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Speaker 1: The countdown is on to fight time. This is Big

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Fight Weekend. Now here is your host, TJ. Leaves. All right,

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let's get ready for a weekend that has not one,

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but two intriguing fight cards for different reasons, both in

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Las Vegas. We are ready to preview the deview card

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for ZUFA Boxing that will also be part of Paramount,

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plus Callum Walsh in the main event there. Plus we've

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got an IBF lightweight title fight. I dare say a

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much more intriguing situation with Raymond Murrataian Andy Cruz to preview,

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plus Tiafimo Lopez on the program as well as he

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gets ready to fight Shakur Stevenson. He has chatted with

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Dan Rayfield. We're going to play that interview on the pod.

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Welcome in. It is the Big Fight Weekend preview pod.

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I am merely the somewhat lucid host. TJ Reeves. Hello,

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Big Dan Rayfield, Fight freaking night, substats and newsletter. Everybody

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jump aboard here in twenty twenty six. How are things

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in your world? My friend?

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Speaker 2: Everything is good and we finally have after a little

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bit of a lull. I guess we got some good

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fights here, some intriguing fights as you mentioned to discuss.

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Speaker 1: And plenty of news and it also involves ZOOFA and

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some other interesting stuff including the unified heavyweight Champion of

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the World Alexander Usik and that name coming up, so

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stand by for all of that. Thank you for finding

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us Apple, Spreaker, Spotify. We do our best to preview

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going into the weekend, recap coming off the weekend, so

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we thank you for hanging here. Make sure you follow,

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make sure you subscribe, make sure that you rate us

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and review us. That helps as well. We saw some

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ratings and reviews at the end of December. Give us

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some more here for January. That helps in the algorithms.

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If you love the show, you'll love the content. Say so.

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That helps us out as we go along here. All right,

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busy show here. Let's start first, and we got to

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keep the audience straight. We have both fight cards in

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Las Vegas, one on Friday night, one on Saturday night.

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Let's start chronologically with the Friday night debut card for

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ZUFA Boxing. We've been talking about this on the last

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a few podcasts. It is the debut night. Paramount Plus

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will stream it. Callum Walsh, unbeaten middleweight contender fighting out

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of California, Irish by birth right. I've always said, if

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the Irish guy by birth is fighting out of California,

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he's got to be the debut headliner on ZUFA Boxing.

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I've always said that fighting Carlos Ocampo, who we documented,

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we've known he got blown out in a couple of

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world title fights in the first round in both of them.

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All right, give me some more on this and the

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rest of the card is that gets underway Friday and

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starts our preview, sir.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the launch. This is what they've been

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building towards. I kind of view it, to be honest,

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as sort of like a soft launch. It hasn't had

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a lot of promotion, you know. I think that everybody

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at ZUFA Boxing, even though that team over there obviously

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knows what they're doing in terms of what they've done

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for UFC for all these years, but I think with

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the boxing scheme of things, they're still sort of getting

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their sea legs. I listened to what Dana White had

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to say at the news conference that took place this week,

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and he admitted, look, where we're trying to get things rolling,

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and we're gonna make mistakes and then we're gonna correct

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the mistakes. So you know, he was sort of making

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the play don't judge us on the first show. Give

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us if you make your final assessment, see how we

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do this year. We're gonna do some big things and

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this is just a start. So you know, I'm not

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a huge fan of the main event. I enjoy watching

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Callum Walsh, but I don't think it's much of a fight.

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That's just my opinion. But again, he's been associated with

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Klum Walsh through their deal with UFC Fight Pass that

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he had with Tom Loffler, who has been the longtime

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promoter of Callum Walsh, and he's been a Dana White

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personal favorite. And it's not a surprise that he is headlining.

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You know, he fought under their banner when they were

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the official promoter for Canelo versus Crawford. And this is

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a I won't I can't even. I mean, I guess

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it's like a mild step up fight for Callum Walsh,

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but he's in with a guy like you mentioned when

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he stepped up against the better fighters, Tim Zuo, Sebastian

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Fandora Erl Spence. You know, he's been either blitzed or

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completely dominated. And not to say that Kalum Walsh is

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at the level of those three guys who are at

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a championship level. When they fought, you gotta love Kalum

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Walsh in the fight. So we'll see how it goes.

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But they've got a busy schedule coming up. They got

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this card on the twenty third on Friday Night. They

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got another show coming up on the first, they got

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another one on the fourteenth, and they're gonna go essentially monthly,

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and this is the kickoff. And then besides that, they've

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got two other ten rounders on this card. You got

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Missy al Rodriguez, who was a former Mexican Olympian with

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a good fun style, taking on Austin Donati in a

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ten round middleweight fight. Caane Sandebal, another guy that's been

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fighting on the Tom Loffler cards, and a junior welterweight

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fight against Julian Hammer. Hans Rodriguez, who will spent a

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long time in his career with Top Break, had some injuries,

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had a layoff, came back, you know, won a recent

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fight and that actually has a chance. And I particularly

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like the way those two guys are going back and

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forth at the press covers. I feel like that's going

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to maybe be the fight of the night in terms

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of the action. But don't make a mistake. These are

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not high level fights, but at least they seem well

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matched on paper. And at the end of the day,

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if you're not getting super meaningful fights, the least we

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can get us some entertaining fights. And I feel like

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the matchmakers who have put this together at least have

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put their best foot forward to make what should be

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although not a meaningful card, let's say, but you know,

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the most important thing is an entertaining card, and this

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seems like that has a chance to do that. My

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quibbles with the main event notwithstanding.

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Speaker 1: All right, and again it's a work in progress. We

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shall see more on Zoofa Boxing in a little bit,

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and we should make mention again, I know you and

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I don't really follow or cover UFC, but they have

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a massive UFC pay per view that is also on

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Paramount Plus that is coming on Saturday on the weekend.

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So he's going to try Dana White and the TKO

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people to kind of pair these around that for the interest,

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especially if they're in the same locale, etc. We'll see.

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Speaker 2: That was obviously the intent because they're Big three. They're

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UFC three twenty four on Saturdays at the Timobilerina, and

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they'll get kicking off on Friday at their Apex with

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the much smaller venue that's there in the heart of

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Las Vegas, which is actually the place where at the

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very least their first three events will take place. And

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they also Dana has made the point, you know, we'll

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go sometimes with our boxing events on Friday night, sometimes

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on a Saturday night if there's not UFC, sometimes on

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a Sunday night, Like one of the cars they have

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upcoming is on a Sunday, so they're not going to

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be afraid to move it around. It feels like to

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me sometimes many of the people within boxing are just

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completely stuck on the notion that you must have the

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fight on a Saturday night, and that's just ridiculous because

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you know, there are seven other days of the week,

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and so Friday nights are okay, and a Sunday night

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if you're not going up against the NFL, let's say,

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no reason you can't do it there also understood.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So speaking of Saturday night, and also in Las

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Vegas and clarify, this is the font and Blue Hotel

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is where this main event is for the matchroom. Dezonne

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IBF lightweight world title fight with Raymond Murtaia and Andy

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Krue who's on that card And honestly, I mean this

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is a world championship fight. I'm intrigued. Cruise has sped

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along quickly as a Cuban gold medalist in the Olympics,

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now a world title shot. Murataia has been an intriguing

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fighter on the rise. All right, there's me setting that up.

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Give me some more thoughts on that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is this is his first defense. He had

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been the interim champion when that fighter moved up or

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you know, did a different situation, they elevated Murtia, so

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this will be his first defense. Cruise had become the

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mandatory as you mentioned, even though he's only got six

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professional fights. He is in that sort of Lomachenko ish

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kind of mold in the sense that he had such

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a gargantuan amateur career, Olympic gold medalist already thirty years old.

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You know, he was well seasoned when he came into

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the pros. He didn't need a lot more where you

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have to have you know, you know, ten or fifteen

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or twenty or thirty fights before you get a chance

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to fight for a title. He was fighting ten round

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fights against legitimate opponents from his professional debut. So now

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he's in this position. And if there's a silver lining

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to the fact that Top Rank does not have a

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broadcast deal at least for the time being, it's that

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they have been more willing to make fights with other

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promoters than go on their cards. So if they had

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a robust deal still, let's say with the espen or elsewhere,

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I'm not so sure this fight would be happening Saturday.

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There might have been a longer negotiation, maybe they'd be

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doing a fight whatever. But at the end of the

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time frame when they had to do the fight without

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a deal, they pretty much had no choice. But they

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go make a deal with Mattrum and put more Taya

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on their card even though he's the champion. But it

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does shape up as an intriguing fight. Andy Cruz is

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a slick fighter. He is an outstanding technician. He does

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have pretty decent power. Murtai is a lot more one dimensional,

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but it's a good dimension to have because he can

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bang and he you know, he likes to fight, got

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a great corner with Robert Garcia, and so they're both

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undefeated there at combined twenty nine and oh, obviously most

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of those victories are buying Martia at twenty three and oh,

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and you know it's I like the fight, but I

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keep thinking about the fact that the skill set that

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Cruz has is so outstanding that it's not any way

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a knock on Maretaya. I just feel like Andy Kruz

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has a chance to be pretty much any lightweight out there,

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even with only six pro fights. So we'll see if

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he can live up to the hype. And there's been

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a ton of it.

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Speaker 1: Again, that is the main event here. Give me something

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on the undercard. We know the name Israel Madramoff because

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we saw him fight Terrence Crawford. You were there in

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Crawford's World Junior we Junior middleweight title win before he

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eventually moved up two more weight classes to beat Canelo

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Alvarez back last September. So that bout was over a

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year and a half ago. Tell me more about this

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fight and what else is on the undercard on the

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Matchroom de Own show in Vegas.

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Speaker 2: All right, So, Madromov they're just sort of trying to

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get him back in the groove. I mean, he's another

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guy that's been with Tom Loffler at times, or is

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he signed now with he had been with Mattroum Boxing.

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I guess I take that back. He's with Matrom Boxing

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and they're trying to bring him back to prominence because,

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as you mentioned, he did lose to Crawford in August

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of twenty twenty four. Now, he lost the fight, but

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it was really really close, and if you take a

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look now the Terrence Crawford has retired, you can truly

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make the argument that that was the closest fight he

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ever had in terms of like the prospect of a loss.

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There's no doubt it was a really close fight. So

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if there's such thing as a good loss, I guess

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that would be it. Even though he was obviously obviously

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disappointed to lose his world title. And then when that

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was over with, that was in August of twenty four.

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In February of twenty five, he came back to action

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and he lost a very competitive, excellent fight against Virgil

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Ortiz Junior by decision. That was a WBC interim title

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fight at one hundred and fifty four pounds, and so

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he hasn't thought sincens so he's coming off the eleventh

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month layoff. They're not matching him with like some superstar opponent.

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It's sort of like, let's get him back in the groove.

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He's taken on a fighter who's twenty and one named

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Lewis David Salazar. But his record is very appealing. But

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if you take a look at the record of who

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he's actually faced, it's devoid of any kind of big name.

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So there's not a lot to go on in terms

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of like the level of opponent. And we all know

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what magicm is all about. You know, he's got a

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kind of a hercute, jerky style, good technician, you know,

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good amateur background. Salazar's you know, already into his thirties.

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We'll see how he's been knocked out in his one defeat.

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So right now, the object for Mademov is to show

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I'm back, I'm ready to make some more noise. This

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fight's in the middleweight division. I'm not sure if he's

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gonna stay there for good or it was just a

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matter of let's make this fight at middleweight because it's

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not for a title. So there's no reason to have

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to suck all the way down to one hundred and

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fifty four pounds. But it'll be good to see Magramov

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back in the ring. And there's you know, the other

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couple of fights that are of any consequence I guess

247
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on the undercard is and this is actually I think

248
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an intriguing fight. This is a light heavyweight fight between

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the prospect Khalil co and Jesse Hart, who's been kind

250
00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:47,320
of an active but it you know, gave Zerdo Ramirez

251
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two good quality fights and super middleweight title fights. He's

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been a he's a good amateur, he's been around, he's

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a veteran. You know, if Khalil cole, who's who's his problem?

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Sometimes he doesn't show up in the best shape. If

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he doesn't show up in shape, Jesse Hart's going to

256
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take him apart. But Khalil Colosso was a good puncher

257
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and could maybe do some damage there. And then the

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other fight is the continuing evolution and the development of

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the superb Twenty twenty four United States Olympic bronze medalist

260
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Omari Jones from your neck of the woods in Orlando, Florida,

261
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a really outstanding prospect. I have my pro I have

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been derelict in getting my prospect lists out from the

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end of last year. It will be out in the

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next day or two. He's on that list. I'll put

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it to you like that. He is to me a

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guy with a bullet and an up arrow next to

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his name. He's got a chance to really be special.

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And this is just a chance to see the kid

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continue to develop. He's sort of in that in between

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welterweight junior middleweight. I suspect he'll settle at junior middleweight.

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He's twenty three years old. He's got a humongous future

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ahead of him. And you know also with Matt Troom

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and had a great year in twenty twenty five. And

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I suspect we're seeing Busy and doing this thing again

275
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this year, and I think he's got a real chance

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to do something big down the road.

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Speaker 1: All right, Again, he's a junior middleweight least for now.

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That's on this card. And again Murataia and Cruz is

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the main event that one should be fascinating for Saturday.

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So again a Friday night Vegas card on Paramount Plus.

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And then his Oonne has the Matchroom card coming up

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as we mentioned, we're intrigued by next Saturday Night, not

283
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this Saturday night, Next Saturday Night in New York and

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the Big Madison Square Garden, Big Arena looking forward to

285
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Tiafimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson. It is for Lopez is

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lineal and WBO Junior Welterweight Championship, Shaquur Stevenson moving up

287
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from lightweight. He's the WBC lightweight champion. All right, so

288
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you don't have to wait for fight week because Big

289
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Dan's been hustling Tiafimo Lopez right now on the pod

290
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with a preview of the matchup with Shakur.

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Speaker 2: All right, is my great pleasure to welcome to our

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podcast this week. It is none other than the lineal

293
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and WBO Junior Welterweight Champion of the World, Tafimo Lopez

294
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and Tafima. I'll explain to our listeners what you have

295
00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:00,759
coming up. They probably should know by now crying out loud.

296
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You're a very big fight. You're taking on the WBC

297
00:14:03,639 --> 00:14:06,000
lightweight champ Shaw Course Stevenson, who is going to move

298
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up to fight you. You'll headline the Ring Magazine card

299
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on his own pay per view January thirty first at

300
00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:15,080
the iconic Madison Square Garden where you have fought before.

301
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:17,480
And before we get into it, first of all, welcome

302
00:14:17,519 --> 00:14:19,080
to the show. Thank you very much for doing this.

303
00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:22,919
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, thank you. Thank you for having me. Obviously,

304
00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:27,120
you're a man that knows boxing, and that really is

305
00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:30,639
to me. Honestly, I looked up to everything that you

306
00:14:30,759 --> 00:14:34,320
always did as far as speaking on a sport, and

307
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you always put good faith, in good faith into it,

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so I love that. I'm very excited for this upcoming

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bout between myself and Scheque Stevenson and I can't wait

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to rock and roll.

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Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate those kind words. I remember meeting you

312
00:14:46,559 --> 00:14:48,120
and your dad when you were probably like four and

313
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zero or something like that and get to know you

314
00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:52,480
guys a little bit. But before we talk about the

315
00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:54,159
big one with Shaqui, I actually I wanted to ask

316
00:14:54,159 --> 00:14:56,080
you a little bit about your last fight. It was

317
00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:58,919
a really good performance that you had in the Turkeys

318
00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:01,879
Ring Magazine Square card that was back in May. You

319
00:15:01,919 --> 00:15:04,879
want a decision against Arnold Barbosa to retain your title,

320
00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:07,440
and I wanted to ask you what that experience is

321
00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:09,799
like because I've been spoken to you since then you guys,

322
00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:12,720
not just yourself, but the different competitors on the card.

323
00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:15,759
You guys took cars from the location where the dress

324
00:15:15,799 --> 00:15:18,840
rooms were to get to the ring. You're fighting in

325
00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:22,519
this iconic location of Times Square, even more iconic than

326
00:15:22,559 --> 00:15:25,480
Madison Square Garden. But there was only a few hundred

327
00:15:25,519 --> 00:15:28,519
people right there because of the logistics of the event.

328
00:15:28,799 --> 00:15:30,159
What was that like for you? It was sort of

329
00:15:30,279 --> 00:15:32,440
it was sort of like really cool but kind of weird.

330
00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:35,559
Speaker 3: Well said, yep, cool and weird at the same time.

331
00:15:35,919 --> 00:15:39,919
It sure was definitely historical. Though the best part about

332
00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:42,919
it was that it was historical and it wouldn't have

333
00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:47,000
been possible without his excellency of Turkey al Chic and

334
00:15:47,039 --> 00:15:50,440
all those that contributed into that night, so especially the

335
00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:55,279
promoters going to Boy and Matchroom. So yeah, overall, though

336
00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:58,159
it's been it's been fun. It's been great. When it

337
00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:01,279
came to Times Square, uh, kind of felt like a

338
00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:01,879
little bit of.

339
00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:04,879
Speaker 2: The bubble, Yeah, exactly. That's a good point, because you

340
00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:06,039
fought there in the bubble.

341
00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:08,399
Speaker 3: Yeah, it kind of felt like the COVID Times though

342
00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,200
it was a little too quiet compared to what we

343
00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:14,679
were expecting. So but you know, we we still got

344
00:16:14,679 --> 00:16:16,399
a job to do, and that's what we did, you know,

345
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:21,799
to have flim familiar faces come in. You know. I

346
00:16:21,799 --> 00:16:24,679
had Snoop Dogg carrying one of the freaking ring cards

347
00:16:24,679 --> 00:16:27,080
and stuff, which was hilarious. I'm like, gonna shoot in

348
00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:30,399
the middle of a fight. Definitely one I say that

349
00:16:30,399 --> 00:16:35,159
I appreciate though to be on. But yeah, definitely cool

350
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:35,639
and weird.

351
00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:40,279
Speaker 2: Definitely all right. Okay, So after that, but before this fight,

352
00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:43,360
which a kor was finalized, there had been a deal

353
00:16:43,399 --> 00:16:47,320
agreed to for you to fight Devin Haney, who was

354
00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,440
obviously a big name also, and he had signed the

355
00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:54,080
agreement and your team had said you guys had agreed. Ultimately,

356
00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:56,039
you did not sign it and it didn't happen. I

357
00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:57,919
wonder what was if you could give your version of

358
00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,240
what happened. There wasn't a matter of the weight situation.

359
00:17:01,519 --> 00:17:03,360
Was it because you were gonna have to move up

360
00:17:03,399 --> 00:17:06,160
a little bit? I guess in that particular fight, was

361
00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:08,039
it money? What was the reason why? Because a lot

362
00:17:08,039 --> 00:17:09,440
of people thought that was a great matchup.

363
00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,720
Speaker 3: Also, I would say it was just honestly, I'll go

364
00:17:12,799 --> 00:17:15,920
off with my what Keith Connolly said. It was just

365
00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:17,799
personal things that I had to still finish up and

366
00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:20,640
deal with still dealing with divorce. So I just had

367
00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:22,640
those things that I still had to finalize and finish

368
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:27,039
off before I get back into the mojo jojo of boxing.

369
00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:30,680
Speaker 2: Okay, but now look at the end of the day,

370
00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,759
the record fight is here. That's the big one. I

371
00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:36,440
sense from boxing fans to FIMO a lot of excitement

372
00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:40,200
about this matchup. Two young stars, guys in their prime.

373
00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:42,720
You guys can talk a lot of trash with each other.

374
00:17:44,039 --> 00:17:46,200
You know, there's big stakes. You're in a great arena.

375
00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:50,079
Can you just describe for me what does it mean

376
00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:52,440
to you being in this sort of event. I think

377
00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:53,759
it's the biggest one of your career.

378
00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:58,079
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think moving forward, every fight is

379
00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:00,359
gonna be the biggest one of my career. This one

380
00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,799
right now is the front runner, and it's a it's

381
00:18:03,839 --> 00:18:07,920
a it's honestly, it's one I wouldn't trade it for.

382
00:18:08,279 --> 00:18:10,519
I mean, this is the mecca, you know what I mean.

383
00:18:10,759 --> 00:18:12,880
This is the mecca, And this is a moment right

384
00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:15,920
now in time where you're getting too fighters that are

385
00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:18,880
possibly heading into their prime. They're gonna face one another

386
00:18:19,279 --> 00:18:20,920
that believe they at the top of the top of

387
00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:24,119
the food chain and are gonna put it on display,

388
00:18:24,519 --> 00:18:28,359
you know, come that night, Saturday night, and what better

389
00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:30,720
way than having it hosted in Madison Square Guarden, the

390
00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:35,160
world's famous arena. And to really put it into perspective,

391
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:37,000
it's gonna be one that people are going to talk

392
00:18:37,039 --> 00:18:38,119
about for a long time.

393
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,359
Speaker 2: Well, it seems to me anyway that the fight has

394
00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:42,759
sort of been for the last few years is kind

395
00:18:42,759 --> 00:18:45,000
of inevitable because you at your core, even though you

396
00:18:45,039 --> 00:18:47,440
haven't necessarily been in the same weight class, you've been

397
00:18:47,839 --> 00:18:50,680
not separated by more than a division. Uh, you know,

398
00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:54,480
you're around the same age, You've got the both Olympic backgrounds. Uh.

399
00:18:54,759 --> 00:18:58,200
You know, have fought good competition during your careers, and

400
00:18:58,559 --> 00:19:00,880
you were both with top ranked together for a long time.

401
00:19:01,319 --> 00:19:03,480
You even fought. I went and looked this up two times.

402
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:05,920
Both you and your court fought on the same Terrence

403
00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:10,039
Crawford undercart in twenty seventeen, in twenty nineteen, and you know,

404
00:19:10,039 --> 00:19:12,319
knowing the way top rank handles things, that's not a

405
00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:15,960
surprise to put types of fights together where they've got

406
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,039
guys being exposed to the same fans at the same

407
00:19:19,079 --> 00:19:21,680
time on undercarts together. Did you feel like this fight

408
00:19:21,759 --> 00:19:22,880
was sort of inevitable through.

409
00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:27,079
Speaker 3: The years, I'd say maybe maybe a little more down

410
00:19:27,079 --> 00:19:30,640
the road, but yeah, inevitable for sure. It's just more

411
00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,920
down the road, I'd say. But we're here now. It's

412
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,039
happening much much sooner than later. So and I think

413
00:19:37,039 --> 00:19:39,160
it needs to happen this way anyways to help the

414
00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:42,839
next fighters that are around different weight classes and people,

415
00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:45,000
you know, fights that want to be made and people

416
00:19:45,039 --> 00:19:48,079
want to see. Just fight, man, Just make the fights

417
00:19:48,079 --> 00:19:50,559
happen for the fight fans that love the sport.

418
00:19:50,799 --> 00:19:53,240
Speaker 2: Well, you mentioned now maybe it would have been further

419
00:19:53,319 --> 00:19:56,640
down the road, which sometimes seems to me in boxing

420
00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:59,839
today is a problem where great matchups with two you know,

421
00:20:00,039 --> 00:20:02,799
hop young guys, it waits a long time to happen.

422
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,319
But you guys are you know, doing the doing the

423
00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,599
fight now and taking that gamble. But I think both

424
00:20:08,599 --> 00:20:11,000
of you realize that whatever happens, whoever loses, it's not

425
00:20:11,079 --> 00:20:13,400
like the guy's career is over that you are not

426
00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:15,079
going to be able to earn a living and still

427
00:20:15,079 --> 00:20:17,759
become a big time factor in the sport. Is that

428
00:20:17,799 --> 00:20:19,640
sort of the mentality that you have, like I got

429
00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:20,960
nothing to lose here. I'm gonna go in there. I'm

430
00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:23,039
gonna put on a great fight and you know, take

431
00:20:23,079 --> 00:20:24,640
on a top opponent, which is what you said the

432
00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:25,400
fans want to say.

433
00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:28,160
Speaker 3: Now, I don't think that way. I don't think the

434
00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,119
I don't think about losing. I think about winning and

435
00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:34,799
my my my mentality on that is coming out victorious.

436
00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,279
I think for a guy like Shakur, he may have

437
00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:40,680
that on him. You know, he still holds the WBC

438
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,519
world title at lightweight, so you know. For myself though,

439
00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:46,599
I'm putting everything on the line, putting all of it

440
00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:51,799
on the line, so I can't I can't really say.

441
00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,119
I'm just happy though that we're we're having this time

442
00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:54,880
to make it happen.

443
00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:57,200
Speaker 2: Though, for you guys, have you guys have known each

444
00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,440
other for a long time, what's the relationship like between

445
00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:03,039
you guys? Feel like it's it's respectful and cordial, but

446
00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:04,119
not like best buddies.

447
00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,240
Speaker 3: Not best buddies for sure or not. It's just more cordial.

448
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,440
It's just more cordial. But at this point in time,

449
00:21:11,519 --> 00:21:14,920
now that we signed the contracts, we are close to fight.

450
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:19,480
There's no respect to it. No, I've worked very hard

451
00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:21,440
to get to where I'm at, and I think Chakur

452
00:21:21,519 --> 00:21:23,960
has been eyeing me for some time behind the scenes.

453
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:28,000
And I didn't expect that of Shakhor because he has

454
00:21:28,079 --> 00:21:31,119
a lot on his already on his side, But I

455
00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:33,200
guess it's somebody that likes to aim for more and

456
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:35,880
I respect that part. But other than that, we're just

457
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:37,799
gonna go out there and have fun with this guy.

458
00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:40,039
Speaker 2: I have seen him quoted in some of the build

459
00:21:40,079 --> 00:21:42,200
up to this fight of essentially saying in a variety

460
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,039
of interviews that he's not just better than you, which

461
00:21:45,039 --> 00:21:47,160
anytime you fight an opponent you believe you're better than

462
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:49,960
the opponent. He's actually been saying that he believes he's

463
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:52,359
way better than you. What are what's your responses to that?

464
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:59,160
Speaker 3: Don't believe the hype. It's a sequel, okay, sequel.

465
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,559
Speaker 2: One thing about you is that you have performed at

466
00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:05,839
a you know, obviously an elite level, to a level

467
00:22:05,839 --> 00:22:08,680
to accomplish what you have accomplished. But in your two

468
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,920
big wins, you came up huge against guys that were,

469
00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:17,119
you know, some favored even against Lomachenko, against against Josh Taylor,

470
00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:19,960
and then there's been some other times where maybe the

471
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,759
performance has been slightly inconsistent. Steve clagget A, Jamaine Ortiz,

472
00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:27,960
do you feel like that's a fair assessment that you

473
00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:29,960
you really, you really turn up in your big ones,

474
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,839
but not always looks so great and maybe the lesser ones.

475
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:36,640
Speaker 3: No, that just has to do with myself mentally, that's

476
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:40,440
all it is. Mentally, I just wasn't. I wasn't in

477
00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:44,200
those fights mentally dealing with personal stuff. It ain't easy, man,

478
00:22:44,519 --> 00:22:46,799
but it's part of it. I needed to learn that

479
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:49,400
to see where where I was making my haircups and

480
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,440
mistakes at to get to this point now. So all

481
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:56,440
those lessons, all those fights have prepared me for this

482
00:22:56,759 --> 00:22:59,440
particular fighter that we're going to face January thirty first

483
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:02,079
in Madison's were Garden Live on the Zone.

484
00:23:02,759 --> 00:23:05,839
Speaker 2: Well, I'll just wrap up with this anti femou What

485
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,200
do you think the difference is going to be in

486
00:23:08,279 --> 00:23:10,960
terms of what separates winning and losing this fight? What

487
00:23:11,079 --> 00:23:13,519
is the winner? Because it's such an even fight. I

488
00:23:13,559 --> 00:23:15,440
think a lot of people look at on paper, you know,

489
00:23:15,599 --> 00:23:19,359
two really talented guys that brings different strengths to this

490
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:22,480
particular fight. What's going to separate winning from losing.

491
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:26,759
Speaker 3: What's going to separate from winning from from losing.

492
00:23:30,039 --> 00:23:31,799
Speaker 2: Is it your power? Is it his speed? Is it

493
00:23:31,839 --> 00:23:33,039
your smart smarts?

494
00:23:33,039 --> 00:23:36,319
Speaker 3: What is it believing in boxing, believing in the sport.

495
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:39,680
That's it. Who loves the sport more and who's going

496
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,640
to do better for the sport. It's not about the

497
00:23:42,759 --> 00:23:45,359
scales at this point. It's uh, it's more than that.

498
00:23:45,599 --> 00:23:47,240
I'll tell you, Dan, it's more than that. I want

499
00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:49,839
to help these next kids, and the only way is

500
00:23:49,839 --> 00:23:52,319
by beating this guy, this joker that's in front of me.

501
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,559
Beating him will give me at least a bit of

502
00:23:55,559 --> 00:24:00,519
a footing to to to help these young young fighters

503
00:24:00,519 --> 00:24:04,079
and young kids out there to become better within themselves.

504
00:24:04,319 --> 00:24:05,960
Speaker 2: And then you move up eventually and look for a

505
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:06,759
welterweight title.

506
00:24:07,759 --> 00:24:10,440
Speaker 3: We'll see, you know, I'll speak to my team. I've

507
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:12,799
been well at this weight. I've been well prepared. I've

508
00:24:12,839 --> 00:24:18,119
been training since the since the Honor Barbosa fight, so

509
00:24:18,279 --> 00:24:20,920
it's been almost all year round that we've been staying focused,

510
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:24,400
staying training despite the personal issues that I was dealing with.

511
00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:28,759
So nevertheless, it's a lifestyle and we'll see where it

512
00:24:28,799 --> 00:24:30,559
goes from here. Well.

513
00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:33,200
Speaker 2: January thirty. First we'll see exactly what happens to your Fema.

514
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:35,240
Thank you so much for your time. Wish you nothing

515
00:24:35,279 --> 00:24:36,400
but the best in the fight.

516
00:24:36,759 --> 00:24:37,720
Speaker 3: Thank you you as well.

517
00:24:37,799 --> 00:24:44,519
Speaker 1: Stan. Very intriguing fight to say the least. Arguably again,

518
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,200
these are two of the more prominent Americans fighting each other.

519
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:50,200
I know we'll get into this a little more with

520
00:24:50,319 --> 00:24:54,480
Mario Barrios a Mexican American Ryan Garcia out in California.

521
00:24:54,519 --> 00:24:56,880
They are going to fight later on in February. But

522
00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,240
this this is very intriguing, at least to me on

523
00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:03,160
paper thoughts after having talked to Toya Fimo Lopez.

524
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,039
Speaker 2: Well, to your first point, this is a big time fight,

525
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,319
no doubt about it. However, the fight on folds, you know,

526
00:25:08,319 --> 00:25:10,440
we'll see what styles they end up deciding to use

527
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:12,960
when the bell rings. But just in terms of the meaning,

528
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,839
in terms of the titles at stake, in terms of

529
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:17,400
the fact that these are young men that are in

530
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,559
their primes, are approaching their primes or early in their primes,

531
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:24,799
both on both both have won titles in multiple divisions,

532
00:25:24,839 --> 00:25:29,759
both were Olympians, Both have a lot of swagger to them.

533
00:25:29,759 --> 00:25:31,799
I mean, it's it's a high class fight. I mean,

534
00:25:31,799 --> 00:25:35,200
both guys are supremely talented. They both have beaten excellent

535
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:38,880
competition over the years. And it's like tia Fimo said

536
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:40,640
when folks when they listened to the interview, he said,

537
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:43,119
you know, it was an inevitable fight, even though he

538
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:44,839
feels like it's maybe coming a couple of years before

539
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,279
he expected, but happy to do the fight. He was

540
00:25:47,279 --> 00:25:49,480
in really good spirits when I spoke to him. And

541
00:25:49,519 --> 00:25:51,200
you know tia Fimo at times, you know he is

542
00:25:51,759 --> 00:25:55,240
can be moody if you will, but all but you know,

543
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:57,680
he does a lot of crazy outlantas things if you

544
00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:00,160
just kind of follow him on social media or sort

545
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:01,759
of see the way he acts sometimes at a press

546
00:26:01,759 --> 00:26:03,839
comer or something like that. But if you're just like

547
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:05,559
one on one with the guy, you're just sitting and

548
00:26:05,559 --> 00:26:07,279
talking to him. And I've had the opportunity, not just

549
00:26:07,319 --> 00:26:10,000
in this interview, but over the course of his entire career.

550
00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:12,880
I've interviewed him numerous times. I've sat and had personal

551
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,000
time with him and just talked about life and just

552
00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:19,160
things not boxulated. He's like a good young guy. He's

553
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:21,960
just had his issues. He's had some difficulties with the family.

554
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,200
He's been going through a divorce, had a child custody battle,

555
00:26:25,599 --> 00:26:27,119
and he's a young guy, so that was sort of

556
00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:29,480
had taken its toll. I think there's been a few

557
00:26:29,519 --> 00:26:32,039
mental health issues along the way. But when he's got

558
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,759
himself right, man, he's a very, very tough out and

559
00:26:34,799 --> 00:26:37,240
Shaquor has been flawless essentially.

560
00:26:37,319 --> 00:26:37,440
Speaker 3: Now.

561
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,000
Speaker 2: You may not love some of the fights he's had.

562
00:26:39,039 --> 00:26:41,039
They may not have been everybody's cup of tea in

563
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:43,880
terms of entertainment value, but the dude can fight, no

564
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:46,640
doubt about it. He's got it in his DNA. You

565
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,960
knows every inch of that ring. It's a fascinating style matchup.

566
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:51,799
And they talk about, you know, is it going to

567
00:26:51,839 --> 00:26:53,839
be a big deal because Shakor is moving up in wait.

568
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:55,640
I don't think that makes a damn bit of difference.

569
00:26:55,839 --> 00:26:58,799
Te Femo was a lightweight for much of his career.

570
00:26:58,839 --> 00:27:00,599
He's only been in the junior wealter division for a

571
00:27:00,599 --> 00:27:03,079
little bit. I don't think sure. Court. If you look

572
00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:04,599
at them now, you see the videos, they look like

573
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,039
they're the same size. I mean, this is a great matchup,

574
00:27:07,039 --> 00:27:08,319
I mean it really is. I just hope the fight

575
00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:09,240
lives up to the hype.

576
00:27:09,799 --> 00:27:12,519
Speaker 1: We're intrigued by that. So you got an advance of

577
00:27:12,799 --> 00:27:16,599
a fight week here as part of the pod. All right,

578
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:20,160
I mentioned Barrios and Garcia. They did the kickoff press

579
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:25,240
conference on Thursday. Anything noteworthy as they get ready to

580
00:27:25,279 --> 00:27:28,440
fight next month in a pay per view main event

581
00:27:28,519 --> 00:27:30,359
for the WBC welterweight title.

582
00:27:31,279 --> 00:27:33,359
Speaker 2: Well, I watched the press conference on Thursday afternoon. They

583
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:37,319
did it in Los Angeles, no surprise there, and I

584
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:39,279
knew this was going to be a topic of discussion.

585
00:27:39,279 --> 00:27:40,640
I didn't know how much it would be. You know,

586
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,720
one of the storylines of this fight is that Mario

587
00:27:43,799 --> 00:27:46,440
Barrios is being trained by Joe Goosen. You go back

588
00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:48,440
when they did the pay per view in December with

589
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:52,960
Pitt Bull Cruise, and Joe was one of the pundits

590
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,359
at the desk on the pay per view. At one

591
00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:58,400
point during between the fights, they had Mario sitting with

592
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:00,680
him and they announced that he was going to be

593
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:03,720
training Mario. And this was before the fight was officially announced,

594
00:28:03,759 --> 00:28:05,720
but he said, look, we're training for Ryan Garcia. That

595
00:28:05,839 --> 00:28:07,000
was at the time where they were getting all the

596
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:10,240
paperwork squared away. And of course anybody that has followed

597
00:28:10,519 --> 00:28:13,960
either Joe Goosen or Ryan Garcia knows that Joe Goosen

598
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,680
and Ryan Garcia worked together for a while when Ryan

599
00:28:16,759 --> 00:28:18,720
was an amateur and then as a professional. He had

600
00:28:18,759 --> 00:28:22,960
him for about three fights, including you know, the very big,

601
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,319
big loss that he had against Tank Davis when he

602
00:28:25,319 --> 00:28:27,839
got knocked out. There was a lot of discussion afterwards

603
00:28:27,839 --> 00:28:30,119
that Joe didn't show up at the press conference to

604
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,039
support his guy. Afterwards, you know, there was some difference

605
00:28:33,039 --> 00:28:35,160
of opinion about what actually happened with that, but the

606
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:37,720
point was, you knew that it's going to be a storyline.

607
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,000
And Ryan Garcia and his father, Henry, who's now the trainer,

608
00:28:41,039 --> 00:28:43,359
had been the assistant trainer before, made it like the

609
00:28:43,359 --> 00:28:45,880
focal point of this press conference, and they bitched and

610
00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:50,240
moaned about how Joe was being, you know, disrespectful, and

611
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:52,039
you know, Brian said it hurt his heart that he

612
00:28:52,079 --> 00:28:54,039
would go and work with his opponent, And all I'm

613
00:28:54,039 --> 00:28:56,359
thinking to myself is, dude, first of all, grow up.

614
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:57,839
It's business. It's not personal.

615
00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:00,799
Speaker 1: And if you know, Joe, I'm not nicest kind of

616
00:29:01,359 --> 00:29:02,559
fire Joe Goosen.

617
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:04,759
Speaker 2: Thank you. That's exactly what I was gonna say. Yeah,

618
00:29:04,799 --> 00:29:07,480
he fired him. And so Joe Goosen is not supposed

619
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:09,880
to get a job. He's not supposed to take work

620
00:29:10,039 --> 00:29:13,079
when the when the WBC welterweight champion comes to you

621
00:29:13,119 --> 00:29:15,279
and asks you if you'll if I'll train you, and

622
00:29:15,599 --> 00:29:18,079
you have an opportunity to help this young man in

623
00:29:18,119 --> 00:29:19,799
the biggest fight, or one of the biggest fights of

624
00:29:19,839 --> 00:29:22,440
his career. Uh, and to impart your wisdom and your

625
00:29:22,559 --> 00:29:25,480
talent and your knowledge. You know, A shame on Henry

626
00:29:25,599 --> 00:29:28,440
Garcia and shame on Ryan Garcia for making this the thing. Now,

627
00:29:28,759 --> 00:29:31,000
perhaps it will draw up some interest and help sell

628
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:32,400
a few paper views and all that, but I thought

629
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:34,920
it was completely ridiculous. And Ryan made up they had

630
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,240
these shirts made up and said Joe Gooson on one

631
00:29:37,279 --> 00:29:38,920
side the other side and says, I am a trader.

632
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:40,960
Le Me give me a break. He's not a trader.

633
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:45,240
You fired the dude and have you He's literally like

634
00:29:45,279 --> 00:29:47,160
literally xing.

635
00:29:47,319 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 1: You had him on the pod before in and around

636
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:52,599
the Garcia fight. And you know, Garcia has had his

637
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:53,319
own issues.

638
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:55,599
Speaker 2: We know this. I'm gonna tell you right now, tej

639
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,400
I've known Joe Gooson literally for twenty five years. He

640
00:29:58,599 --> 00:30:02,000
is a great guy. A great boxing guy and just

641
00:30:02,039 --> 00:30:04,720
a great guy to hang around, doesn't have a a A,

642
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:08,240
does not have the the you know. They asked him,

643
00:30:08,279 --> 00:30:09,759
are you doing this as a matter to sort of

644
00:30:09,759 --> 00:30:11,640
get back at Ryan Garcia, And Joe was like, what

645
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:15,039
are you talking about? My goal, not just with Mario Baris,

646
00:30:15,079 --> 00:30:17,599
but with any boxer that I work with, is to

647
00:30:17,759 --> 00:30:20,599
help make him the best fighter he can be and

648
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:22,839
to win the fight. And it's got nothing to do

649
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:23,680
with the fact that I may.

650
00:30:23,599 --> 00:30:25,079
Speaker 1: Have just adds a subplot.

651
00:30:25,119 --> 00:30:27,079
Speaker 2: It adds a subplot, but they made it the focal

652
00:30:27,119 --> 00:30:29,880
point of the thing. And Mario Barros for his point,

653
00:30:30,119 --> 00:30:32,000
he's a very chill guy. We've had him on the

654
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:36,279
show before, very likable, and he you know, he maybe

655
00:30:36,359 --> 00:30:37,960
can Everybody wants to fight him because I think he

656
00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:39,960
can beat him. All I know is he's he's getting

657
00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:42,440
wins and draws, and he's still got a title, and

658
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:44,519
he's had a lot of big fights against Manny Paco,

659
00:30:44,559 --> 00:30:47,039
against Kank Davis, and now he's got this fight against

660
00:30:47,079 --> 00:30:48,720
Ryan Garcia. So he's doing something right.

661
00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:53,640
Speaker 1: All right. Back to ZUFA Boxing, and I do read

662
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:56,839
my Dan Rayfhael Substack as the audience should the audience

663
00:30:56,839 --> 00:31:00,160
should as well. And on the newsletter, on the email, uh,

664
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,559
and I see in my inbox the name Alexander Usik

665
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:07,160
now talking with ZUFA Boxing, And Dana White even brought

666
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,559
some of this up at the at the press conference.

667
00:31:09,599 --> 00:31:13,039
He acknowledged they are talking, and and Usik's people acknowledged

668
00:31:13,319 --> 00:31:15,799
they are talking now as we know, and they're.

669
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:18,599
Speaker 2: Just just to be clear, Dana did not actually acknowledge it,

670
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:20,720
but he more or less did.

671
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,160
Speaker 1: He hinted that way he was.

672
00:31:23,119 --> 00:31:25,839
Speaker 2: Asked, hold on, He was asked about the reports about

673
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,720
Usik talking to ZUFA, and Dana kind of sidestepped that.

674
00:31:29,799 --> 00:31:31,839
He said, listen, he didn't mention him by name. He

675
00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:34,240
just said, we as a company here at ZUFA, we're

676
00:31:34,279 --> 00:31:37,599
interested in talking to anybody that's a a top level

677
00:31:37,599 --> 00:31:39,559
fighter that we think is one of the best in

678
00:31:39,559 --> 00:31:41,680
the world. Those are the kinds of guys we're interested

679
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,359
to work with. Obviously, Alexandrusik is one of the best

680
00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:47,359
in the world right and he's unencumbered as far as

681
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:48,559
they broadcast.

682
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:51,480
Speaker 1: His and his management then said also when he was

683
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,400
in your sub stack, they they confirmed we're talking to them,

684
00:31:55,119 --> 00:31:59,160
all right, So give me a little more here because

685
00:31:59,519 --> 00:32:02,640
on the this would be a big deal for ZUFA,

686
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:07,119
but by the same token, part of the lure is

687
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:10,319
that Usik has three of the sanctioning bodies world heavyweight

688
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,160
championships that would now not be part of this.

689
00:32:14,119 --> 00:32:18,240
Speaker 2: Akan trermontfair no go ahead, so as Dana talked about

690
00:32:18,279 --> 00:32:20,000
when he was asked about that, Because of course, if

691
00:32:20,039 --> 00:32:22,440
you have followed what Data has said ever since he

692
00:32:23,039 --> 00:32:26,319
launched this ZUFA situation, you know he has gone on

693
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,279
record on multiple interviews and said, to one degree or another,

694
00:32:29,319 --> 00:32:31,440
I want to put the sanctioning bodies out of business.

695
00:32:31,839 --> 00:32:33,799
I'm not gonna work with the sanctioning bodies. We don't

696
00:32:33,799 --> 00:32:36,200
want to work with other promoters, you know, which, again

697
00:32:36,559 --> 00:32:38,759
you can disagree with that, but that's their prerogative. That's

698
00:32:38,759 --> 00:32:41,480
how they choose to run their business. However, if you're

699
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:45,839
gonna sign Jaio Patayah, who has the IBF title and

700
00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:48,960
the ring title, slash lineal title, and in the video

701
00:32:49,039 --> 00:32:51,359
that you post when he announces that he's signing with

702
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:53,880
ZUPA Boxing, literally the first thing out of his mouth is,

703
00:32:54,119 --> 00:32:55,839
I want to be the unified champion. I want to

704
00:32:55,839 --> 00:32:59,039
be the undisputed champion, and now you're looking to potentially

705
00:32:59,079 --> 00:33:02,359
sign a guy Colexander Usak, who you know has shown

706
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:03,799
he's willing to give up a belt, but I don't

707
00:33:03,799 --> 00:33:06,400
think he's gonna give up all the belts. You have

708
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:08,880
to adjust your situation. And Dana was I thought did

709
00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:11,880
a good job. He said, Look to paraphrase what he

710
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:13,720
said at the press conference when he's asked about this

711
00:33:13,839 --> 00:33:16,160
was the fight with press conference for the Walsh and

712
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:19,400
o'campo card. He said, these guys all come from somewhere

713
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:21,680
and as kids, when they first put on gloves, they

714
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,559
had dreams and aspirations of becoming a world champion, whatever

715
00:33:25,039 --> 00:33:27,119
title belt that they wanted to have. So, you know,

716
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:29,440
put it like this, we're gonna we're gonna work with them,

717
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:31,640
and we're gonna make that happen. So I think they

718
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:34,599
are acknowledging that, at least for the time being, that

719
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:37,319
when they signed a super talent like an Opataia or

720
00:33:37,359 --> 00:33:39,640
potentially a Nusik, they're gonna have to play ball with

721
00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:41,640
the organizations because otherwise they're not going to get the

722
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:44,559
top talent unless they completely blow them away with the money.

723
00:33:44,599 --> 00:33:47,079
And anybody that knows the way that they've operated with

724
00:33:47,119 --> 00:33:49,200
the UFC. Right, that's not been there.

725
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:51,400
Speaker 1: Let me just interject here, all right, So this is

726
00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:52,839
this is where we keep it real, and we're gonna

727
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:55,160
keep it real a couple more times as this podcast

728
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,400
goes on. You can't have every lane in the argument.

729
00:33:58,519 --> 00:34:01,160
You can't have every side of the argument. So either

730
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:03,359
you are going to do your own thing and sanctioning

731
00:34:03,359 --> 00:34:07,400
bodies be damned, or you are going to do what

732
00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:10,920
the sanctioning bodies want, which is okay, lucrative fights involving

733
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:13,199
our champions that we might or might not sanction, and

734
00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:15,559
you might or might not work with us. But you

735
00:34:15,599 --> 00:34:17,360
can't have both of those. You can't have all lanes

736
00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:19,159
and all sides of the argument. And at some point,

737
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,760
well hold on. At some point the fans and people

738
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:25,679
that are smart will start to see through this that

739
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:28,119
it's gotta be one or the other. It can't be

740
00:34:28,159 --> 00:34:32,159
a mix of both. H and I really wonder again,

741
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,000
here are we talking about that they would give him

742
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,320
a long term three four five fight deal. I don't

743
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:40,639
buy that. I don't buy that that's what would happen.

744
00:34:41,199 --> 00:34:42,880
Speaker 2: I think there's no doubt if you're going to sign

745
00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:44,639
up somebody like an Obataia.

746
00:34:44,639 --> 00:34:47,119
Speaker 1: Not over the time I'm talk about Uik, i'malking about I.

747
00:34:47,119 --> 00:34:48,880
Speaker 2: Don't think you need to do a long term deal

748
00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,199
because he probably doesn't have a long term left. I

749
00:34:51,199 --> 00:34:53,239
agree with that, but I'm sure that if they do

750
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:56,400
sign an Oosik, I'd be rather shocked if it was

751
00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:58,760
only one fight. It's gonna probably be at least two fights.

752
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,360
But here's the main point. I'm glad that Dana recognizes

753
00:35:03,679 --> 00:35:06,320
that that you're gonna have to play ball, because you

754
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:09,800
can't just come in and expect to up end things

755
00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:12,440
in one day. Now. Maybe in the long term they

756
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,320
won't work with sanction bodies when they become more established,

757
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,679
but as you're rolling out, you're gonna have to do

758
00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:19,920
some business with them. So to quote what he said,

759
00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:21,920
I found the exact quote because I wrote it in

760
00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:24,039
the piece I did. He says, we'll work with He

761
00:35:24,079 --> 00:35:26,440
was talking specific about Opataia, because the Theusic thing, you know,

762
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:28,679
who knows what's gonna happen, will work with Jai and

763
00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:31,400
probably many other guys. I sort of came out a

764
00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:33,480
little vague. I don't like letting everyone know what we're

765
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:35,440
gonna do until we do it. Like I said, it's

766
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:37,920
a work in progress. You'll see. And then he made

767
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:40,519
the point about what I said to you, about the

768
00:35:40,559 --> 00:35:43,079
fact that these are guys that had dreams and aspirations

769
00:35:43,119 --> 00:35:45,360
to do, you know, things as far as you know,

770
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:49,239
win titles and the like. So they understand that they're

771
00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:52,599
going to have to work with people. He says, all

772
00:35:52,679 --> 00:35:55,159
these guys came from somewhere, they had plans, they had

773
00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:58,239
jilants when they were kids, when they first put on gloves.

774
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:00,679
We're gonna do everything in our power to make sure

775
00:36:00,679 --> 00:36:02,800
that these guys can do what they wanted to do.

776
00:36:03,079 --> 00:36:05,519
That means you're gonna have to work with the organizations,

777
00:36:05,599 --> 00:36:07,519
end the story, or you're just not going to get

778
00:36:07,519 --> 00:36:07,920
the talent.

779
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:12,280
Speaker 1: On the Rayphield meter, is this a five? Is this

780
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:12,800
a seven?

781
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:15,440
Speaker 2: Which one talking about to usk?

782
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:18,639
Speaker 1: Is it a five? Is it a seven? How likely?

783
00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:19,519
In your mind?

784
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:21,760
Speaker 2: I mean, I think I think it's I think it's

785
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:23,880
like a fifty to fifty. I mean, you know, we'll

786
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:27,480
see what they put it in money, what type of opportunity.

787
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:29,320
Speaker 1: Who he's going clearly and one more point than we're

788
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:31,800
gonna move on. Clearly Turkey al Chic was bank rolling

789
00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:33,840
the two fights with Tyson Fury and having them in

790
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:37,960
Saudi Arabia and and and yes, so it's not hard.

791
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,159
This crap ain't complicated to figure some of this out.

792
00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:43,239
Speaker 2: So let me just go one one step further. If

793
00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:45,599
he does end up with Zufa, I am told one

794
00:36:45,639 --> 00:36:48,760
of the key fighters who's also talking to Zufa, which

795
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:51,960
would probably be the match because he's not fighting Deontay Wilder.

796
00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:56,039
As we've discussed, is a possible fight between Usik and

797
00:36:56,079 --> 00:36:59,360
another former heavyweight champion, and that's Andy Ruiz Junior. So

798
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:01,519
that would look apparently wants to fight.

799
00:37:02,519 --> 00:37:05,599
Speaker 1: I read, I read you write something about that, and

800
00:37:06,039 --> 00:37:10,840
uh i yea god. If this is what we've come to, well,

801
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:11,159
I don't know.

802
00:37:11,639 --> 00:37:12,760
Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with that fight.

803
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,360
Speaker 1: There is everything wrong with that fight, and Andy Ruiz

804
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,440
has done absolutely nothing in the last three years to

805
00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:23,599
indicate that he deserves a shot. Done exactly, but exactly.

806
00:37:23,599 --> 00:37:25,559
Speaker 2: I look at two of us polls.

807
00:37:25,599 --> 00:37:27,440
Speaker 1: Don't mean to make it that either one of them

808
00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:27,920
are worth while.

809
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:29,840
Speaker 2: Hold on, I'm looking at it from the perspective, not

810
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:31,960
of what Andy has done or what Deanta has done.

811
00:37:32,079 --> 00:37:34,480
I'm looking at as a respect for an Alexander Rusin,

812
00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:37,320
who's an all time great fighter, who's done everything asked

813
00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:39,599
of him against all the top names, and he's run

814
00:37:39,639 --> 00:37:41,719
through them. And if he wants to in a moment

815
00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:43,199
in time where he does not have to make an

816
00:37:43,199 --> 00:37:46,159
immediate mandatory and he wants to take a fight against

817
00:37:46,159 --> 00:37:48,480
a big name or a former champion or a guy

818
00:37:48,519 --> 00:37:50,960
that he feels like is gonna bring some popularity in

819
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:52,840
the United States, and he wants to fight a Wilder

820
00:37:53,079 --> 00:37:55,760
or Ruiz, I'm good with it. Fine, Now, let me

821
00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:58,480
just get to one other thing, the February first card.

822
00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:00,360
As much as we can maybe moan a little bit

823
00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:03,239
about the matchup with Ocampo. Nothing wrong with Walsh, of course,

824
00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:06,400
but the Ocampo piece was all shaky. The February first

825
00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:08,840
card is much deeper and actually more interesting, so let

826
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:10,599
me just run down it real quick. They put on

827
00:38:10,599 --> 00:38:12,159
their social media and announced that it's going to be

828
00:38:12,199 --> 00:38:15,159
Jose Reo Valezuela back down at one hundred and thirty

829
00:38:15,199 --> 00:38:18,119
five pounds after losing his title at one forty. He's

830
00:38:18,119 --> 00:38:21,079
going to take on Diego Torres, who was twenty two

831
00:38:21,079 --> 00:38:23,639
to one. Not a great necessarily match up there, but

832
00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:25,719
the other two fights which are not announced, but I

833
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:27,679
have my sources that told me what the card is.

834
00:38:28,159 --> 00:38:31,079
Serhe Boachuk, who's obviously been in a lot of good fights.

835
00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:33,239
Coming off the tough loss to Brandon Adams on the

836
00:38:33,239 --> 00:38:36,239
Crawford Canelo card, he'll be back in the ring to

837
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:38,920
take on Raza Bhutayev, who was a guy that signed

838
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:41,480
with them, a former welterweight title holder. They'll fight at

839
00:38:41,519 --> 00:38:45,960
middleweight and then another fight which matchup wise is decent.

840
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:47,760
It would have been maybe better about five years ago,

841
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:49,639
but it's not a ridiculous fight. He got the former

842
00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:53,320
champ at light heavyweight, Alexander Vodzik taken on hot Rod Collegik,

843
00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:54,679
who has been in the ring with a lot of

844
00:38:54,679 --> 00:38:56,960
top quality guys, and that should be a fun, exciting

845
00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:59,119
fight for as long as the last. So I feel like, again,

846
00:38:59,159 --> 00:39:02,199
I'll say this the matchmakers at ZUFA. So far through

847
00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:04,880
the cards that we've seen, I feel like their matchmakers

848
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:07,000
are doing their job. They're making fights that, while maybe

849
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:11,599
not huge steaks, lend themselves to pop probable entertainment value.

850
00:39:11,639 --> 00:39:13,800
Speaker 1: And that's he all right, we'll see what the Usik

851
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:16,800
thing brings. You reference that they were supposedly talking with

852
00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:22,320
Deontay Wilder. So now Deontay Wilder and Derek Chasorra, the

853
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,599
talks have been ongoing. Shelley Finkel confirm to you that

854
00:39:25,679 --> 00:39:30,000
the talks are ongoing. And what is the latest with Usik.

855
00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:34,199
I'm sorry with Chasra and Wilder fighting instead of Usik,

856
00:39:35,039 --> 00:39:36,400
for when and for where?

857
00:39:37,079 --> 00:39:39,360
Speaker 2: Okay. So all along when Deontay was looking to have

858
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:41,719
his next fight, and this goes back there, I want

859
00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:45,039
to say it was around Thanksgiving time beginning of December,

860
00:39:45,079 --> 00:39:46,800
when I would talk to Shelley about it. He said,

861
00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:49,039
we have two things we're looking at. One could be

862
00:39:49,039 --> 00:39:51,800
the Usik fight and one could be Chasora. Now, at

863
00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:55,039
the WBC convention in December, Usik spoke to a bunch

864
00:39:55,039 --> 00:39:56,880
of reporters and said, my guy that I want to

865
00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:00,599
fight is Deontay Wilder. Okay, but that that's not what

866
00:40:00,639 --> 00:40:03,480
it's gonna be. He's gonna end up fighting Derek Tasaura.

867
00:40:03,559 --> 00:40:05,920
They are in the process of finalizing that paperwork. It's

868
00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:08,119
going to take place in London. It'll be in April,

869
00:40:08,159 --> 00:40:10,920
probably April fourth, and they'll do that fight. Now. Derek

870
00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:13,840
Tasaura put a video up on his Instagram of him

871
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:15,559
signing some kind of document. Whether it was a real

872
00:40:15,599 --> 00:40:18,119
contractor who knows or it was just for play. But

873
00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:22,800
in the overlay on the video was a two boxing

874
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,840
loves and the number fifty super imposed on the video.

875
00:40:26,039 --> 00:40:27,760
He's made a big deal. This will be his fiftieth

876
00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:30,079
professional fight. He has said all along you want to

877
00:40:30,079 --> 00:40:31,920
have a big fight, and is what he claims will

878
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:34,800
be his final fight. And Deontay Wilder in the UK

879
00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:36,840
would probably qualify as a big fight because that'll be

880
00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:39,440
a popular fight with the fans. Deontay is well known

881
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:41,960
in the UK because of the trilogy with Tyson Fury.

882
00:40:42,039 --> 00:40:44,440
He did fight there once years ago, sent the Olympic

883
00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:47,320
gold medal winner Aldi Harrison into retirement with a seventy

884
00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:51,880
second knockout victory. And so that's probably what's gonna happen. Now,

885
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:54,199
it's not officially done yet, but I feel like, based

886
00:40:54,199 --> 00:40:56,480
on my sources, that's what's going to happen. Just a

887
00:40:56,480 --> 00:40:59,360
matter of time till they payper everything, all.

888
00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:03,480
Speaker 1: Right, the bronze Bombers, I'm just gonna keep saying that

889
00:41:03,559 --> 00:41:06,599
the best days are behind him. Jasa is older, like

890
00:41:06,679 --> 00:41:08,360
you like to say, maybe they can't get out of

891
00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:10,119
the way of each other, and it becomes more entertaining

892
00:41:10,119 --> 00:41:11,960
for that reason. I don't know, all right, So that's

893
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:12,800
a at least.

894
00:41:12,679 --> 00:41:14,639
Speaker 2: Or at least they're evenly matched TJ. Not like they're

895
00:41:14,639 --> 00:41:17,119
not feeding Wilder or Deserto to a young guy to

896
00:41:17,159 --> 00:41:18,199
step over them, like.

897
00:41:18,119 --> 00:41:23,320
Speaker 1: For example, if Wilder's fighting Alexander Usik. Yeah, but the

898
00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:25,840
skill level and who has what left except.

899
00:41:25,599 --> 00:41:27,239
Speaker 2: But he's not a young guy looking to step over

900
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:29,119
he's the champ, you know what I'm saying. It's not

901
00:41:29,159 --> 00:41:32,320
like they're feeding Deontay Wilder too, you know, Richard Torrez

902
00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:33,519
or somebody along those lines.

903
00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:39,000
Speaker 1: All right, A couple more things. We talked at length

904
00:41:39,039 --> 00:41:41,599
about Gervonte Davis as as best we know as we

905
00:41:41,639 --> 00:41:45,159
do this Thursday night into Friday, he's still not in custody,

906
00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:49,360
right If Marshall's the authorities in South Florida, they can't

907
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:50,199
find him.

908
00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:51,800
Speaker 2: So if you're backyard teacher.

909
00:41:52,119 --> 00:41:54,840
Speaker 1: I have no idea. Somebody check under the bed, somebody

910
00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:58,119
somebody check around the corner, hiding behind the dumpster. I

911
00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:01,599
don't know, but we do know this. The WBA has said,

912
00:42:01,639 --> 00:42:05,920
whenever he surfaces, wherever he surfaces, he's no longer our

913
00:42:06,079 --> 00:42:08,599
champion at lightweight right.

914
00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:10,679
Speaker 2: Even if he doesn't surface, they have stripped him of

915
00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:13,679
the title. They have made him the so called champion

916
00:42:13,719 --> 00:42:17,039
in recess. I talked to Gilberto Mendoza, who is the

917
00:42:17,079 --> 00:42:20,400
president of the WBA, and the combination of the charges

918
00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:22,360
against him, the fact that he's on the run from

919
00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:24,599
the cops, the fact that he has been inactive, he

920
00:42:24,599 --> 00:42:26,679
will go at least a year without a fight, if

921
00:42:26,719 --> 00:42:29,360
not longer. All of that let and with no intention

922
00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:31,239
of with nothing even in the ether as far as

923
00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:34,800
the defense coming up, got dropped from the exhibition against

924
00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:38,599
Jake Paul, exercised the rematch right against Lamont Roach and

925
00:42:38,639 --> 00:42:40,559
bailed on it to take the Jake Paul fight, and

926
00:42:40,559 --> 00:42:43,719
got bounced from because of the domestic violence situation he

927
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:46,360
is facing now. And so the WBA was like, okay,

928
00:42:46,599 --> 00:42:48,440
you're now a champion in recess. And so the question

929
00:42:48,519 --> 00:42:51,079
becomes is who's going to fight for the vacant title.

930
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:53,760
It will be number one can tender, Floyd Schofield, who's

931
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:56,880
coming off that very impressive first run knockout of Tevin Farmer.

932
00:42:57,119 --> 00:42:59,360
And the only question is it going to be the

933
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:01,400
guy that's number two, which is Lucas Body who won

934
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:05,559
an eliminator against Richard, against Roger Gutierres, who is a

935
00:43:05,599 --> 00:43:08,199
former title er that was an eliminator, or is going

936
00:43:08,239 --> 00:43:10,599
to be against number four Roach, who's got the argument

937
00:43:10,719 --> 00:43:14,280
on the very shaky draw that a lot of people

938
00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:17,039
thought he won against Tank Davis, combined with the draw

939
00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:18,480
that a lot of people thought he won in a

940
00:43:18,599 --> 00:43:21,920
WBC fight against Pitt Bull Cruz. So they're working through that,

941
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:25,039
but it's gonna be one of those fights if it

942
00:43:25,079 --> 00:43:26,480
does turn out. What he did tell me is if

943
00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:29,239
it is going to be Schoolfield against Roach, the winner

944
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:31,199
of that fight would then have to fight Luca's Body

945
00:43:31,679 --> 00:43:34,320
in the first defense. But the point is those are

946
00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:36,719
three guys that can tee it up to fight for

947
00:43:36,719 --> 00:43:39,039
a vacant title. All of them have earned their right

948
00:43:39,119 --> 00:43:42,960
based on their recent history, and Tank is gonna have

949
00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:44,639
to figure out what he's gonna do with his life.

950
00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:48,880
Speaker 1: By the way, at some point, don't the authorities bring

951
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:52,000
this up that if you're helping Gervonte Davis as a

952
00:43:52,039 --> 00:43:54,760
fugitive from justice here, you got aiding in a betting

953
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:57,800
charge is probably coming after you. Stay tuned. I'm kind

954
00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:01,039
of interested in that because you would have to think

955
00:44:01,159 --> 00:44:04,599
at this point somebody is assisting hiding him wherever he is.

956
00:44:04,639 --> 00:44:06,679
I don't know that to be the case, but it's

957
00:44:06,679 --> 00:44:08,400
hard to believe that he would do a doctor Richard

958
00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:10,800
Kimball from the Fugitive and be in the woods and

959
00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:13,360
be somewhere else and completely on his own right.

960
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:15,559
Speaker 2: I mean, it's really unbelievable what's happening with this. I mean,

961
00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:19,400
the guy had just The thing that's so wild about

962
00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:23,519
this is that before the incident occurred, that is the

963
00:44:23,519 --> 00:44:26,440
cause of this situation. That was back in October. It

964
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:28,519
was only like about a month or two before this

965
00:44:28,599 --> 00:44:31,800
incident that the last domestic viole incident was got dropped

966
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,480
because the woman ended up declining the press charge. She

967
00:44:34,599 --> 00:44:36,440
is the mother of two of his kids. This is

968
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:38,199
another girlfriend there was an incident with.

969
00:44:38,239 --> 00:44:40,760
Speaker 1: It makes you wonder, just speculatively, if he's still in

970
00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:43,719
the country, if he didn't go somewhere with a passport

971
00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:46,079
and he's gone and that's why they can't find I

972
00:44:46,079 --> 00:44:47,960
have no idea. I have no idea. It just makes

973
00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:48,440
you wonder.

974
00:44:49,159 --> 00:44:51,159
Speaker 2: But uh, I mean I have his number on my phone.

975
00:44:53,119 --> 00:44:55,519
Speaker 1: See if you get an answer. Oh my gosh, send

976
00:44:55,599 --> 00:44:58,199
him a message on the WhatsApp. What's up?

977
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:02,159
Speaker 2: H I mean, I have to say, I can't remember Tej.

978
00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:04,000
In all the years I have covered boxing, and plenty

979
00:45:04,039 --> 00:45:07,840
of arrests and and and and legal issues have encumbered

980
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:10,599
fighters through the years, I can't remember. Maybe I'm just

981
00:45:10,639 --> 00:45:12,559
not thinking of one. I don't remember there ever being

982
00:45:12,599 --> 00:45:16,199
a case where a guy like just was on the

983
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:19,559
run from this and the US Marshalls involved.

984
00:45:19,679 --> 00:45:23,320
Speaker 1: Somber part of a couple of weeks has disappeared, and

985
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:26,599
stay tuned, Stay tuned. You got to get Tommy Lee

986
00:45:26,679 --> 00:45:29,239
Jones out of retirement as Samuel Gerard from The Fugitive

987
00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:32,599
to go follow it. Give me one of those chocolate

988
00:45:32,679 --> 00:45:36,920
donuts Cosmo with sprinkles on it. Remember that. Uh okay,

989
00:45:37,679 --> 00:45:40,000
So here we go with the portion of the program

990
00:45:40,039 --> 00:45:43,519
with Top Rank boxing. First news item is that Oscar

991
00:45:43,639 --> 00:45:47,960
Valdez and Top Rank are no longer together. The deal

992
00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:52,039
has expired and Valdez is now going to be looking elsewhere.

993
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:53,880
So give me more on that, and that's going to

994
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:56,559
lead that's going to segue into the second part. Go ahead.

995
00:45:56,960 --> 00:45:58,880
Speaker 2: So some people might look at this and say, well,

996
00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:00,760
you know, Top Rank. They don't have they don't have

997
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,280
a broadcast deal, and so a guy's contract comes up

998
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:05,159
and they let him go because they obviously don't have

999
00:46:05,199 --> 00:46:07,599
anything to give him more necessarily budget to deal with.

1000
00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:09,519
And while that may be true in this in the

1001
00:46:09,559 --> 00:46:11,960
sense for some guys, I don't think that's the case

1002
00:46:12,039 --> 00:46:14,480
with what happened to Oscar. They love Oscar Valdez. Oscar

1003
00:46:14,559 --> 00:46:16,760
Valdez made a great career and a lot of money

1004
00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:19,559
with Top Rank. I talked to his manager, Frank Espinoza.

1005
00:46:19,639 --> 00:46:23,119
There's they claim on both sides, no hard feelings, but

1006
00:46:23,159 --> 00:46:25,280
the reality is, and this just the cold hard case

1007
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:28,800
of sports, not just boxing, when an athlete gets older

1008
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:31,480
and is no longer what he once was at his best,

1009
00:46:31,480 --> 00:46:33,239
and he can't really help the team, so to speak,

1010
00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:36,199
or in this case, help the company at thirty five

1011
00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:39,320
with a lot of rough, hard, grueling, brutal, fucking fights

1012
00:46:39,599 --> 00:46:42,960
in his rear view mirror. There are people at Top

1013
00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:46,079
Rank that when the contract expired, they were like, look,

1014
00:46:46,119 --> 00:46:48,000
we think he should retire and he shouldn't be fighting

1015
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:50,400
anymore because of the punishment he has taken they gave

1016
00:46:50,519 --> 00:46:53,519
him after he got knocked out in the rematch by

1017
00:46:53,519 --> 00:46:56,440
Emmanuel Naverette in their in their rematch of the first

1018
00:46:56,440 --> 00:46:59,679
fight that was so good they felt like he was done.

1019
00:47:00,079 --> 00:47:02,079
They were convinced to give him another fight to see

1020
00:47:02,079 --> 00:47:04,599
what was there. They put Himmember. They did that card

1021
00:47:04,599 --> 00:47:07,360
with Fernando Beltron and Zanford Promotions. Back at the end

1022
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:09,559
of last year, they had a bunch of their guys

1023
00:47:09,559 --> 00:47:11,920
fighting in Mexico. They put him in a fight against

1024
00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:13,920
a guy named Richard Mendina, just a regular opponent, and

1025
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:17,519
although Oscar won the fight, it was hardly scintillating. He

1026
00:47:17,559 --> 00:47:18,159
didn't look at it.

1027
00:47:18,159 --> 00:47:20,639
Speaker 1: And I remember that he hurt himself also in the fight.

1028
00:47:20,679 --> 00:47:22,639
I think he heard his shoulder. It could have been Yeah,

1029
00:47:22,679 --> 00:47:24,159
I think he hurt himself also.

1030
00:47:24,519 --> 00:47:28,519
Speaker 2: So at that point, the prevailing thought at the company was, look,

1031
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:30,920
we love Oscar. He's been a great warrior. He never

1032
00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:33,599
turned down fights. He always turned up and fought his

1033
00:47:33,679 --> 00:47:36,400
ass off. That this is not a negative about Valdez,

1034
00:47:37,199 --> 00:47:39,480
but we don't think he should be fighting anymore. And

1035
00:47:39,559 --> 00:47:41,639
so when the contract was up, they didn't offer him

1036
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:44,400
a new contract, partly because of that, and obviously if

1037
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:45,920
they don't have a broadcast deal, it was sort of

1038
00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:48,119
a moot point anyway, and so he goes on and

1039
00:47:48,119 --> 00:47:50,199
becomes a free agent. Now he still wants to fight,

1040
00:47:50,599 --> 00:47:52,719
and in his weight class one hundred and thirty pounds,

1041
00:47:52,760 --> 00:47:55,920
there's good activity there, like if Sugar Nunya is, for example,

1042
00:47:55,920 --> 00:48:00,559
were to defeat Navarrete and the upcoming title unification or

1043
00:48:00,639 --> 00:48:02,800
somebody else in that weight class, Oh, Shackie Foster is

1044
00:48:02,840 --> 00:48:04,960
there and others. Although he's with Top Rank. The point

1045
00:48:05,039 --> 00:48:07,920
is he can certainly still if he wants to be

1046
00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:11,559
a big name B side, if you will, and because

1047
00:48:11,559 --> 00:48:14,360
he can still punch a bit. You never know. But

1048
00:48:14,599 --> 00:48:17,760
I feel like Top Rank thinks like his days at

1049
00:48:17,840 --> 00:48:20,039
his best are done, and you know, thank you for

1050
00:48:20,079 --> 00:48:21,599
your service and good luck to you.

1051
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:25,440
Speaker 1: All right, So you made mention of it, and now

1052
00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:27,199
we're going to bring it up and talk about it.

1053
00:48:27,239 --> 00:48:30,960
So Top Rank did get around to announcing that they

1054
00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:36,960
are going to broadcast this upcoming Xander Zaiez Baru Junior

1055
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:40,079
middleweight unified title fight, and they're going to do it

1056
00:48:40,119 --> 00:48:45,800
again on their Classics Fast channel on January thirty, first,

1057
00:48:45,920 --> 00:48:51,400
coming next Saturday night. All right, So I'm just I'm

1058
00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:53,719
going to say this, we keep it real. I was

1059
00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:57,800
saying this back in November that it was rather obvious

1060
00:48:57,800 --> 00:49:00,800
to me it's one of two things. Either one they

1061
00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:03,320
can't get anybody to cover the production cost and what

1062
00:49:03,360 --> 00:49:07,760
they want to do, or two they're apparently happy with

1063
00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:09,880
the money that they have made and for this to

1064
00:49:09,920 --> 00:49:13,119
float along and still promote some fighters that are involved

1065
00:49:13,159 --> 00:49:19,599
in other fight cards with other broadcasters, et cetera. And

1066
00:49:19,679 --> 00:49:21,679
so to me, this, I mean, this is silliness. I

1067
00:49:21,719 --> 00:49:24,119
don't know how much long, I don't know. To me,

1068
00:49:24,159 --> 00:49:24,679
it's silliler.

1069
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:30,000
Speaker 2: Well, they have obliged. I completely reject your characterization. They're

1070
00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:32,920
a promotional company that obviously is in tough times right now.

1071
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:34,880
Yes we know that, but they still have a lot

1072
00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:37,840
of obligations to boxers that they promote. So they're going

1073
00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:40,639
forward and honoring their obligations. I didn't say they weren't.

1074
00:49:40,679 --> 00:49:42,880
Production is just one facet. They still got to pay

1075
00:49:42,920 --> 00:49:46,119
out purses. Of course, the fight between Zius and Brew

1076
00:49:46,320 --> 00:49:49,719
just the fight itself is a seven figure fight. They

1077
00:49:49,760 --> 00:49:51,320
obviously are going to have a gate there in Puerto

1078
00:49:51,360 --> 00:49:53,800
Rico will see what it can do, and they're putting

1079
00:49:53,840 --> 00:49:55,679
it on their fashiannel because they don't have anything so

1080
00:49:55,760 --> 00:49:57,760
better to put it on. So I mean, in the

1081
00:49:57,800 --> 00:50:00,480
short term, if you're a boxing fan, it's because you

1082
00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:02,239
can watch it for free if you have, of course

1083
00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:04,920
smart TV. But it's certainly not. And they know this

1084
00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:06,119
top right. They're not stupid.

1085
00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:08,800
Speaker 1: They know this is not here's the laws where I'm

1086
00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:11,480
going to push back on you. You lectured me, that's

1087
00:50:11,519 --> 00:50:14,639
the word. These are very smart people. It tas time

1088
00:50:14,760 --> 00:50:16,880
they have something in the works. You said that over

1089
00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:20,320
and over again in September and October and November, and

1090
00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:23,920
Dan Rayfield. We're here in January. They don't have anything.

1091
00:50:24,199 --> 00:50:27,599
So you were wrong about they're going to have something

1092
00:50:27,639 --> 00:50:29,599
given time. Give it time, give it time.

1093
00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:33,079
Speaker 2: That's fine to me. At this point if what they

1094
00:50:33,119 --> 00:50:35,360
do just not put their fighters in I don't I.

1095
00:50:35,280 --> 00:50:37,079
Speaker 1: Don't really know. I'm not part of their business plan.

1096
00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:39,280
I don't really know what they are up to. But

1097
00:50:39,400 --> 00:50:43,239
at this point, I think there's real concern that they're

1098
00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:46,000
not long term for any of this. I think there's

1099
00:50:46,039 --> 00:50:48,320
an argument that can be made that Bob aram is

1100
00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:51,559
in his mid nineties. The guys that are doing this

1101
00:50:51,599 --> 00:50:54,000
have obviously made a bunch of money at some point,

1102
00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:57,199
and this may be it may be winding down. It

1103
00:50:57,199 --> 00:50:59,400
may be winding down as I don't know as a promotion.

1104
00:50:59,519 --> 00:51:02,159
Speaker 2: Listen, it's they's only a possibility. You know, Bob's not

1105
00:51:02,199 --> 00:51:05,039
gonna be around forever. Obviously, Bob is recovering from having

1106
00:51:05,159 --> 00:51:08,239
a knee replacement. He's all cantankerous in his wheelchair because

1107
00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:10,400
of the not because he's old, but because he's got

1108
00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:14,280
a knee surgery and it's given him some problems. I'm

1109
00:51:14,320 --> 00:51:17,199
still convinced that based on the history of Top Break,

1110
00:51:17,519 --> 00:51:20,280
based on the library, based on the fighters they still have,

1111
00:51:20,400 --> 00:51:23,639
that they promote the outstanding young talent from championship all

1112
00:51:23,639 --> 00:51:26,079
the way to prospect that somebody out there is going

1113
00:51:26,159 --> 00:51:28,719
to give them some type of deal. What its value

1114
00:51:28,760 --> 00:51:30,800
will be when it will start, I could not tell

1115
00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:33,360
you that. But I cannot believe that with all the

1116
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:36,280
streaming out there and all the platforms, and with what

1117
00:51:36,320 --> 00:51:38,960
they have to offer, that there's not somebody that wouldn't

1118
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:41,519
do something with them. I mean, again, nothing against zoof

1119
00:51:41,559 --> 00:51:43,760
of boxing at all. Certainly Top Rank got a better

1120
00:51:43,760 --> 00:51:46,000
stable than they do. It's not even close to the

1121
00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:48,800
moment out they're building their company, and good luck to them.

1122
00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:49,719
I hope they're successful.

1123
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:52,960
Speaker 1: I again began this with it's one of two things.

1124
00:51:53,079 --> 00:51:57,440
Either one they can't get something to break even at

1125
00:51:57,519 --> 00:52:00,320
least with the production they can't get can get that,

1126
00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:03,119
or two it just doesn't interest them enough.

1127
00:52:03,559 --> 00:52:05,639
Speaker 2: I'm not sure we're on the production. The persons are

1128
00:52:05,679 --> 00:52:06,639
way more than the production.

1129
00:52:07,079 --> 00:52:09,719
Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, okay, so let me back up.

1130
00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:12,880
So they had a deal with ESPN where ESPN was

1131
00:52:12,920 --> 00:52:16,079
paying them on top of paying for the production and

1132
00:52:16,119 --> 00:52:19,119
being able to broadcast the fights. They obviously can't get

1133
00:52:19,159 --> 00:52:22,280
that deal, and they obviously aren't willing to do what PBC,

1134
00:52:22,400 --> 00:52:25,440
for example, is doing, which is cover the production cost

1135
00:52:25,840 --> 00:52:27,800
of what they're doing to get the fights on a

1136
00:52:27,840 --> 00:52:30,559
broadcast outlet where a lot more people will see it.

1137
00:52:30,559 --> 00:52:34,559
It's kind of a plus B plus C equals d BBC.

1138
00:52:35,119 --> 00:52:38,639
Speaker 2: PBC covers its own production and their fights. Their their

1139
00:52:38,679 --> 00:52:40,719
model is different than Top ranks. At the moment, most

1140
00:52:40,719 --> 00:52:43,159
of their events, probably ninety five percent of them are

1141
00:52:43,199 --> 00:52:46,280
pay per view, so they get back something in revenue

1142
00:52:46,320 --> 00:52:48,840
wise when they do an event like that. So it's

1143
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:51,880
not about production a person, it's what's the total cost

1144
00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:54,440
of the event compared to what we can bring in

1145
00:52:54,840 --> 00:52:57,320
And right now, Top Rank unfortunately is not being able

1146
00:52:57,320 --> 00:52:59,360
to bring in much of anything. Obviously, they'll have the gate,

1147
00:52:59,519 --> 00:53:02,880
they'll have some sponsorship. The Fast Channel, because it is

1148
00:53:02,920 --> 00:53:05,800
at supporter, will generate some money, although it's not the

1149
00:53:05,840 --> 00:53:07,800
way it would be if you were getting a license fee.

1150
00:53:07,960 --> 00:53:09,960
So let's see if they can, if they can still

1151
00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:12,320
keep it going for a little longer and hopefully something

1152
00:53:12,320 --> 00:53:14,920
will break again. I'm still I still believe they will

1153
00:53:14,960 --> 00:53:17,519
have some type of deal in the near future.

1154
00:53:19,679 --> 00:53:21,880
Speaker 1: I've heard that from you for that fine one and

1155
00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:22,480
twenty days.

1156
00:53:22,639 --> 00:53:24,519
Speaker 2: That's fine. Bottom line is if you want to watch

1157
00:53:24,599 --> 00:53:25,880
Zaias versus Brew.

1158
00:53:26,840 --> 00:53:28,280
Speaker 1: Is going to be on somewhere and it is going

1159
00:53:28,360 --> 00:53:29,320
to be for free. That's true.

1160
00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:31,239
Speaker 2: One negative, by the way, is that it's on at

1161
00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:34,079
the same time essentially as the Shakhr Stevenson t Femo

1162
00:53:34,159 --> 00:53:36,320
Lopez event, which is kind of wacky to me. That's

1163
00:53:36,360 --> 00:53:39,000
because the top Rank Top Rank is involved in that show.

1164
00:53:39,159 --> 00:53:42,199
They have a financial interest in tia Fimo Lopez. Bruce

1165
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:44,440
Chushu Carrington, who is their fighter, is on the card

1166
00:53:44,440 --> 00:53:47,079
in a world title fight. Uh so that's two guys

1167
00:53:47,079 --> 00:53:49,639
that they have and uh you know they have worked

1168
00:53:49,639 --> 00:53:51,480
with other fights with the Saudis before. But the fact

1169
00:53:51,519 --> 00:53:53,960
that they've got to those two guys on the show,

1170
00:53:54,039 --> 00:53:56,159
combined with the fact that you got the return of

1171
00:53:56,239 --> 00:53:58,360
Kishan Davis on that show also is still a top

1172
00:53:58,400 --> 00:54:02,079
rank fighter. They've got three of their more notable guys

1173
00:54:02,360 --> 00:54:04,440
on a card that's going on opposite their own show

1174
00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:06,119
in Puerto Rico. So that's a little weird to me.

1175
00:54:07,199 --> 00:54:10,599
Speaker 1: It is weird, all right with that, I think we're

1176
00:54:10,599 --> 00:54:13,239
good for another edition. Nice job hustling to get Tia

1177
00:54:13,239 --> 00:54:17,199
Femo Lopez. We'll see what happens again with the debut

1178
00:54:17,239 --> 00:54:19,880
of the ZUFA Boxing Fight Series and the Calum Walsh

1179
00:54:19,960 --> 00:54:23,000
main event again, that is a Friday night card in Vegas.

1180
00:54:23,039 --> 00:54:26,079
The Saturday night card is the Murataya Cruz main event

1181
00:54:26,119 --> 00:54:29,039
for the IBF Lightweight title. Why don't you and I

1182
00:54:29,119 --> 00:54:33,480
reconvene off the weekend and recap everything that is going

1183
00:54:33,480 --> 00:54:36,199
on and get ready for Shakur Stevenson and Taya Fimo

1184
00:54:36,280 --> 00:54:39,559
Lopez at Madison Square Garden. We'll do that off the weekend.

1185
00:54:39,639 --> 00:54:40,159
Sound good?

1186
00:54:40,719 --> 00:54:41,239
Speaker 2: Sounds good?

1187
00:54:41,440 --> 00:54:43,760
Speaker 1: There is Dan Rayfield. I'm merely TJ Reeves. I think

1188
00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:47,159
you made it through the entire pod without coughing, which

1189
00:54:47,199 --> 00:54:49,599
is a victory in and of itself. The Looten's cough

1190
00:54:49,679 --> 00:54:50,440
drops have helped.

1191
00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:53,199
Speaker 2: I did it once. I coughed once when I put

1192
00:54:53,199 --> 00:54:54,199
myself on me once.

1193
00:54:54,079 --> 00:54:56,480
Speaker 1: Only once on mute. That's a good thing. Thank you

1194
00:54:56,519 --> 00:55:01,400
for finding us. Follow subscribe, Apple Spreaker, Spotify here for

1195
00:55:01,599 --> 00:55:04,599
the pod as we as We rock along. You've been

1196
00:55:04,639 --> 00:55:06,960
with us for Dan rayphiel On TJ Reeves. You've been

1197
00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:08,920
part of the big fight. We can preview podcast

1198
00:55:12,480 --> 00:55:12,519
Speaker 2: M