Speaker 1: The countdown is on to fight time. This is Big
Fight Weekend. Now here is your host, TJ. Leaves. All right,
let's get ready for a weekend that has not one,
but two intriguing fight cards for different reasons, both in
Las Vegas. We are ready to preview the deview card
for ZUFA Boxing that will also be part of Paramount,
plus Callum Walsh in the main event there. Plus we've
got an IBF lightweight title fight. I dare say a
much more intriguing situation with Raymond Murrataian Andy Cruz to preview,
plus Tiafimo Lopez on the program as well as he
gets ready to fight Shakur Stevenson. He has chatted with
Dan Rayfield. We're going to play that interview on the pod.
Welcome in. It is the Big Fight Weekend preview pod.
I am merely the somewhat lucid host. TJ Reeves. Hello,
Big Dan Rayfield, Fight freaking night, substats and newsletter. Everybody
jump aboard here in twenty twenty six. How are things
in your world? My friend?
Speaker 2: Everything is good and we finally have after a little
bit of a lull. I guess we got some good
fights here, some intriguing fights as you mentioned to discuss.
Speaker 1: And plenty of news and it also involves ZOOFA and
some other interesting stuff including the unified heavyweight Champion of
the World Alexander Usik and that name coming up, so
stand by for all of that. Thank you for finding
us Apple, Spreaker, Spotify. We do our best to preview
going into the weekend, recap coming off the weekend, so
we thank you for hanging here. Make sure you follow,
make sure you subscribe, make sure that you rate us
and review us. That helps as well. We saw some
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If you love the show, you'll love the content. Say so.
That helps us out as we go along here. All right,
busy show here. Let's start first, and we got to
keep the audience straight. We have both fight cards in
Las Vegas, one on Friday night, one on Saturday night.
Let's start chronologically with the Friday night debut card for
ZUFA Boxing. We've been talking about this on the last
a few podcasts. It is the debut night. Paramount Plus
will stream it. Callum Walsh, unbeaten middleweight contender fighting out
of California, Irish by birth right. I've always said, if
the Irish guy by birth is fighting out of California,
he's got to be the debut headliner on ZUFA Boxing.
I've always said that fighting Carlos Ocampo, who we documented,
we've known he got blown out in a couple of
world title fights in the first round in both of them.
All right, give me some more on this and the
rest of the card is that gets underway Friday and
starts our preview, sir.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the launch. This is what they've been
building towards. I kind of view it, to be honest,
as sort of like a soft launch. It hasn't had
a lot of promotion, you know. I think that everybody
at ZUFA Boxing, even though that team over there obviously
knows what they're doing in terms of what they've done
for UFC for all these years, but I think with
the boxing scheme of things, they're still sort of getting
their sea legs. I listened to what Dana White had
to say at the news conference that took place this week,
and he admitted, look, where we're trying to get things rolling,
and we're gonna make mistakes and then we're gonna correct
the mistakes. So you know, he was sort of making
the play don't judge us on the first show. Give
us if you make your final assessment, see how we
do this year. We're gonna do some big things and
this is just a start. So you know, I'm not
a huge fan of the main event. I enjoy watching
Callum Walsh, but I don't think it's much of a fight.
That's just my opinion. But again, he's been associated with
Klum Walsh through their deal with UFC Fight Pass that
he had with Tom Loffler, who has been the longtime
promoter of Callum Walsh, and he's been a Dana White
personal favorite. And it's not a surprise that he is headlining.
You know, he fought under their banner when they were
the official promoter for Canelo versus Crawford. And this is
a I won't I can't even. I mean, I guess
it's like a mild step up fight for Callum Walsh,
but he's in with a guy like you mentioned when
he stepped up against the better fighters, Tim Zuo, Sebastian
Fandora Erl Spence. You know, he's been either blitzed or
completely dominated. And not to say that Kalum Walsh is
at the level of those three guys who are at
a championship level. When they fought, you gotta love Kalum
Walsh in the fight. So we'll see how it goes.
But they've got a busy schedule coming up. They got
this card on the twenty third on Friday Night. They
got another show coming up on the first, they got
another one on the fourteenth, and they're gonna go essentially monthly,
and this is the kickoff. And then besides that, they've
got two other ten rounders on this card. You got
Missy al Rodriguez, who was a former Mexican Olympian with
a good fun style, taking on Austin Donati in a
ten round middleweight fight. Caane Sandebal, another guy that's been
fighting on the Tom Loffler cards, and a junior welterweight
fight against Julian Hammer. Hans Rodriguez, who will spent a
long time in his career with Top Break, had some injuries,
had a layoff, came back, you know, won a recent
fight and that actually has a chance. And I particularly
like the way those two guys are going back and
forth at the press covers. I feel like that's going
to maybe be the fight of the night in terms
of the action. But don't make a mistake. These are
not high level fights, but at least they seem well
matched on paper. And at the end of the day,
if you're not getting super meaningful fights, the least we
can get us some entertaining fights. And I feel like
the matchmakers who have put this together at least have
put their best foot forward to make what should be
although not a meaningful card, let's say, but you know,
the most important thing is an entertaining card, and this
seems like that has a chance to do that. My
quibbles with the main event notwithstanding.
Speaker 1: All right, and again it's a work in progress. We
shall see more on Zoofa Boxing in a little bit,
and we should make mention again, I know you and
I don't really follow or cover UFC, but they have
a massive UFC pay per view that is also on
Paramount Plus that is coming on Saturday on the weekend.
So he's going to try Dana White and the TKO
people to kind of pair these around that for the interest,
especially if they're in the same locale, etc. We'll see.
Speaker 2: That was obviously the intent because they're Big three. They're
UFC three twenty four on Saturdays at the Timobilerina, and
they'll get kicking off on Friday at their Apex with
the much smaller venue that's there in the heart of
Las Vegas, which is actually the place where at the
very least their first three events will take place. And
they also Dana has made the point, you know, we'll
go sometimes with our boxing events on Friday night, sometimes
on a Saturday night if there's not UFC, sometimes on
a Sunday night, Like one of the cars they have
upcoming is on a Sunday, so they're not going to
be afraid to move it around. It feels like to
me sometimes many of the people within boxing are just
completely stuck on the notion that you must have the
fight on a Saturday night, and that's just ridiculous because
you know, there are seven other days of the week,
and so Friday nights are okay, and a Sunday night
if you're not going up against the NFL, let's say,
no reason you can't do it there also understood.
Speaker 1: Okay, So speaking of Saturday night, and also in Las
Vegas and clarify, this is the font and Blue Hotel
is where this main event is for the matchroom. Dezonne
IBF lightweight world title fight with Raymond Murtaia and Andy
Krue who's on that card And honestly, I mean this
is a world championship fight. I'm intrigued. Cruise has sped
along quickly as a Cuban gold medalist in the Olympics,
now a world title shot. Murataia has been an intriguing
fighter on the rise. All right, there's me setting that up.
Give me some more thoughts on that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is this is his first defense. He had
been the interim champion when that fighter moved up or
you know, did a different situation, they elevated Murtia, so
this will be his first defense. Cruise had become the
mandatory as you mentioned, even though he's only got six
professional fights. He is in that sort of Lomachenko ish
kind of mold in the sense that he had such
a gargantuan amateur career, Olympic gold medalist already thirty years old.
You know, he was well seasoned when he came into
the pros. He didn't need a lot more where you
have to have you know, you know, ten or fifteen
or twenty or thirty fights before you get a chance
to fight for a title. He was fighting ten round
fights against legitimate opponents from his professional debut. So now
he's in this position. And if there's a silver lining
to the fact that Top Rank does not have a
broadcast deal at least for the time being, it's that
they have been more willing to make fights with other
promoters than go on their cards. So if they had
a robust deal still, let's say with the espen or elsewhere,
I'm not so sure this fight would be happening Saturday.
There might have been a longer negotiation, maybe they'd be
doing a fight whatever. But at the end of the
time frame when they had to do the fight without
a deal, they pretty much had no choice. But they
go make a deal with Mattrum and put more Taya
on their card even though he's the champion. But it
does shape up as an intriguing fight. Andy Cruz is
a slick fighter. He is an outstanding technician. He does
have pretty decent power. Murtai is a lot more one dimensional,
but it's a good dimension to have because he can
bang and he you know, he likes to fight, got
a great corner with Robert Garcia, and so they're both
undefeated there at combined twenty nine and oh, obviously most
of those victories are buying Martia at twenty three and oh,
and you know it's I like the fight, but I
keep thinking about the fact that the skill set that
Cruz has is so outstanding that it's not any way
a knock on Maretaya. I just feel like Andy Kruz
has a chance to be pretty much any lightweight out there,
even with only six pro fights. So we'll see if
he can live up to the hype. And there's been
a ton of it.
Speaker 1: Again, that is the main event here. Give me something
on the undercard. We know the name Israel Madramoff because
we saw him fight Terrence Crawford. You were there in
Crawford's World Junior we Junior middleweight title win before he
eventually moved up two more weight classes to beat Canelo
Alvarez back last September. So that bout was over a
year and a half ago. Tell me more about this
fight and what else is on the undercard on the
Matchroom de Own show in Vegas.
Speaker 2: All right, So, Madromov they're just sort of trying to
get him back in the groove. I mean, he's another
guy that's been with Tom Loffler at times, or is
he signed now with he had been with Mattroum Boxing.
I guess I take that back. He's with Matrom Boxing
and they're trying to bring him back to prominence because,
as you mentioned, he did lose to Crawford in August
of twenty twenty four. Now, he lost the fight, but
it was really really close, and if you take a
look now the Terrence Crawford has retired, you can truly
make the argument that that was the closest fight he
ever had in terms of like the prospect of a loss.
There's no doubt it was a really close fight. So
if there's such thing as a good loss, I guess
that would be it. Even though he was obviously obviously
disappointed to lose his world title. And then when that
was over with, that was in August of twenty four.
In February of twenty five, he came back to action
and he lost a very competitive, excellent fight against Virgil
Ortiz Junior by decision. That was a WBC interim title
fight at one hundred and fifty four pounds, and so
he hasn't thought sincens so he's coming off the eleventh
month layoff. They're not matching him with like some superstar opponent.
It's sort of like, let's get him back in the groove.
He's taken on a fighter who's twenty and one named
Lewis David Salazar. But his record is very appealing. But
if you take a look at the record of who
he's actually faced, it's devoid of any kind of big name.
So there's not a lot to go on in terms
of like the level of opponent. And we all know
what magicm is all about. You know, he's got a
kind of a hercute, jerky style, good technician, you know,
good amateur background. Salazar's you know, already into his thirties.
We'll see how he's been knocked out in his one defeat.
So right now, the object for Mademov is to show
I'm back, I'm ready to make some more noise. This
fight's in the middleweight division. I'm not sure if he's
gonna stay there for good or it was just a
matter of let's make this fight at middleweight because it's
not for a title. So there's no reason to have
to suck all the way down to one hundred and
fifty four pounds. But it'll be good to see Magramov
back in the ring. And there's you know, the other
couple of fights that are of any consequence I guess
on the undercard is and this is actually I think
an intriguing fight. This is a light heavyweight fight between
the prospect Khalil co and Jesse Hart, who's been kind
of an active but it you know, gave Zerdo Ramirez
two good quality fights and super middleweight title fights. He's
been a he's a good amateur, he's been around, he's
a veteran. You know, if Khalil cole, who's who's his problem?
Sometimes he doesn't show up in the best shape. If
he doesn't show up in shape, Jesse Hart's going to
take him apart. But Khalil Colosso was a good puncher
and could maybe do some damage there. And then the
other fight is the continuing evolution and the development of
the superb Twenty twenty four United States Olympic bronze medalist
Omari Jones from your neck of the woods in Orlando, Florida,
a really outstanding prospect. I have my pro I have
been derelict in getting my prospect lists out from the
end of last year. It will be out in the
next day or two. He's on that list. I'll put
it to you like that. He is to me a
guy with a bullet and an up arrow next to
his name. He's got a chance to really be special.
And this is just a chance to see the kid
continue to develop. He's sort of in that in between
welterweight junior middleweight. I suspect he'll settle at junior middleweight.
He's twenty three years old. He's got a humongous future
ahead of him. And you know also with Matt Troom
and had a great year in twenty twenty five. And
I suspect we're seeing Busy and doing this thing again
this year, and I think he's got a real chance
to do something big down the road.
Speaker 1: All right, Again, he's a junior middleweight least for now.
That's on this card. And again Murataia and Cruz is
the main event that one should be fascinating for Saturday.
So again a Friday night Vegas card on Paramount Plus.
And then his Oonne has the Matchroom card coming up
as we mentioned, we're intrigued by next Saturday Night, not
this Saturday night, Next Saturday Night in New York and
the Big Madison Square Garden, Big Arena looking forward to
Tiafimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson. It is for Lopez is
lineal and WBO Junior Welterweight Championship, Shaquur Stevenson moving up
from lightweight. He's the WBC lightweight champion. All right, so
you don't have to wait for fight week because Big
Dan's been hustling Tiafimo Lopez right now on the pod
with a preview of the matchup with Shakur.
Speaker 2: All right, is my great pleasure to welcome to our
podcast this week. It is none other than the lineal
and WBO Junior Welterweight Champion of the World, Tafimo Lopez
and Tafima. I'll explain to our listeners what you have
coming up. They probably should know by now crying out loud.
You're a very big fight. You're taking on the WBC
lightweight champ Shaw Course Stevenson, who is going to move
up to fight you. You'll headline the Ring Magazine card
on his own pay per view January thirty first at
the iconic Madison Square Garden where you have fought before.
And before we get into it, first of all, welcome
to the show. Thank you very much for doing this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, thank you. Thank you for having me. Obviously,
you're a man that knows boxing, and that really is
to me. Honestly, I looked up to everything that you
always did as far as speaking on a sport, and
you always put good faith, in good faith into it,
so I love that. I'm very excited for this upcoming
bout between myself and Scheque Stevenson and I can't wait
to rock and roll.
Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate those kind words. I remember meeting you
and your dad when you were probably like four and
zero or something like that and get to know you
guys a little bit. But before we talk about the
big one with Shaqui, I actually I wanted to ask
you a little bit about your last fight. It was
a really good performance that you had in the Turkeys
Ring Magazine Square card that was back in May. You
want a decision against Arnold Barbosa to retain your title,
and I wanted to ask you what that experience is
like because I've been spoken to you since then you guys,
not just yourself, but the different competitors on the card.
You guys took cars from the location where the dress
rooms were to get to the ring. You're fighting in
this iconic location of Times Square, even more iconic than
Madison Square Garden. But there was only a few hundred
people right there because of the logistics of the event.
What was that like for you? It was sort of
it was sort of like really cool but kind of weird.
Speaker 3: Well said, yep, cool and weird at the same time.
It sure was definitely historical. Though the best part about
it was that it was historical and it wouldn't have
been possible without his excellency of Turkey al Chic and
all those that contributed into that night, so especially the
promoters going to Boy and Matchroom. So yeah, overall, though
it's been it's been fun. It's been great. When it
came to Times Square, uh, kind of felt like a
little bit of.
Speaker 2: The bubble, Yeah, exactly. That's a good point, because you
fought there in the bubble.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it kind of felt like the COVID Times though
it was a little too quiet compared to what we
were expecting. So but you know, we we still got
a job to do, and that's what we did, you know,
to have flim familiar faces come in. You know. I
had Snoop Dogg carrying one of the freaking ring cards
and stuff, which was hilarious. I'm like, gonna shoot in
the middle of a fight. Definitely one I say that
I appreciate though to be on. But yeah, definitely cool
and weird.
Speaker 2: Definitely all right. Okay, So after that, but before this fight,
which a kor was finalized, there had been a deal
agreed to for you to fight Devin Haney, who was
obviously a big name also, and he had signed the
agreement and your team had said you guys had agreed. Ultimately,
you did not sign it and it didn't happen. I
wonder what was if you could give your version of
what happened. There wasn't a matter of the weight situation.
Was it because you were gonna have to move up
a little bit? I guess in that particular fight, was
it money? What was the reason why? Because a lot
of people thought that was a great matchup.
Speaker 3: Also, I would say it was just honestly, I'll go
off with my what Keith Connolly said. It was just
personal things that I had to still finish up and
deal with still dealing with divorce. So I just had
those things that I still had to finalize and finish
off before I get back into the mojo jojo of boxing.
Speaker 2: Okay, but now look at the end of the day,
the record fight is here. That's the big one. I
sense from boxing fans to FIMO a lot of excitement
about this matchup. Two young stars, guys in their prime.
You guys can talk a lot of trash with each other.
You know, there's big stakes. You're in a great arena.
Can you just describe for me what does it mean
to you being in this sort of event. I think
it's the biggest one of your career.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think moving forward, every fight is
gonna be the biggest one of my career. This one
right now is the front runner, and it's a it's
a it's honestly, it's one I wouldn't trade it for.
I mean, this is the mecca, you know what I mean.
This is the mecca, And this is a moment right
now in time where you're getting too fighters that are
possibly heading into their prime. They're gonna face one another
that believe they at the top of the top of
the food chain and are gonna put it on display,
you know, come that night, Saturday night, and what better
way than having it hosted in Madison Square Guarden, the
world's famous arena. And to really put it into perspective,
it's gonna be one that people are going to talk
about for a long time.
Speaker 2: Well, it seems to me anyway that the fight has
sort of been for the last few years is kind
of inevitable because you at your core, even though you
haven't necessarily been in the same weight class, you've been
not separated by more than a division. Uh, you know,
you're around the same age, You've got the both Olympic backgrounds. Uh.
You know, have fought good competition during your careers, and
you were both with top ranked together for a long time.
You even fought. I went and looked this up two times.
Both you and your court fought on the same Terrence
Crawford undercart in twenty seventeen, in twenty nineteen, and you know,
knowing the way top rank handles things, that's not a
surprise to put types of fights together where they've got
guys being exposed to the same fans at the same
time on undercarts together. Did you feel like this fight
was sort of inevitable through.
Speaker 3: The years, I'd say maybe maybe a little more down
the road, but yeah, inevitable for sure. It's just more
down the road, I'd say. But we're here now. It's
happening much much sooner than later. So and I think
it needs to happen this way anyways to help the
next fighters that are around different weight classes and people,
you know, fights that want to be made and people
want to see. Just fight, man, Just make the fights
happen for the fight fans that love the sport.
Speaker 2: Well, you mentioned now maybe it would have been further
down the road, which sometimes seems to me in boxing
today is a problem where great matchups with two you know,
hop young guys, it waits a long time to happen.
But you guys are you know, doing the doing the
fight now and taking that gamble. But I think both
of you realize that whatever happens, whoever loses, it's not
like the guy's career is over that you are not
going to be able to earn a living and still
become a big time factor in the sport. Is that
sort of the mentality that you have, like I got
nothing to lose here. I'm gonna go in there. I'm
gonna put on a great fight and you know, take
on a top opponent, which is what you said the
fans want to say.
Speaker 3: Now, I don't think that way. I don't think the
I don't think about losing. I think about winning and
my my my mentality on that is coming out victorious.
I think for a guy like Shakur, he may have
that on him. You know, he still holds the WBC
world title at lightweight, so you know. For myself though,
I'm putting everything on the line, putting all of it
on the line, so I can't I can't really say.
I'm just happy though that we're we're having this time
to make it happen.
Speaker 2: Though, for you guys, have you guys have known each
other for a long time, what's the relationship like between
you guys? Feel like it's it's respectful and cordial, but
not like best buddies.
Speaker 3: Not best buddies for sure or not. It's just more cordial.
It's just more cordial. But at this point in time,
now that we signed the contracts, we are close to fight.
There's no respect to it. No, I've worked very hard
to get to where I'm at, and I think Chakur
has been eyeing me for some time behind the scenes.
And I didn't expect that of Shakhor because he has
a lot on his already on his side, But I
guess it's somebody that likes to aim for more and
I respect that part. But other than that, we're just
gonna go out there and have fun with this guy.
Speaker 2: I have seen him quoted in some of the build
up to this fight of essentially saying in a variety
of interviews that he's not just better than you, which
anytime you fight an opponent you believe you're better than
the opponent. He's actually been saying that he believes he's
way better than you. What are what's your responses to that?
Speaker 3: Don't believe the hype. It's a sequel, okay, sequel.
Speaker 2: One thing about you is that you have performed at
a you know, obviously an elite level, to a level
to accomplish what you have accomplished. But in your two
big wins, you came up huge against guys that were,
you know, some favored even against Lomachenko, against against Josh Taylor,
and then there's been some other times where maybe the
performance has been slightly inconsistent. Steve clagget A, Jamaine Ortiz,
do you feel like that's a fair assessment that you
you really, you really turn up in your big ones,
but not always looks so great and maybe the lesser ones.
Speaker 3: No, that just has to do with myself mentally, that's
all it is. Mentally, I just wasn't. I wasn't in
those fights mentally dealing with personal stuff. It ain't easy, man,
but it's part of it. I needed to learn that
to see where where I was making my haircups and
mistakes at to get to this point now. So all
those lessons, all those fights have prepared me for this
particular fighter that we're going to face January thirty first
in Madison's were Garden Live on the Zone.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll just wrap up with this anti femou What
do you think the difference is going to be in
terms of what separates winning and losing this fight? What
is the winner? Because it's such an even fight. I
think a lot of people look at on paper, you know,
two really talented guys that brings different strengths to this
particular fight. What's going to separate winning from losing.
Speaker 3: What's going to separate from winning from from losing.
Speaker 2: Is it your power? Is it his speed? Is it
your smart smarts?
Speaker 3: What is it believing in boxing, believing in the sport.
That's it. Who loves the sport more and who's going
to do better for the sport. It's not about the
scales at this point. It's uh, it's more than that.
I'll tell you, Dan, it's more than that. I want
to help these next kids, and the only way is
by beating this guy, this joker that's in front of me.
Beating him will give me at least a bit of
a footing to to to help these young young fighters
and young kids out there to become better within themselves.
Speaker 2: And then you move up eventually and look for a
welterweight title.
Speaker 3: We'll see, you know, I'll speak to my team. I've
been well at this weight. I've been well prepared. I've
been training since the since the Honor Barbosa fight, so
it's been almost all year round that we've been staying focused,
staying training despite the personal issues that I was dealing with.
So nevertheless, it's a lifestyle and we'll see where it
goes from here. Well.
Speaker 2: January thirty. First we'll see exactly what happens to your Fema.
Thank you so much for your time. Wish you nothing
but the best in the fight.
Speaker 3: Thank you you as well.
Speaker 1: Stan. Very intriguing fight to say the least. Arguably again,
these are two of the more prominent Americans fighting each other.
I know we'll get into this a little more with
Mario Barrios a Mexican American Ryan Garcia out in California.
They are going to fight later on in February. But
this this is very intriguing, at least to me on
paper thoughts after having talked to Toya Fimo Lopez.
Speaker 2: Well, to your first point, this is a big time fight,
no doubt about it. However, the fight on folds, you know,
we'll see what styles they end up deciding to use
when the bell rings. But just in terms of the meaning,
in terms of the titles at stake, in terms of
the fact that these are young men that are in
their primes, are approaching their primes or early in their primes,
both on both both have won titles in multiple divisions,
both were Olympians, Both have a lot of swagger to them.
I mean, it's it's a high class fight. I mean,
both guys are supremely talented. They both have beaten excellent
competition over the years. And it's like tia Fimo said
when folks when they listened to the interview, he said,
you know, it was an inevitable fight, even though he
feels like it's maybe coming a couple of years before
he expected, but happy to do the fight. He was
in really good spirits when I spoke to him. And
you know tia Fimo at times, you know he is
can be moody if you will, but all but you know,
he does a lot of crazy outlantas things if you
just kind of follow him on social media or sort
of see the way he acts sometimes at a press
comer or something like that. But if you're just like
one on one with the guy, you're just sitting and
talking to him. And I've had the opportunity, not just
in this interview, but over the course of his entire career.
I've interviewed him numerous times. I've sat and had personal
time with him and just talked about life and just
things not boxulated. He's like a good young guy. He's
just had his issues. He's had some difficulties with the family.
He's been going through a divorce, had a child custody battle,
and he's a young guy, so that was sort of
had taken its toll. I think there's been a few
mental health issues along the way. But when he's got
himself right, man, he's a very, very tough out and
Shaquor has been flawless essentially.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: You may not love some of the fights he's had.
They may not have been everybody's cup of tea in
terms of entertainment value, but the dude can fight, no
doubt about it. He's got it in his DNA. You
knows every inch of that ring. It's a fascinating style matchup.
And they talk about, you know, is it going to
be a big deal because Shakor is moving up in wait.
I don't think that makes a damn bit of difference.
Te Femo was a lightweight for much of his career.
He's only been in the junior wealter division for a
little bit. I don't think sure. Court. If you look
at them now, you see the videos, they look like
they're the same size. I mean, this is a great matchup,
I mean it really is. I just hope the fight
lives up to the hype.
Speaker 1: We're intrigued by that. So you got an advance of
a fight week here as part of the pod. All right,
I mentioned Barrios and Garcia. They did the kickoff press
conference on Thursday. Anything noteworthy as they get ready to
fight next month in a pay per view main event
for the WBC welterweight title.
Speaker 2: Well, I watched the press conference on Thursday afternoon. They
did it in Los Angeles, no surprise there, and I
knew this was going to be a topic of discussion.
I didn't know how much it would be. You know,
one of the storylines of this fight is that Mario
Barrios is being trained by Joe Goosen. You go back
when they did the pay per view in December with
Pitt Bull Cruise, and Joe was one of the pundits
at the desk on the pay per view. At one
point during between the fights, they had Mario sitting with
him and they announced that he was going to be
training Mario. And this was before the fight was officially announced,
but he said, look, we're training for Ryan Garcia. That
was at the time where they were getting all the
paperwork squared away. And of course anybody that has followed
either Joe Goosen or Ryan Garcia knows that Joe Goosen
and Ryan Garcia worked together for a while when Ryan
was an amateur and then as a professional. He had
him for about three fights, including you know, the very big,
big loss that he had against Tank Davis when he
got knocked out. There was a lot of discussion afterwards
that Joe didn't show up at the press conference to
support his guy. Afterwards, you know, there was some difference
of opinion about what actually happened with that, but the
point was, you knew that it's going to be a storyline.
And Ryan Garcia and his father, Henry, who's now the trainer,
had been the assistant trainer before, made it like the
focal point of this press conference, and they bitched and
moaned about how Joe was being, you know, disrespectful, and
you know, Brian said it hurt his heart that he
would go and work with his opponent, And all I'm
thinking to myself is, dude, first of all, grow up.
It's business. It's not personal.
Speaker 1: And if you know, Joe, I'm not nicest kind of
fire Joe Goosen.
Speaker 2: Thank you. That's exactly what I was gonna say. Yeah,
he fired him. And so Joe Goosen is not supposed
to get a job. He's not supposed to take work
when the when the WBC welterweight champion comes to you
and asks you if you'll if I'll train you, and
you have an opportunity to help this young man in
the biggest fight, or one of the biggest fights of
his career. Uh, and to impart your wisdom and your
talent and your knowledge. You know, A shame on Henry
Garcia and shame on Ryan Garcia for making this the thing. Now,
perhaps it will draw up some interest and help sell
a few paper views and all that, but I thought
it was completely ridiculous. And Ryan made up they had
these shirts made up and said Joe Gooson on one
side the other side and says, I am a trader.
Le Me give me a break. He's not a trader.
You fired the dude and have you He's literally like
literally xing.
Speaker 1: You had him on the pod before in and around
the Garcia fight. And you know, Garcia has had his
own issues.
Speaker 2: We know this. I'm gonna tell you right now, tej
I've known Joe Gooson literally for twenty five years. He
is a great guy. A great boxing guy and just
a great guy to hang around, doesn't have a a A,
does not have the the you know. They asked him,
are you doing this as a matter to sort of
get back at Ryan Garcia, And Joe was like, what
are you talking about? My goal, not just with Mario Baris,
but with any boxer that I work with, is to
help make him the best fighter he can be and
to win the fight. And it's got nothing to do
with the fact that I may.
Speaker 1: Have just adds a subplot.
Speaker 2: It adds a subplot, but they made it the focal
point of the thing. And Mario Barros for his point,
he's a very chill guy. We've had him on the
show before, very likable, and he you know, he maybe
can Everybody wants to fight him because I think he
can beat him. All I know is he's he's getting
wins and draws, and he's still got a title, and
he's had a lot of big fights against Manny Paco,
against Kank Davis, and now he's got this fight against
Ryan Garcia. So he's doing something right.
Speaker 1: All right. Back to ZUFA Boxing, and I do read
my Dan Rayfhael Substack as the audience should the audience
should as well. And on the newsletter, on the email, uh,
and I see in my inbox the name Alexander Usik
now talking with ZUFA Boxing, And Dana White even brought
some of this up at the at the press conference.
He acknowledged they are talking, and and Usik's people acknowledged
they are talking now as we know, and they're.
Speaker 2: Just just to be clear, Dana did not actually acknowledge it,
but he more or less did.
Speaker 1: He hinted that way he was.
Speaker 2: Asked, hold on, He was asked about the reports about
Usik talking to ZUFA, and Dana kind of sidestepped that.
He said, listen, he didn't mention him by name. He
just said, we as a company here at ZUFA, we're
interested in talking to anybody that's a a top level
fighter that we think is one of the best in
the world. Those are the kinds of guys we're interested
to work with. Obviously, Alexandrusik is one of the best
in the world right and he's unencumbered as far as
they broadcast.
Speaker 1: His and his management then said also when he was
in your sub stack, they they confirmed we're talking to them,
all right, So give me a little more here because
on the this would be a big deal for ZUFA,
but by the same token, part of the lure is
that Usik has three of the sanctioning bodies world heavyweight
championships that would now not be part of this.
Speaker 2: Akan trermontfair no go ahead, so as Dana talked about
when he was asked about that, Because of course, if
you have followed what Data has said ever since he
launched this ZUFA situation, you know he has gone on
record on multiple interviews and said, to one degree or another,
I want to put the sanctioning bodies out of business.
I'm not gonna work with the sanctioning bodies. We don't
want to work with other promoters, you know, which, again
you can disagree with that, but that's their prerogative. That's
how they choose to run their business. However, if you're
gonna sign Jaio Patayah, who has the IBF title and
the ring title, slash lineal title, and in the video
that you post when he announces that he's signing with
ZUPA Boxing, literally the first thing out of his mouth is,
I want to be the unified champion. I want to
be the undisputed champion, and now you're looking to potentially
sign a guy Colexander Usak, who you know has shown
he's willing to give up a belt, but I don't
think he's gonna give up all the belts. You have
to adjust your situation. And Dana was I thought did
a good job. He said, Look to paraphrase what he
said at the press conference when he's asked about this
was the fight with press conference for the Walsh and
o'campo card. He said, these guys all come from somewhere
and as kids, when they first put on gloves, they
had dreams and aspirations of becoming a world champion, whatever
title belt that they wanted to have. So, you know,
put it like this, we're gonna we're gonna work with them,
and we're gonna make that happen. So I think they
are acknowledging that, at least for the time being, that
when they signed a super talent like an Opataia or
potentially a Nusik, they're gonna have to play ball with
the organizations because otherwise they're not going to get the
top talent unless they completely blow them away with the money.
And anybody that knows the way that they've operated with
the UFC. Right, that's not been there.
Speaker 1: Let me just interject here, all right, So this is
this is where we keep it real, and we're gonna
keep it real a couple more times as this podcast
goes on. You can't have every lane in the argument.
You can't have every side of the argument. So either
you are going to do your own thing and sanctioning
bodies be damned, or you are going to do what
the sanctioning bodies want, which is okay, lucrative fights involving
our champions that we might or might not sanction, and
you might or might not work with us. But you
can't have both of those. You can't have all lanes
and all sides of the argument. And at some point,
well hold on. At some point the fans and people
that are smart will start to see through this that
it's gotta be one or the other. It can't be
a mix of both. H and I really wonder again,
here are we talking about that they would give him
a long term three four five fight deal. I don't
buy that. I don't buy that that's what would happen.
Speaker 2: I think there's no doubt if you're going to sign
up somebody like an Obataia.
Speaker 1: Not over the time I'm talk about Uik, i'malking about I.
Speaker 2: Don't think you need to do a long term deal
because he probably doesn't have a long term left. I
agree with that, but I'm sure that if they do
sign an Oosik, I'd be rather shocked if it was
only one fight. It's gonna probably be at least two fights.
But here's the main point. I'm glad that Dana recognizes
that that you're gonna have to play ball, because you
can't just come in and expect to up end things
in one day. Now. Maybe in the long term they
won't work with sanction bodies when they become more established,
but as you're rolling out, you're gonna have to do
some business with them. So to quote what he said,
I found the exact quote because I wrote it in
the piece I did. He says, we'll work with He
was talking specific about Opataia, because the Theusic thing, you know,
who knows what's gonna happen, will work with Jai and
probably many other guys. I sort of came out a
little vague. I don't like letting everyone know what we're
gonna do until we do it. Like I said, it's
a work in progress. You'll see. And then he made
the point about what I said to you, about the
fact that these are guys that had dreams and aspirations
to do, you know, things as far as you know,
win titles and the like. So they understand that they're
going to have to work with people. He says, all
these guys came from somewhere, they had plans, they had
jilants when they were kids, when they first put on gloves.
We're gonna do everything in our power to make sure
that these guys can do what they wanted to do.
That means you're gonna have to work with the organizations,
end the story, or you're just not going to get
the talent.
Speaker 1: On the Rayphield meter, is this a five? Is this
a seven?
Speaker 2: Which one talking about to usk?
Speaker 1: Is it a five? Is it a seven? How likely?
In your mind?
Speaker 2: I mean, I think I think it's I think it's
like a fifty to fifty. I mean, you know, we'll
see what they put it in money, what type of opportunity.
Speaker 1: Who he's going clearly and one more point than we're
gonna move on. Clearly Turkey al Chic was bank rolling
the two fights with Tyson Fury and having them in
Saudi Arabia and and and yes, so it's not hard.
This crap ain't complicated to figure some of this out.
Speaker 2: So let me just go one one step further. If
he does end up with Zufa, I am told one
of the key fighters who's also talking to Zufa, which
would probably be the match because he's not fighting Deontay Wilder.
As we've discussed, is a possible fight between Usik and
another former heavyweight champion, and that's Andy Ruiz Junior. So
that would look apparently wants to fight.
Speaker 1: I read, I read you write something about that, and
uh i yea god. If this is what we've come to, well,
I don't know.
Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with that fight.
Speaker 1: There is everything wrong with that fight, and Andy Ruiz
has done absolutely nothing in the last three years to
indicate that he deserves a shot. Done exactly, but exactly.
Speaker 2: I look at two of us polls.
Speaker 1: Don't mean to make it that either one of them
are worth while.
Speaker 2: Hold on, I'm looking at it from the perspective, not
of what Andy has done or what Deanta has done.
I'm looking at as a respect for an Alexander Rusin,
who's an all time great fighter, who's done everything asked
of him against all the top names, and he's run
through them. And if he wants to in a moment
in time where he does not have to make an
immediate mandatory and he wants to take a fight against
a big name or a former champion or a guy
that he feels like is gonna bring some popularity in
the United States, and he wants to fight a Wilder
or Ruiz, I'm good with it. Fine, Now, let me
just get to one other thing, the February first card.
As much as we can maybe moan a little bit
about the matchup with Ocampo. Nothing wrong with Walsh, of course,
but the Ocampo piece was all shaky. The February first
card is much deeper and actually more interesting, so let
me just run down it real quick. They put on
their social media and announced that it's going to be
Jose Reo Valezuela back down at one hundred and thirty
five pounds after losing his title at one forty. He's
going to take on Diego Torres, who was twenty two
to one. Not a great necessarily match up there, but
the other two fights which are not announced, but I
have my sources that told me what the card is.
Serhe Boachuk, who's obviously been in a lot of good fights.
Coming off the tough loss to Brandon Adams on the
Crawford Canelo card, he'll be back in the ring to
take on Raza Bhutayev, who was a guy that signed
with them, a former welterweight title holder. They'll fight at
middleweight and then another fight which matchup wise is decent.
It would have been maybe better about five years ago,
but it's not a ridiculous fight. He got the former
champ at light heavyweight, Alexander Vodzik taken on hot Rod Collegik,
who has been in the ring with a lot of
top quality guys, and that should be a fun, exciting
fight for as long as the last. So I feel like, again,
I'll say this the matchmakers at ZUFA. So far through
the cards that we've seen, I feel like their matchmakers
are doing their job. They're making fights that, while maybe
not huge steaks, lend themselves to pop probable entertainment value.
Speaker 1: And that's he all right, we'll see what the Usik
thing brings. You reference that they were supposedly talking with
Deontay Wilder. So now Deontay Wilder and Derek Chasorra, the
talks have been ongoing. Shelley Finkel confirm to you that
the talks are ongoing. And what is the latest with Usik.
I'm sorry with Chasra and Wilder fighting instead of Usik,
for when and for where?
Speaker 2: Okay. So all along when Deontay was looking to have
his next fight, and this goes back there, I want
to say it was around Thanksgiving time beginning of December,
when I would talk to Shelley about it. He said,
we have two things we're looking at. One could be
the Usik fight and one could be Chasora. Now, at
the WBC convention in December, Usik spoke to a bunch
of reporters and said, my guy that I want to
fight is Deontay Wilder. Okay, but that that's not what
it's gonna be. He's gonna end up fighting Derek Tasaura.
They are in the process of finalizing that paperwork. It's
going to take place in London. It'll be in April,
probably April fourth, and they'll do that fight. Now. Derek
Tasaura put a video up on his Instagram of him
signing some kind of document. Whether it was a real
contractor who knows or it was just for play. But
in the overlay on the video was a two boxing
loves and the number fifty super imposed on the video.
He's made a big deal. This will be his fiftieth
professional fight. He has said all along you want to
have a big fight, and is what he claims will
be his final fight. And Deontay Wilder in the UK
would probably qualify as a big fight because that'll be
a popular fight with the fans. Deontay is well known
in the UK because of the trilogy with Tyson Fury.
He did fight there once years ago, sent the Olympic
gold medal winner Aldi Harrison into retirement with a seventy
second knockout victory. And so that's probably what's gonna happen. Now,
it's not officially done yet, but I feel like, based
on my sources, that's what's going to happen. Just a
matter of time till they payper everything, all.
Speaker 1: Right, the bronze Bombers, I'm just gonna keep saying that
the best days are behind him. Jasa is older, like
you like to say, maybe they can't get out of
the way of each other, and it becomes more entertaining
for that reason. I don't know, all right, So that's
a at least.
Speaker 2: Or at least they're evenly matched TJ. Not like they're
not feeding Wilder or Deserto to a young guy to
step over them, like.
Speaker 1: For example, if Wilder's fighting Alexander Usik. Yeah, but the
skill level and who has what left except.
Speaker 2: But he's not a young guy looking to step over
he's the champ, you know what I'm saying. It's not
like they're feeding Deontay Wilder too, you know, Richard Torrez
or somebody along those lines.
Speaker 1: All right, A couple more things. We talked at length
about Gervonte Davis as as best we know as we
do this Thursday night into Friday, he's still not in custody,
right If Marshall's the authorities in South Florida, they can't
find him.
Speaker 2: So if you're backyard teacher.
Speaker 1: I have no idea. Somebody check under the bed, somebody
somebody check around the corner, hiding behind the dumpster. I
don't know, but we do know this. The WBA has said,
whenever he surfaces, wherever he surfaces, he's no longer our
champion at lightweight right.
Speaker 2: Even if he doesn't surface, they have stripped him of
the title. They have made him the so called champion
in recess. I talked to Gilberto Mendoza, who is the
president of the WBA, and the combination of the charges
against him, the fact that he's on the run from
the cops, the fact that he has been inactive, he
will go at least a year without a fight, if
not longer. All of that let and with no intention
of with nothing even in the ether as far as
the defense coming up, got dropped from the exhibition against
Jake Paul, exercised the rematch right against Lamont Roach and
bailed on it to take the Jake Paul fight, and
got bounced from because of the domestic violence situation he
is facing now. And so the WBA was like, okay,
you're now a champion in recess. And so the question
becomes is who's going to fight for the vacant title.
It will be number one can tender, Floyd Schofield, who's
coming off that very impressive first run knockout of Tevin Farmer.
And the only question is it going to be the
guy that's number two, which is Lucas Body who won
an eliminator against Richard, against Roger Gutierres, who is a
former title er that was an eliminator, or is going
to be against number four Roach, who's got the argument
on the very shaky draw that a lot of people
thought he won against Tank Davis, combined with the draw
that a lot of people thought he won in a
WBC fight against Pitt Bull Cruz. So they're working through that,
but it's gonna be one of those fights if it
does turn out. What he did tell me is if
it is going to be Schoolfield against Roach, the winner
of that fight would then have to fight Luca's Body
in the first defense. But the point is those are
three guys that can tee it up to fight for
a vacant title. All of them have earned their right
based on their recent history, and Tank is gonna have
to figure out what he's gonna do with his life.
Speaker 1: By the way, at some point, don't the authorities bring
this up that if you're helping Gervonte Davis as a
fugitive from justice here, you got aiding in a betting
charge is probably coming after you. Stay tuned. I'm kind
of interested in that because you would have to think
at this point somebody is assisting hiding him wherever he is.
I don't know that to be the case, but it's
hard to believe that he would do a doctor Richard
Kimball from the Fugitive and be in the woods and
be somewhere else and completely on his own right.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's really unbelievable what's happening with this. I mean,
the guy had just The thing that's so wild about
this is that before the incident occurred, that is the
cause of this situation. That was back in October. It
was only like about a month or two before this
incident that the last domestic viole incident was got dropped
because the woman ended up declining the press charge. She
is the mother of two of his kids. This is
another girlfriend there was an incident with.
Speaker 1: It makes you wonder, just speculatively, if he's still in
the country, if he didn't go somewhere with a passport
and he's gone and that's why they can't find I
have no idea. I have no idea. It just makes
you wonder.
Speaker 2: But uh, I mean I have his number on my phone.
Speaker 1: See if you get an answer. Oh my gosh, send
him a message on the WhatsApp. What's up?
Speaker 2: H I mean, I have to say, I can't remember Tej.
In all the years I have covered boxing, and plenty
of arrests and and and and legal issues have encumbered
fighters through the years, I can't remember. Maybe I'm just
not thinking of one. I don't remember there ever being
a case where a guy like just was on the
run from this and the US Marshalls involved.
Speaker 1: Somber part of a couple of weeks has disappeared, and
stay tuned, Stay tuned. You got to get Tommy Lee
Jones out of retirement as Samuel Gerard from The Fugitive
to go follow it. Give me one of those chocolate
donuts Cosmo with sprinkles on it. Remember that. Uh okay,
So here we go with the portion of the program
with Top Rank boxing. First news item is that Oscar
Valdez and Top Rank are no longer together. The deal
has expired and Valdez is now going to be looking elsewhere.
So give me more on that, and that's going to
lead that's going to segue into the second part. Go ahead.
Speaker 2: So some people might look at this and say, well,
you know, Top Rank. They don't have they don't have
a broadcast deal, and so a guy's contract comes up
and they let him go because they obviously don't have
anything to give him more necessarily budget to deal with.
And while that may be true in this in the
sense for some guys, I don't think that's the case
with what happened to Oscar. They love Oscar Valdez. Oscar
Valdez made a great career and a lot of money
with Top Rank. I talked to his manager, Frank Espinoza.
There's they claim on both sides, no hard feelings, but
the reality is, and this just the cold hard case
of sports, not just boxing, when an athlete gets older
and is no longer what he once was at his best,
and he can't really help the team, so to speak,
or in this case, help the company at thirty five
with a lot of rough, hard, grueling, brutal, fucking fights
in his rear view mirror. There are people at Top
Rank that when the contract expired, they were like, look,
we think he should retire and he shouldn't be fighting
anymore because of the punishment he has taken they gave
him after he got knocked out in the rematch by
Emmanuel Naverette in their in their rematch of the first
fight that was so good they felt like he was done.
They were convinced to give him another fight to see
what was there. They put Himmember. They did that card
with Fernando Beltron and Zanford Promotions. Back at the end
of last year, they had a bunch of their guys
fighting in Mexico. They put him in a fight against
a guy named Richard Mendina, just a regular opponent, and
although Oscar won the fight, it was hardly scintillating. He
didn't look at it.
Speaker 1: And I remember that he hurt himself also in the fight.
I think he heard his shoulder. It could have been Yeah,
I think he hurt himself also.
Speaker 2: So at that point, the prevailing thought at the company was, look,
we love Oscar. He's been a great warrior. He never
turned down fights. He always turned up and fought his
ass off. That this is not a negative about Valdez,
but we don't think he should be fighting anymore. And
so when the contract was up, they didn't offer him
a new contract, partly because of that, and obviously if
they don't have a broadcast deal, it was sort of
a moot point anyway, and so he goes on and
becomes a free agent. Now he still wants to fight,
and in his weight class one hundred and thirty pounds,
there's good activity there, like if Sugar Nunya is, for example,
were to defeat Navarrete and the upcoming title unification or
somebody else in that weight class, Oh, Shackie Foster is
there and others. Although he's with Top Rank. The point
is he can certainly still if he wants to be
a big name B side, if you will, and because
he can still punch a bit. You never know. But
I feel like Top Rank thinks like his days at
his best are done, and you know, thank you for
your service and good luck to you.
Speaker 1: All right, So you made mention of it, and now
we're going to bring it up and talk about it.
So Top Rank did get around to announcing that they
are going to broadcast this upcoming Xander Zaiez Baru Junior
middleweight unified title fight, and they're going to do it
again on their Classics Fast channel on January thirty, first,
coming next Saturday night. All right, So I'm just I'm
going to say this, we keep it real. I was
saying this back in November that it was rather obvious
to me it's one of two things. Either one they
can't get anybody to cover the production cost and what
they want to do, or two they're apparently happy with
the money that they have made and for this to
float along and still promote some fighters that are involved
in other fight cards with other broadcasters, et cetera. And
so to me, this, I mean, this is silliness. I
don't know how much long, I don't know. To me,
it's silliler.
Speaker 2: Well, they have obliged. I completely reject your characterization. They're
a promotional company that obviously is in tough times right now.
Yes we know that, but they still have a lot
of obligations to boxers that they promote. So they're going
forward and honoring their obligations. I didn't say they weren't.
Production is just one facet. They still got to pay
out purses. Of course, the fight between Zius and Brew
just the fight itself is a seven figure fight. They
obviously are going to have a gate there in Puerto
Rico will see what it can do, and they're putting
it on their fashiannel because they don't have anything so
better to put it on. So I mean, in the
short term, if you're a boxing fan, it's because you
can watch it for free if you have, of course
smart TV. But it's certainly not. And they know this
top right. They're not stupid.
Speaker 1: They know this is not here's the laws where I'm
going to push back on you. You lectured me, that's
the word. These are very smart people. It tas time
they have something in the works. You said that over
and over again in September and October and November, and
Dan Rayfield. We're here in January. They don't have anything.
So you were wrong about they're going to have something
given time. Give it time, give it time.
Speaker 2: That's fine to me. At this point if what they
do just not put their fighters in I don't I.
Speaker 1: Don't really know. I'm not part of their business plan.
I don't really know what they are up to. But
at this point, I think there's real concern that they're
not long term for any of this. I think there's
an argument that can be made that Bob aram is
in his mid nineties. The guys that are doing this
have obviously made a bunch of money at some point,
and this may be it may be winding down. It
may be winding down as I don't know as a promotion.
Speaker 2: Listen, it's they's only a possibility. You know, Bob's not
gonna be around forever. Obviously, Bob is recovering from having
a knee replacement. He's all cantankerous in his wheelchair because
of the not because he's old, but because he's got
a knee surgery and it's given him some problems. I'm
still convinced that based on the history of Top Break,
based on the library, based on the fighters they still have,
that they promote the outstanding young talent from championship all
the way to prospect that somebody out there is going
to give them some type of deal. What its value
will be when it will start, I could not tell
you that. But I cannot believe that with all the
streaming out there and all the platforms, and with what
they have to offer, that there's not somebody that wouldn't
do something with them. I mean, again, nothing against zoof
of boxing at all. Certainly Top Rank got a better
stable than they do. It's not even close to the
moment out they're building their company, and good luck to them.
I hope they're successful.
Speaker 1: I again began this with it's one of two things.
Either one they can't get something to break even at
least with the production they can't get can get that,
or two it just doesn't interest them enough.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure we're on the production. The persons are
way more than the production.
Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, okay, so let me back up.
So they had a deal with ESPN where ESPN was
paying them on top of paying for the production and
being able to broadcast the fights. They obviously can't get
that deal, and they obviously aren't willing to do what PBC,
for example, is doing, which is cover the production cost
of what they're doing to get the fights on a
broadcast outlet where a lot more people will see it.
It's kind of a plus B plus C equals d BBC.
Speaker 2: PBC covers its own production and their fights. Their their
model is different than Top ranks. At the moment, most
of their events, probably ninety five percent of them are
pay per view, so they get back something in revenue
wise when they do an event like that. So it's
not about production a person, it's what's the total cost
of the event compared to what we can bring in
And right now, Top Rank unfortunately is not being able
to bring in much of anything. Obviously, they'll have the gate,
they'll have some sponsorship. The Fast Channel, because it is
at supporter, will generate some money, although it's not the
way it would be if you were getting a license fee.
So let's see if they can, if they can still
keep it going for a little longer and hopefully something
will break again. I'm still I still believe they will
have some type of deal in the near future.
Speaker 1: I've heard that from you for that fine one and
twenty days.
Speaker 2: That's fine. Bottom line is if you want to watch
Zaias versus Brew.
Speaker 1: Is going to be on somewhere and it is going
to be for free. That's true.
Speaker 2: One negative, by the way, is that it's on at
the same time essentially as the Shakhr Stevenson t Femo
Lopez event, which is kind of wacky to me. That's
because the top Rank Top Rank is involved in that show.
They have a financial interest in tia Fimo Lopez. Bruce
Chushu Carrington, who is their fighter, is on the card
in a world title fight. Uh so that's two guys
that they have and uh you know they have worked
with other fights with the Saudis before. But the fact
that they've got to those two guys on the show,
combined with the fact that you got the return of
Kishan Davis on that show also is still a top
rank fighter. They've got three of their more notable guys
on a card that's going on opposite their own show
in Puerto Rico. So that's a little weird to me.
Speaker 1: It is weird, all right with that, I think we're
good for another edition. Nice job hustling to get Tia
Femo Lopez. We'll see what happens again with the debut
of the ZUFA Boxing Fight Series and the Calum Walsh
main event again, that is a Friday night card in Vegas.
The Saturday night card is the Murataya Cruz main event
for the IBF Lightweight title. Why don't you and I
reconvene off the weekend and recap everything that is going
on and get ready for Shakur Stevenson and Taya Fimo
Lopez at Madison Square Garden. We'll do that off the weekend.
Sound good?
Speaker 2: Sounds good?
Speaker 1: There is Dan Rayfield. I'm merely TJ Reeves. I think
you made it through the entire pod without coughing, which
is a victory in and of itself. The Looten's cough
drops have helped.
Speaker 2: I did it once. I coughed once when I put
myself on me once.
Speaker 1: Only once on mute. That's a good thing. Thank you
for finding us. Follow subscribe, Apple Spreaker, Spotify here for
the pod as we as We rock along. You've been
with us for Dan rayphiel On TJ Reeves. You've been
part of the big fight. We can preview podcast
Speaker 2: M