Speaker 1: Well, it is my pleasure to be joined on our
Speaker 1: podcast this week by Lamont Roach. Lamar Roach, you have
Speaker 1: another challenging fight coming up December sixth. You'll be main
Speaker 1: event of the PBC Prime Video pay for view CARDI
Speaker 1: B challenging the WBC Interim Junior Welterweight titleholder, Isaac Pittbull
Speaker 1: Cruz in the Great Fight City of San Antonio at
Speaker 1: the Frost Bank Center. So welcome to the show. The
Speaker 1: last time we spoke was before you had your last
Speaker 1: fight against Tank Davis earlier this year, so you know,
Speaker 1: I got it before we get into everything with Pitbull,
Speaker 1: which I find to be a very intriguing fight, to
Speaker 1: be honest, we got to get into a little bit
Speaker 1: about what we've seen earlier this year. That fight was
Speaker 1: back in February. You moved up in wait to lightweight
Speaker 1: to challenge him for his WBA Lightweight championship, and you
Speaker 1: were held to what most people considered a highly controversial
Speaker 1: draw in that fight. A lot of people thought that
Speaker 1: you won that fight, that the referee blew the knockdown
Speaker 1: call in the ninth round, did not penalize him by
Speaker 1: points or DQ for running to the corner getting wiped off.
Speaker 1: There was all kinds of things that went haywire. They
Speaker 1: screwed up the potential for replay. So all these months
Speaker 1: later where you made him take the knockdown in front
Speaker 1: of the whole world, how do you reflect on that
Speaker 1: fight and what the heck happened? Do you feel like
Speaker 1: you were robbed?
Speaker 2: For sure?
Speaker 3: It's exactly how you you know, how you described it though,
Speaker 3: that's exactly how I feel. I mean, it's it's it
Speaker 3: was in plain sight. So it's sad. It's sad that
Speaker 3: you know, boxing comes to situations as such and it
Speaker 3: doesn't go the right way like it's supposed to.
Speaker 2: This is that wasn't the first time, and it probably
Speaker 2: won't be the last I had to say.
Speaker 3: And you know, it's just it's just, you know, spill
Speaker 3: milk that I really can't cry over.
Speaker 2: But I do definitely feel like I was robbed.
Speaker 3: I think, I mean, watching the fight, I thought I
Speaker 3: won without the knockdown being counted as well.
Speaker 2: But you know, everything's subjective, right, that.
Speaker 1: Is very true. But one of the things that really
Speaker 1: irritated me about it, and I don't have I didn't
Speaker 1: have a dog in the fight. I was you know,
Speaker 1: looking forward to seeing you guys put on a highly competitive,
Speaker 1: good interesting fight. But what irritated me was that they
Speaker 1: put replay in place for the commission to examine these instances.
Speaker 1: That was obviously the perfect example to view the replay
Speaker 1: of what occurred when he went down on the knee.
Speaker 1: After the fact, the Commission in New York recognized that
Speaker 1: it was a knockdown, but said because of their technical
Speaker 1: issues that they were having supposedly with the production truck. Yeah,
Speaker 1: exactly that they people will some people will see the
Speaker 1: video of this, others will hear the video you are
Speaker 1: given the supposedly the quote marks ye, so that they
Speaker 1: recognized it. But because it wasn't able to be viewed
Speaker 1: by the replay official within the time frame during the fight,
Speaker 1: they couldn't suddenly post fight award you the extra point
Speaker 1: give you the win because they didn't know how the
Speaker 1: final three rounds would have played out. You know, if
Speaker 1: everybody knew there had been a knockdown. What is your
Speaker 1: thought about that aspect of it?
Speaker 3: My thought is just, you know, they definitely dropped the rock,
Speaker 3: and I think, uh, it's I just I just think
Speaker 3: it's a little shady, that's all.
Speaker 1: That's a great word. That's a great word for it.
Speaker 2: I just I just I definitely just think it's a
Speaker 2: little shady.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of things come in the factor
Speaker 3: when you have a superstar and such who brings uh,
Speaker 3: how do you say it value to a lot of
Speaker 3: people involved with the event and maybe the potential next event.
Speaker 3: So it's it's just it's just a little shaky, that's all.
Speaker 3: That's how I feel.
Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned about the next event. So it was
Speaker 1: a good fight. Some controversy. Boxing never helped sell a rematch. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, he exercises right to a rematch, so we
Speaker 1: all thought that would happen. First they talked, you know,
Speaker 1: he said right away, you want to get right back
Speaker 1: and during as quickly as possible. Obviously you did. Also
Speaker 1: they talked about doing it in June. Then it was
Speaker 1: supposed to take place in August, and then a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff went on. He ended up pulling out of
Speaker 1: the fight to take what was going to be a
Speaker 1: far more lucrative exhibition fight, not even a real fight
Speaker 1: against Jake Paul. I guess somebody, allegedly nobody can really
Speaker 1: argue if you're taking a huge payday, I suppose. But
Speaker 1: how did you feel about basically getting strung along post
Speaker 1: the first fight in February for him saying we'll do
Speaker 1: it this way, you'll do it, then he'll take accept
Speaker 1: the rematch, and then he belled on you kind of
Speaker 1: left you high and dry.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he definitely did.
Speaker 3: That's dirty business and that's what contracts and stuff I'll
Speaker 3: put into play for.
Speaker 2: And you know, if if I was a guy who
Speaker 2: was super pressed.
Speaker 3: For you know, money or anything like that, you know
Speaker 3: you can easily go to arbitration.
Speaker 2: That didn't take place.
Speaker 1: That as you decided you didn't want to do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3: It's just coming to a point where you know that's
Speaker 3: going to be strong along too. It's gonna be a
Speaker 3: lot of bs, and nobody wants to go through more
Speaker 3: bs than he already. You know what I'm saying that
Speaker 3: he already put me in or put me through. We
Speaker 3: already knew that the fight was kind of in limbo
Speaker 3: as we were in camp, so it was just really
Speaker 3: pissing me off, honestly. But you know, once we came
Speaker 3: to terms with they are pretty much aren't going to fight,
Speaker 3: it was just like, all right, where do we go
Speaker 3: from here, but we always been working since to find
Speaker 3: the next to do so, so we always knew that
Speaker 3: we were going to.
Speaker 1: Fight this year when you when you heard he was
Speaker 1: taking the Jake Paul fight, and they went through their
Speaker 1: press tour, and then we all know what happened about
Speaker 1: the lawsuit from a girl, an ex girl friend, that
Speaker 1: alleged yet another case of domestic violence committed by Tank Davis.
Speaker 1: Obviously we'll go through the process with that, uh, But
Speaker 1: he ended up getting dropped from the fight, so he
Speaker 1: doesn't get a what would have been still a lucrative
Speaker 1: payday and a rematch against you. He doesn't get perhaps
Speaker 1: an even more lucrative situation with Jake Paul and isn't
Speaker 1: fighting at all. What is your thought about that? It
Speaker 1: seems to me like karma maybe.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't have any thoughts.
Speaker 3: Whatever happened happened, doesn't have anything to do with me anymore. So,
Speaker 3: you know, I wish the best to anybody who is
Speaker 3: involved in that, you know, that situation with MVP, with
Speaker 3: you know, the other side, whatever the case may be, however,
Speaker 3: they move on. They better figure it out. But I
Speaker 3: don't have any thoughts about it. I don't have anything
Speaker 3: to focus on. But Pitbull cruise December six.
Speaker 1: Well down down the road, whatever happens, would you like
Speaker 1: to maybe see Tank again just to settle that score.
Speaker 2: I doubt it.
Speaker 3: I'm just off the simple fact that he wouldn't, you know,
Speaker 3: rematch me.
Speaker 2: It's like the proof is in the put in. If
Speaker 2: you look at everything at face value, it probably doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: So that would get to Pitbull. So I have to
Speaker 1: say I was a little surprised that Pitbull and his
Speaker 1: team took this fight. You are not a big name.
Speaker 1: You're certainly a bigger name than you were before you
Speaker 1: fought Tank Davis. Uh and put on an excellent performance
Speaker 1: in that fight. Were you surprised that they called your
Speaker 1: name and decided to then ask to fight you?
Speaker 4: Uh, surprise, No, because people kind of always been an option,
Speaker 4: Like I'm pretty sure they were knowing of it, Like now,
Speaker 4: surprise that they say, yes, Well.
Speaker 2: Maybe a little bit okay, but but.
Speaker 3: You know, uh, surprised that you know, I'm saying that
Speaker 3: they that they were aware, and because we were aware,
Speaker 3: we've been aware, so you know, he was always on
Speaker 3: the list of what can happen next.
Speaker 1: But they picked they picked you out and I sort
Speaker 1: of anyway, my take was view you as as the
Speaker 1: favorite and him as the underdog. Your five foot seventies,
Speaker 1: five foot four. He's always a smaller guy, but you
Speaker 1: obviously are going to be much bigger than him. You're
Speaker 1: obviously a very consummate bock.
Speaker 2: Sir.
Speaker 1: You have excellent defense, You're fast. Uh, you've we talked
Speaker 1: about it before the Tank fight, how good of a
Speaker 1: chin you have, and you certainly showed that against a
Speaker 1: big puncher like Tank Davis. How do you approach him then?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: What do you have to be warried from him? I
Speaker 1: already know what he has to be warried from you.
Speaker 1: You know you have to be.
Speaker 3: Worried of, you know, just his powerful punching wide looping shots.
Speaker 3: There's not a list of things that you have to
Speaker 3: look for. There's things that he does well and that
Speaker 3: he makes work for him. But that's that's his plan A,
Speaker 3: B and C. So, uh, if the if the shots,
Speaker 3: if the big looping shots don't work for him, where's
Speaker 3: he going to go?
Speaker 2: Like? What is he going to do? If the relentless
Speaker 2: pressure doesn't work for him? What is he going to do?
Speaker 3: So, you know, I have multiple avenues to win this fight,
Speaker 3: and I'll explode them all night until you know, either
Speaker 3: the bell rings or he falls.
Speaker 1: Well, the way the way you just put it, I
Speaker 1: was what I was sort of thinking, like, he has
Speaker 1: one way to win, which is a good way, but
Speaker 1: that Lamont Roach had probably three or four ways.
Speaker 2: To win for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, one thing about this. You still are the
Speaker 1: WBA Junior Lightweight World Champion. You defended that title once,
Speaker 1: but in your next fight you moved up and took
Speaker 1: the challenge to fight for the lightweight belt against Tank Davis.
Speaker 1: Now in your next fight after that, you're moving up
Speaker 1: yet again tow one hundred and forty pounds to take
Speaker 1: on Pitbull Cruise for his interim belt. So I wonder,
Speaker 1: does this mean that you are done with one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty pounds or is it still in the back
Speaker 1: of your mind that someday you might go back down
Speaker 1: and defend it, or I don't know how much longer
Speaker 1: the WBA would even allow you to hold it after
Speaker 1: all this time without defending it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so, It's in the back of my
Speaker 3: mind for sure. It's just look at so be realistic.
Speaker 3: Look at the platform that I'm on, look at the.
Speaker 2: Caliber fighter that I'm taking on.
Speaker 3: If there's anything similar or bigger than a Pitbull fight
Speaker 3: at one for the super Lightweight Interim Championship at one thirty,
Speaker 3: then then there's a conversation.
Speaker 1: So it's not a matter if you can't make the
Speaker 1: weight anymore.
Speaker 3: Some guys would say, yeah, no, no, no, no no no,
Speaker 3: I can make the weight for sure.
Speaker 1: So you and Pitball should be a good fight. I mean,
Speaker 1: like I said, pretty good matchup. It seemed to me
Speaker 1: you're in a great fight city like San Antonio. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've worked it out where you're making like
Speaker 1: a pretty good purse for this and you are fighting
Speaker 1: for the interim belt. But I always think about it.
Speaker 1: Don't fighters want to fight for real belts like the
Speaker 1: main titles?
Speaker 2: Oh for sure, definitely, And I think me securing this
Speaker 2: one would. I'm because I'm different.
Speaker 3: I'm going to press the fact that I'm the intern chap.
Speaker 3: This puts me because even on the wbc UH ranking chart,
Speaker 3: there's champion, Intern Champion, then number one contender. If I'm
Speaker 3: over that number one contender, I'm pressing Subrill Matias or
Speaker 3: the winner of Dulton Smith and subreal Matias to fight
Speaker 3: the next fight literally.
Speaker 1: So that brings in to my to my uh, I
Speaker 1: guess my last question is that if you are going
Speaker 1: to stay a one hundred forty pounds, if you beat
Speaker 1: Pittbull Cruise or even if you don't beat pit Bull Cruise, whatever,
Speaker 1: but that's a really good division right now, you'll be there.
Speaker 1: Pitbull is there. Tthymo Lopez is the lineal champion, he's
Speaker 1: the WBO champion. He's probably fighting Shaquor Stevenson, who was
Speaker 1: an excellent lightweight champion who's coming up in wait. Probably
Speaker 1: for that fight. You got Richardson Hitchins, a very talented fighter.
Speaker 1: You mentioned of course Sybrill Matias, who you'd be on
Speaker 1: course for in the WBC. You know your Washington brother
Speaker 1: Gary Antewin Russell has one of the as the WBA belt.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about the weather than Mattias, because
Speaker 1: that's the one you would be probably steered towards based
Speaker 1: on the organization. How do you kind of feel about
Speaker 1: the wealth of talent there? And in particular, you know
Speaker 1: you didn't get to do the rematch with Tank, who's
Speaker 1: your DMV guy. You know all from DC and from Baltimore.
Speaker 1: Russell is like a big time All DC championship showdown, and.
Speaker 3: Man, I love that fight. I actually if people don't know. Okay,
Speaker 3: So the options that were presented to me by PBC
Speaker 3: were people Gary Russell Jr. Gabriel floor Is, and somebody else.
Speaker 3: I told I told them no to.
Speaker 2: Gabe. I told him no to Gary Russell Jr.
Speaker 3: Because what the hell has he done in the last
Speaker 3: four years And why does he think he did? Why
Speaker 3: would I gift him a title shot in his second
Speaker 3: fight back in four.
Speaker 2: Years and one third And and it would have they
Speaker 2: said thirty five. That's weird, but you know, I guess
Speaker 2: it wouldn't have been a title shot exactly.
Speaker 3: And he's like being disrespectful like woon wom It's not
Speaker 3: gonna work like that. No, SORRYO scooed over, and I
Speaker 3: told him we obviously we said yes the people cruise,
Speaker 3: but we countered and it's like, let us fight Gary
Speaker 3: and swine Russell. That was that was my first option
Speaker 3: me personally, that was my first option. I was like,
Speaker 3: scratch those and asked Gary Antoine Russell, does he want
Speaker 3: to fight yes or no?
Speaker 2: Straight up?
Speaker 1: I guess the answer was no, and you guys all
Speaker 1: know each other from you know, being running in the
Speaker 1: DC circles. I assume, yeah, so if you win, maybe
Speaker 1: the unification you can will give him a reason to
Speaker 1: maybe fight you.
Speaker 3: That's what I'm I mean, because he actually said that too,
Speaker 3: and I am from a champion standpoint. I understand he
Speaker 3: said that all fort at one thirty. I haven't done
Speaker 3: anything at one Okay.
Speaker 2: I believe that. But after I make some noise here,
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to hear that.
Speaker 1: Well, you'll be You'll be on roughly the same schedule
Speaker 1: you're fighting Kickball in December. On the sixth of you win,
Speaker 1: you'll have that interim delp you know, he will have
Speaker 1: a fight. I assume they're going to reschedule him on
Speaker 1: the Jake Paul event that was postponed. He was supposed
Speaker 1: to defending his mandatory against Arioka. Uh maybe we'll see it.
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, it's Pitbull Cruise December sixth a
Speaker 1: PBC on Prime Video Pay Review in San Antonio. Laman,
Speaker 1: I thank you very much for your time and I
Speaker 1: wish you good luck in this fight.
Speaker 3: Thank you, my god.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it.