 1: That was the problem in the second fight with Lee
Wood was that he had a weight problem with that
as well. But he's got a name and he's a
former world champion, that's what you're saying.
Speaker 3: But in terms of that second league would fight. Yeah,
technically that's correct. He ended up getting stripped to the title,
but that was because the when they did the weight
check that the British Boxing Board of Control felt he
was a little bit too heavy to continue to try
to make the weight and he complained like, look, this
is how I do it, and they didn't let him
make the weight or even he got stripped. So anyway,
here's the main point is this, Laura is still a decent,
good featherweight contender. He went in the ring against you know,
a lesser opponent, obviously beat him up for two rounds,
got the work in and uh should be on standby
for anybody that.
Speaker 1: Needs a He's a former world champion with a name,
so let's see.
Speaker 3: And he's exciting by the way. That's also he's got
some you know, some uh he's got he's got some
some fun style of things he does always fun to watch.
Put it like that, so maybe I'll get another opportunity
somewhere on.
Speaker 1: We strive to cover it all, including that main event
that was in Mexicans.
Speaker 3: Because of boy Rafael's DVR show.
Speaker 1: Of course you're I expect you to be on it,
just like just like we're going to talk about in
a minute with the inn away press conference, which I'm
sure was all in Japanese and you were all about
it before we get to that though. Next up, Devin
Haney in deep conversation apparently with Rolando Romero for a
unified welterweight title fight. This is not exactly what we
were looking for with either Ryan Garcia or remember Connor
Benn was even calling out Devin Haney, Uh, what are
you hearing on how realistic this is? And when it
is for Hani Romero if it comes off.
Speaker 3: Well, it's very realistic and they're very close to having
a deal. Uh. My boy Lance pug Meyer from Boxing
seen or broke this story. I followed up and have
confirmed what he reported. It is in deep negotiations, if
you will. Roly Romero not making a secret of that.
He has posted to his social media that he has signed, sealed,
and delivered right now and so he's a PBC fighter.
If this all comes about, it will headline a PBC
on Prime Video pay per view at Barclay Center in Brooklyn,
New York, and it will take place on May thirtieth.
So that's the particulars as far as win and where
and how you can see it. Romero again, he said
his part is done. Devin Haney is a free agent promotionally,
and if you take a look at his career, he's
kept himself in his short term deals and has moved around.
He's fought with Eddie Hearn for a while, he was
on his own for a while, he fought with top
Rank for a while. He's done some fights with Turkey,
and now he's a free agent. He just come off.
You know, we don't have to relitigate what happened with
Ryan Garcia the no contest, but since that he has
fought on two Turkey cards. He gave him a Turkey
gave him the fight with Jose Ramirez that was a
part of that Times Square that unfortunately turned out to
be a terrible fight with Jose Ramirez. He won the
decision easily but did not look good. And then, of course,
on that same card, Ryan Garcia loss to Romero in
the regular WBA title fight. It became the only welterweight
title when when NS vacated and decided to move up
and wait, so it's so after that performance, it brought
Devin Haney back to challenge Brian Norman for the WBO
belt in November. That was on the card that was
in Saudi Arabia, and he won that fight in very
impressive fashion, scored a knockdown and won that belt. So
now Romero has got the only WBA title. Devon's back
with another title now having won a titlelight welterweight, so
making him a three division champ because he was on
disputed that lightweight. Won the WBC title very impressively against
Regis Progra at one hundred and forty pounds, ended up
vacating it after the Garcia fight. Anyway, it becomes a
unification fight, So you're right though, I mean it may
not be what was in the immediate mind of anybody
that was thinking about how these different matchups in the
division might stack up, But you can't really argue with
the match. I mean, anytime you get a chance to
see two guys who are still really good and you know,
at the top of their games in a unification, what's
wrong with that? So they're gonna they're gonna get that done.
So right now it's down to Hainy and his father,
Bill Haney, who is his manager and his trainer and
obviously his dad trying to finish up the deal with
with the PBC folks. But I suspect that we'll get done.
One thing about Devin. You can complain all you want.
Just look at the track work. The guy fights the
real fights. I mean. So it may not be sign
stealed been delivered on his end yet, but I suspect
it will be. Knowing the way that they do their
business and and the way they lock down their fights.
Speaker 1: And he was much more impressive in getting the WBO
title on that Saudi card against Brian Norman, knock him
down early and it was a better fight for him.
Speaker 2: So now stay tuned.
Speaker 1: Does this lead to a bigger thing if it comes
off by the one You're being very kind to Roly
Romero on talking about him being, you know, something noteworthy
and all of that. He was just better in the
stink bomb fight with Ryan Garca.
Speaker 3: I mean, but whatever you think about him, he's got
the belt, he can punch and uh and you want
to see unification fights in the sports, and he did,
and he did beat Ryan Garcia as bad as the
fight was, and he did score a knockdown, so I can,
and he hasn't thought since then, so he's had a
bit of a layoff, whereas Hainey did fight at the
end of last year. The one thing that I'm still
not clear about is I had reported and it wasn't
like anything secret of GILBERTA. Mendoza from the WBA, the
president of the WBA, had told me specifically on a
on a messaging chain that we have that they were
going to order the Romero Geosof mandatory fight, which the
Geosof team has been complaining about because it's so massively overdue.
They want their opportunity. Giosov's the Olympic silver medalists, He's undefeated,
he's fought two eliminators. I mean, what are we doing here?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 3: He said we're going to order that fight. Two weeks
ago he said, I'm ordering the fight next week. And
there was a bunch of things they were supposed to do.
The week went and came and went, and they never
ordered the fight, or I shouldn't say ordered the fight,
order the purspit, schedule the perspit. So something happened in
there where they were abody to get this fight, probably
approved by the w Ba who would probably approve you
to fight Devin Haney or Roly Romero in any event.
You know, I feel bad for Giosov.
Speaker 2: Well, he either is what it is. It's one of
two things.
Speaker 1: Either he got some step aside money or we're going
back to court again and he's gonna appeal and do
whatever and say you passed me over again after you
told me I was getting a shot at this title.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the fighter was ordered. I mean, that's the thing. Listen.
Ginosov's manager is is Vadim Cornelov. Vdeem has a tremendous
stable of fighters, mostly from the former Soviet countries. He's
the manager, for example, of Dmitri Bbl. He's managed, you know,
plenty of top quality fighters through the years. He and
he's a pretty chill kind of guy. Known Vadim ever
since he's been involved in boxing, and I can tell
when I spoke to him the last time about this situation,
he's starting to get a little more irritated than I've
heard him in a long time. So we'll see what
happened with the upshot here is that we're probably gonna
see at the end of May a unification between Hani
and Romero.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned on it getting done. As you like to say,
it is not done at the moment. Only Lamei can
say that his side is done. And again that's the
May thirtieth, at the end of the month. That's all
ways away from us right now at the moment. Let's
see what happens.
Speaker 2: With that, okay.
Speaker 1: So I mentioned that in a way, and Nakatani had
a press conference, and so backing up in the month
of May, they are slated to fight May the second
in the Tokyo Dome.
Speaker 2: You're amped about this.
Speaker 1: So Friday, middle of the night, actually Thursday night US time,
Friday midday in Tokyo, they had this press conference.
Speaker 2: So tell me more.
Speaker 1: As you watched them talking about this undisputed and one
of the best and one of the best Japanese fights
maybe ever in terms of magnitude and champions.
Speaker 3: Contrary to your assumption, I did not watch this press
carvers in Japanese.
Speaker 1: You did not watch it. Did you watch it in
the middle of the night live or did you watch
it back?
Speaker 3: I didn't watch the press cards, so I don't understand Japanese,
and they weren't doing real time translations. So what's got
I'll watch boxing matches in any lifeguage. But drus coounbrace
as I draw.
Speaker 2: The line, right, I understand.
Speaker 3: But the bottom line on this fight is it's first
of all, the fact that they're doing it on May
second at the Tokyo Dome has been the biggest open
secret in boxing for months. I mean even if you
go back, you know, a year and a half ago.
I mean, obviously they still had fights to do. This
has been sort of on the drawing board for the
better part of like I think, almost two years, frankly,
as they mapped out the possibilities, and it actually has
turned out that they were able to get through everything.
And it almost got up ended at the end of
last year in December when the two fighters run the
same cart in Saudi Arabian in a way, you know,
easily defeated Picasso, but Nakatani had life and death in
his fight, so he had a big swollen eye and
a lot of people thought he didn't to get the victory,
but he did get the win and on they go
to this big title fight. But they had teased it
for a while. They had for example, about a year
or so ago, they had both appeared at the annual
Japanese Boxing Commissions Awards gala, where in a way was
getting his seventh consecutive Fighter of the Year award, and
during his remarks he challenged Knakatani to fight him in
twenty twenty six. Ka Katani was there, He got up,
shook his hand, said let's get you know, let's do
it basically, and you know, just took a little time.
But I think the real reason why it took maybe
a little bit longer than some people may have thought,
wasn't because of any issues between the teams. It's hard, apparently,
from what I've heard from people that were involved, to
get a date at the Tokyo Dome to schedule the fight.
So they had to match up the timing of when
they want to do the fight with an available time
at that big stadium which will have for this fight,
you know, probably around fifty five or so a thousand people.
That's the type of attendance that they can bring in
for that that fight. If this is the same building
where famously Mike Tyson fought against August with the biggest
upset ever knock in a way fought Luis neary there.
You know what a year and a half ago or
so two years ago. That's also where Mike Tyson fought
Tony Tubbs and his first time fighting in Japan. So
it hasn't had a huge amount of boxing, but when
they do it, they're big time fights. You know, undisputed
heavyweight title. Na Katani against Away is a massive fight.
Many people would view it as the biggest fight in
all Japanese fighting in the country's history. You have, in
a way pound for pound number one to some people
at worst like two or three undefeated, twenty seven and
zero in world title fights in a row over four
weight classes in undisputed TJ as you know, in two
way classes bandam weight.
Speaker 2: An unanimous first ballot Hall of Famer.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean, you know, you can. I think
a lot of folks would say, you know already he's
the best Japanese fighter of all time. I'm not willing
to say yet he's the best Asian fighter of all time.
I still think that is Manny Pacio's domain, given that
he is Filipino. But the point is he's in rare
air in terms of the all time grace and in
terms of Nakatani, he may not have that level of accomplishment,
but he is a badass. Also also undefeated as one
titles in three weight classes, as unified at bandam weight
two of the titles. Has scored a ton of knockouts.
Really exciting fighter. This is like a can't missfight. I mean,
you know, it's a pay per view in Japan on
their service called Lomino. It will be I am sure
in some capacity available here in the United States. They
did not announce those plans just yet, but it will happen,
I am sure. And this is this is the only
if there's and there I mean, there's no negative about
the fight actually happening. What's what's unfortunate is that it's
gonna be on the same day as when Benavite's and
Zerdo Vermeraz fight may second in Las Vegas, and so
you're gonna have to probably wake up super early in
the morning American time to watch it if you care
to do it lives after maybe you have watched that
really excellent fight between Xerto and and being Venas. It's
like a It's like it couldn't spread it out over
like two big, big fights on the same weekend. I'd
rather have it spread out a little bit but that's
me just quibling. I understand the fact that they're having
this fight is tremendous. This is a real big.
Speaker 2: Time within or within sixty days of it happening.
Speaker 1: Just one more joke. I saw this from the press
conference video, et cetera. In a way had the five
belts that he was holding up over the two arms,
and I got to thinking, he's got another set of
those five belts as well. When he four belt undisputed,
would he ever bring out like all ten of them
at the same time he did?
Speaker 2: He did not do that at this time.
Speaker 3: He has those ten belts, but he also has a
belt from the other two weightless. He was a champion.
He remember he was a champion. His first world title
was what at one hundred and eight pounds? He was
a fiveweight champion for uh, you know, for a quick minute,
there's uh, there's any one a time.
Speaker 1: What's thes You gotta remember, I got nothing but women
in my house and the estrogen flows and all the
shows they watch and they call it accessorizing. There's access
arizing with the jewelry, the bracelet that matches, maybe a watch, whatever,
and then you've got ten championship belts that you could
hold up from when you were on disputed.
Speaker 3: You only got two hands, though, I don't know that's right.
Speaker 1: You got to you gotta have a lot of fore arms.
You gotta have a lot of the big a lot
of them around the chest. You gotta have the entourage
holding them up. You gotta have plenty of uh of
of your posse that's around. So yeah, all right, So
we look forward to in a way and.
Speaker 3: Yes, I mean it's just gonna be. Oh and by
the way, adding to the depth of the card is
you have his brother Takuma in a way, who is
currently the WBC bantamweight champion. This is a title that
his brother used to have and when he vacated eventually
his brother ended up winning it was He's a two
time DANDAM WAIT title holder. He's going to be in
the co feature against your boy Kazuto Ioka, who is
going to be looking for his own history. I mean,
he has moved up through the weight classes as well,
and he's looking to become the first ever five division
champion among men from Japan, which would be a big
for him. As I have said that in the times,
we have discussed Ioka in some of his fights. He's
he's probably a Hall of Famer at this point. I
mean he's he's won the titles, he's being a lot
of good opponents if you follow Japanese boxing or the
best fighters that come out of Asia in those smaller
weight classes. I mean, he has the resume, he has
the accomplishment, and now he's got another chance. I mean,
if he wins that fight and wins that, you know,
makes that history of the fifth title, or rather the
fifth division anyway. I mean that's a pretty big deal.
And it's not like he you know, you can cherry
pick titles in boxing at times. I don't consider Takum
in a way to be an opponent that you're cherry
picking against. He's a really good fighter. He's probably, you know,
at worst, like the second best band of way in
the world right now, maybe the third at worst. So
that's another really good fight for the card. And the
thing about is over if you look at the recent
years since they've both been at championship level, the two
brothers have not typically fought on the same show together.
It's going to keep their dad, Shingo, who's their trainer,
awfully busy that night.
Speaker 1: There you go for May second. Okay, a couple of
other news items. We did talk leading into the weekend
about the upcoming press conference that was to be had
in New York on Friday with Most Valuable Promotions in
ESPN striking a deal. We knew about Alicia Bombgardner being
involved with a title defense, but it turns out they
have rolled out a full fledged announcement of a long
term relationship with ESPN, MVP and Women's Boxing. So elaborate
on what was announced, including the two cards that will
be coming up in April and May, and heavily featured.
Speaker 3: So when I wrote about this the other day and
posted on social medie, I knew that they were doing
a deal with ESPN. It was sort of being it
was actually a very well kept secret of doing know
the truth. I did break that story that bomb Gardner's
fight against the Korean fighter bo Me Ray Shin, who
gave Caroline Dubois a really good fight, challenging her for
the lightweight title a couple of fights ago, that that
would be her opponent. It would take place at the
Madison Square Garden Theater, and it was part of a
deal between MVP and ESPN that would cover multiple fights.
I didn't know the exact length of the term, how
many events. As it turned out, it's a three year
deal to feature these events. It will start with well,
actually it doesn't start with the Bomb Gardner fight. What
it will do is it will start with their MVP
has a cart on April fifth that was already announced
that's taking place in London that is headlined by Caroline
Dubi defending her lightweight title, which they made a thing
about how it's going to be on Sky Sports in
the UK, but it will also be on the ESPN
platforms here in the United States. I believe that is
an ESPN Plus only cart, but the other events that
they are announcing are going to be also on main
ESPN network as well as ESPN Plus, So they'll be back.
They'll be live boxing back on linear television. How about
that linear English television which doesn't exist at the moment
since the Top Rank deal ended. And if you take
a look at Mattrum and Golden Boy and anybody else
that's goott boxing in America, they're all on streaming services.
Top Rank doesn't have a deal presently, and everything else
is pretty much on the z own er on Prime Video,
which is also streaming anyway. So this is part of
the ESPN the launching of this new window of doing
focusing on female sports, female athletics, not just boxing, but
they'll do basketball Sunday.
Speaker 1: Sunday nights now have a void because for thirty six years,
yes baseball, they did baseball. They don't have it anymore
Major League Baseball. So they have said they're going to
have various things like the WNBA provided they play a
season because they're having a labor dispute. But like college
women's softball is very prominent when they get into their postseason,
that's going to be featured on Sunday night. This boxing,
other sports, the women's NCAA tournament as well has Sunday
night games. So they're gonna do different things with different
women's sports. So, I mean, again it's worth emphasizing they're
talking about not on ESPN Plus. They're talking about ESPN
or these fight cards the regular linear network.
Speaker 3: The same way you would watch Coop Ranks cards on
regular So the first one is only on the ESPN
Unlimited or ESPN Plus.
Speaker 2: Yeah right, yeah, right, So that's that's.
Speaker 3: The main event for that one. That's Duboi against Terry Harper.
That's a good fight if you follow Women's Box and
he got Ellie Scott and he also on that show,
So that's on. That's the first show, that's in early April,
and then you have the second one, which is on
the seventeenth. That's the card that we were talking about
the other night. That's Bomb Garner again Shin and also
they'll have the Unified Super mid Away title their shadez
Agreen who's also with MVP. She's defending her title against
Lanny Daniels, who recently lost to Claressa Shields. And then
the third fight, this will also be on both ESPN
and ESPN Plus. This is going to take place in Albuquerque,
New Mexico. It is the rematch between Stephanie Han and
Holly Holm for the WBA Lightweight Women's title. They fought,
you know, back you know, I don't know, a couple
of months ago, and that's just the beginning of what
we'll like, I don't know if they didn't really save
it's going to be every month or whatever, but it's
going to be a lot of cards from the start
in April through the end of twenty twenty eight. So
it's a three years deal twenty six, twenty seven to
twenty eight. And look, you have to give credit to
the MVP folks. I mean, they saw an area where
they could basically dominate because nobody else had really taken
the bowl by the horn, so to speak, to try
to you know, round up, if you will, a lot
of the top female athletes and the top female champions and.
Speaker 1: Pay them substantially, by the way, substantially more than they've
been making elsewhere. That's how they've been able to round
them up exactly right.
Speaker 3: So because of Jake Paul's popularity and his his juice
if you will, and his fights that he did, he
was able to bring a lot of attention to the
women's fights that he chose to be involved with. Obviously,
the main one that everybody knows and loves, of course,
were the fights between a man the Serrano and Katie Taylor,
and that led to Netflix doing an entire women's only card.
It led to them having two you know the uh well,
the second card of Serrano and Taylor was on the
Mike Tyson Jake undercard, correct like the other one headlined
its own show for the first time ever, having women
headline at the Garden. The third one also was the
main event at the Garden that was the Netflix All
Women's Cards, So and as they were going along doing that,
they were signing other talent. And they've done and been
involved with a number of top women's fights, and they have.
Speaker 1: She was on the she was on the Anthony Joshua
Jake Paul undercard, and I'm trying to remember it wasn't
Caroline Dubois also a late ad on that.
Speaker 2: They were both on that card.
Speaker 1: So here again there was method to the madness all
along of give them a lot of attention on the
Netflix show and then.
Speaker 3: You can give them all the attention they want, but
the women have to deliver, correct and when women like
Katie Taylor and Toronto deliver the way they did in
the first couple of fights, and we've seen some other
like for example, when Shadeza Green fought uh and that
was also one of the undercard fights she fought Savannah Marshall.
Myself and a lot of other people picked it as
a twenty twenty five Women's Fight of the Year. So
you know, if they don't deliver, then nobody's gonna be
a shit or want to watch them. But fortunately the
women have in many respects delivered good action. What's interesting
about Bombgarner if you mentioned the fights she had on
that card recently, that was a an unusual scenario where
they didn't just h She didn't just opt for the
three minute rounds for women under which is the men's rule.
They also did twelve rounds. I didn't think that was
necessarily given the calimber of her opponent. Not to say
that Bombgarner can't do that. This fight that she's going
to have coming up headlining the show against Shin, that
will be a ten round normal Women's Championship gotcha length,
but it will be three minute rounds.
Speaker 1: Oh interesting, Okay, so two minute rounds will still be
three minute rounds.
Speaker 3: But it won't be twelve rounds exactly.
Speaker 2: It won't be twelve.
Speaker 3: So she like she followed Katie Taylor Man of Serrano
by giving up her WBC title. Bomb Gunner did because
she was undisputed. Now she's got the three belts, but
she gave up the BC title because the WBC has
its policy that they're not gonna approve.
Speaker 1: They got to get over themselves if the fighters want this,
and the fighters are demonstrating that they can handle it.
Speaker 2: Then they got to get over themselves. Are the only
ones the WBC.
Speaker 3: You know, you can agree or disagree. They say that
they're medical people and they take this. I know this
because I've had numerous conversations on a personal level with
Mercier solmuch. They take it very seriously, and uh, it
is their medical people's opinion that it should not be
the longer distance or the longer rounds for female fighters,
and so they respectfully decided not to approve those fights.
The boxers who've given up those titles, in particular Serrano
and bomb Garner, have said thank you for the opportunity,
but I'm going to go my own way, and they
gave up the belts, so she's gonna fend her other
three titles. I mean, she obviously is established herself as
number one in that weight class. And hopefully they can
deliver the goods and seventeenth.
Speaker 1: Again April and then May, and then we'll see what
they announced in the in the coming months and for
later on in the year with MVP in that new relationship. Okay,
because we've been here a bit, a couple more quick items.
The WBC says that junior welterweight champion Dalton Smith needs
to fight mandatory challenger Albert POEO. Okay, so give me
give me the latest on the timeline of when this
fight has a purse bid and what we look forward
to happening and how soon we can possibly see it
in that regarding.
Speaker 3: So they ordered a few days ago. They ordered on
this past Wednesday. Dalton Smith came to America a few
months ago and had a very spectacular victory and a great,
great fight against Surbril Mattias at Barclay Center. He won
the WBC one hundred and forty pound title. Really good fight,
like I said, and I think that he knew that
he would probably have to make the manager. I didn't
know if they were going to try to get an
exception or not. I guess they did or I'm not
sure if they tried. But any event, the fight was ordered.
They have thirty d eight. This is this is standard.
They have thirty to negotiate the deal. If they don't
make a deal, there will be a purse fit on
April third, and he'll be taken on Toyo, who is
the former titlelder. He's the guy who lost the belt.
In the first. You know, he when the first time
he had the belt he lost it to Mattias. That
was a fight that took place last July on one
of Turkey's cards, that took place in New York City.
That was on the card that had sha Cour Stevens
and Williams of Paida as well as just Shiraz against Berlanga.
The only thing that bugs me about it, and you know,
Toyo was a good fighter. He's twenty four and one. Obviously,
he's been fighting at the top level for the last
several years. He lost that fight. It wasn't controversial when
he lost. The title was close, but it wasn't like
a disputed type of thing. He hasn't fought since then,
and now he's still number one and getting the mandatory.
That's the kind of thing that drives me all bad.
He about boxing. The guy can come off a loss
of the title without real controversy. It wasn't like the
kind of fight where fans were demanding a rematch or
it was such a great fight you wanted to see
the guy right back immediately. Meanwhile, Dalton Smith is you know,
a big time victory, very exciting, a big a knockout
an upset.
Speaker 2: For their career defining moment, no exaggeration.
Speaker 3: Instead of letting him do something else or having a better,
better deserving mandatory in place, you're basically sticking this fight
down his throat. He doesn't have a choice, and now
he's not the type of fighter I mean his whole
I mean, if you watched the first when when he
won the title, you know the fact that he won
this WB's title was like a crowning moment of his life.
You know, that's what he dreamed about since he's a kid.
I concerningly appreciate. I've talked to with a thousand fighters
where that's their dream, specifically to win the Green and
Gold belt. But it's just you know, again, I'm not
I'm not saying poo is not good and it's not
like if it was an optional defense, fine, I guess,
but to make it that, it has to be this
guy or you're not gonna have your belt. I got
a problem with that, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: They do whatever they want, They do whatever they want,
So stay tuned on that. I know you'll be on
top of whenever that per s bid happens or not,
or do they do a deal beforehand. You can do
a deal, and more than likely it's going to be
a Matchroom deal for Dalton Smith to fight Playo in England.
That's where the commercial viability of that thing probably comes in.
Speaker 2: Tatooed with PBC. I mean, if it comes in.
Speaker 3: I don't, I don't I think. I mean, look, if
they Mattroom would have the much larger percentage of the
per spit if it went that. If it went that way,
and certainly they know that they can for a homecoming
before his first defense, can do a big gate there.
So it would you never know for sure, but it
would seem likely that that whether a ghost to a
person or they make a deal, then it will wind
up in the UK and Dalton Smith will have the homecoming.
Speaker 2: There you go. One more note.
Speaker 1: Mario Barrio's fresh off of being whitewashed by Ryan Garcia,
says he's done at welter weight and is going to
move up.
Speaker 2: A lot's going on at.
Speaker 1: Junior middleweight at one fifty four, and he's got a name.
But again we keep coming back to this. I'm just
teeing this up for you that every big fight he's
been in he's not had his hand raised basically.
Speaker 3: So his hand raised and his opponents hand.
Speaker 1: Right, that's true simultaneously in a draw like with Avl
ramos On that undercart of and.
Speaker 2: Many pack if and Manny Pakia. So anyway, Mario's moving
up shoup on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So Mario had one of the guys that he
was that he's buddies with, who was one of his
sparring partners, to help him prepare for the Ryan Garcia fight,
like a club fighter kid named osmel Avala, a welterweight.
So he was appearing on the Country Box club card.
That's a regular so they do in Nashville. They're free
to watch on Triller Plus. And so he was a
guest there and they did a brief interview with Mario
between the fights right before his guy was to do
his fight, which his guy won by the way, a
four rounder, and was asked by the ring announcer when
they were doing this short interview, you know, what are
your plans? You know obviously you know they already knows
he lost that fight so badly to Ryan. Last month
he said he was moving up to one fifty four,
which I can't say is a surprise. He's kind of
run his course at welterweight didn't really seem like there's
some other big fight out there for him. He's fought
a lot of good fighters in the welterweight division, and
you made the point, probably one of the lawyers of
going to one fifty four is it's such a good
division right now that even if he doesn't get like
an immediate title shot, which he probably won't or anything
like that, there's the ability to be involved in fights
because you do have a name. If you're Mario Barris,
you are a former champion, you have fought a lot
of good fighters. People will think you are vulnerable and beatable,
so you'll be attractive as an opponent. And he can
probably continue on to make money in ava cern, you know,
maybe pull off the upset here or there, because, like
I said, it is a talent rich division in terms
of the fighters that are present, whether it's John Ennis
or Virgil Ortiz or Sebastian Vandora or Tim Zu or
now Keith Thurman or or Xander Zaias who's unified Josh Kelly. Anyway,
he's gonna try to try his hand in that way
and see what he can do.
Speaker 1: All right, So we began at the beginning here with
Jaio Pataia and this whole situation with him winning but
no longer having the IBF belt, and that leads us
now into this week.
Speaker 2: We give you plenty of fight news, etc.
Speaker 1: I will say to you, coming off the birthday here,
I'm headed to Indianapolis, the heartland of America, to do
college basketball midweek. You and I will reconvene and do
a preview pod. I'll come home briefly in the middle
of the week, back to my home in West central Florida,
Big Dan, and then head to Las Vegas. Not for
boxing like where ji Opataiah was fighting this title fight
in air quotes, but I got more college basketball on
the weekend. So I got basketball, I got Rayfael and
the boxing.
Speaker 2: In the middle.
Speaker 3: Why is it a quotes?
Speaker 1: And then and then I'm back doing more boxing on
the weekend air quotes.
Speaker 2: What do you mean?
Speaker 3: He's the lineal champ. He's the man who beat the man.
Speaker 2: I don't understand that. But he's no longer the IBF champ.
Speaker 1: I get my boxing in the middle with you later
on in the week. So I got some hoops in Indianapolis,
some boxing with you, and then more basketball in Las
Vegas as this as this weekend unfold. It's a busy,
busy week for me. They need to stay locked in
on your substack, the Fight Freaks Unit substack, the newsletter
for the latest, your social media and other than that.
Speaker 2: In the middle of the night Sunday night.
Speaker 1: It was a little later tonight, but we put the
pod to bed after the Opataia win and all controversy,
Big Dan, thank you, have a good week.
Speaker 3: All right, birthday bood?
Speaker 2: All right, I'm merely TJ Reeves.
Speaker 1: Birthday or not, We press on here on this edition
of the Fight Freaks Unit Recap podcast