Speaker 1: The countdown is on to fight time. This is Big
Fight Weekend. Now here is your host, TJ Leaves.
Speaker 2: All right, folks, we get ready for a weekend that
has a massive undisputed light heavyweight title main event in
Saudi Arabia and a really good card by the way,
and they're not paying us to say that. As part
of the undercard of the read season show Better b
Evan b bol the main event. We are here on
the fight on the Big Fight Weekend preview pod. I
am the somewhat capable host. He's our insider, Dan Rayphael.
You know, it's always good to see you and be
with you, but I'm saying especially it's good to see
you and be with you after Hurricane Milton, my friend
has barreled through West central Florida Wednesday night into Thursday.
Speaker 1: So it is good to see you.
Speaker 2: Welcome Dan, And we've got a lot to go over
and we're gonna hear from Tim Zoo in a little bit.
And this is a bit on the fly, which I'll
explain more in a second. But it's good to see you.
Speaker 1: How are you. I'm doing probably better than you. I'm
glad to see you're alive, not soaking wet, not filled
with water.
Speaker 2: So congratulations, we're upright and we're ready for everything, including
the boxing again. Thank you for finding us. Follow Subscribe
to this podcast feed previews going into the weekend, Recaps
off the weekend right here, Apple Spreaker, Spotify, five star
review helps. So, Dan, we had a hlacious Wednesday night
wind rain. As you and I are doing this, we
have not had power at the Reefs household with the
wife and twins since ten pm on Wednesday night, So
we're going on like eighteen hours without power. I'm at
my in laws. Let's hear it for the in laws, baby,
they have power about fifteen minutes south of us. So
that's how we're accomplishing this. And again, there are so
many people, Dan that have lost everything, damage everywhere. There's
over a million and a half people without power in
our area this afternoon. Getting the power back on okay,
but I mean restoring your homes and all of that,
it is just going to be months night.
Speaker 1: We do have a boxing podcast, though, at least we
have that.
Speaker 2: We have the podcast. Let's cheer it up, let's get
into it again. You're gonna hear from Tim Zuo challenging
for the IBF title coming up here, and again we've
got a variable. It's supposed to be an Orlando next week.
Orlando got slammed with this thing, Dan an audience. It
got slammed with Hurricane Milton in the middle of the
night early Tuesday morning, before the thing went out in
the Atlantic Ocean.
Speaker 1: So it's been a mess.
Speaker 2: But that being said, let's begin with a preview and
your thoughts. I know it's eagerly anticipated. We're almost there
for Archer better BF Dmitri b Vol. You had b
Vol on the podcast and interviewed him. We played that,
we put it up on the podcast feed earlier in
a week. I know you're excited. Let's get into it.
A couple of thoughts on this.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I probably sound like a broken record
byd now, I've said this a million times to me,
just the best fight on the calendar in calendar or
twenty twenty four for boxing, you know, if you really
wanted to get down and really compare, you know, maybe
there was a little more excitement in some quarters for
the undisputed heavyweight title fight between oostikon Fury, and they
lived up to it in their outstanding fight that was
earlier in the year with a rematch coming. But Better
Be a b ball to me, is just a spectacular fight.
Two outstanding fighters, two undefeated fighters, two guys who fight
in opposite kind of styles, where it's the monster puncher
but also a skillful guy in better BF against the
outstanding technical boxer with great speed and outstanding defense and
a decent puncher also despite the long stretch without knockouts,
but just shapes up as just a tremendous battle and
the winner is going to be the worthy undisputed champion
and put themselves in history books. There hasn't been an
undisputed light heavyweight champion since nineteen ninety nine, back when
it was three belts that was necessary, when Roy Jones
accomplished it. Before that, you had to go all the
way back to the nineteen eighties when Michael Spinks accomplished him,
back in the two built days. It's not a common
thing at all. It's even less common, you know, than
in the heavyweight division, because the light heavyweights I think
in general are less loved, let's say, than the heavyweight division.
But still, this is a first plast matchup. You can't
get better. I mean, I'm only disappointed that the fight's
not taking place in the United States, you know where
I would be at the fight. But here's everything about it, TJ.
I know the odds are really close on this fight.
If you ask me right now who I'm picking, and
you came back and asked me, you know, half an
hour from from now, I might have a different opinion.
And I've gone back and forth like that. And it's
funny because I know when I talk to other people
in the boxing business and things, you know, I interact
with other fans on social media, like I'm not the
only one that has that feeling. It feels like nobody
can really truly make a pick, and even if they
are making it pick, it's always with a caveat be
well blah blah blah blah blah. Because I think everybody
who's ever witnessed a fight of B Bolls and or
better b I understands that there's no right or wrong answer,
that there's even if you're picking one or the other,
that you can still absolutely see a reason in a
pathway for the other guy to be victorious.
Speaker 2: Okay, And so we're gonna make the predictions on the
bet Us Boxing show God willing Dan that I'm able
to be there. Maybe back band laws to make that happen.
But let's elaborate just on one more point. Bevol has
been much more active as of late because of Better
bev with a jaw surgery over a year ago and
then a knee injury. How big a factor, How big
a factor, if at all, do you think that is.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a factor at all, because he
hasn't been that much more active. Here's the reality. In
twenty twenty two, Bevoll had two fights and they were
pretty significant fights, and that's the reason why he was
Actually for most people, he was the winner of the
Fighter of the Year. He defeated Nelo Alvarez in the spring,
and then he came back in November of twenty twenty
two and he whitewashed Gilberto Zerto Vermirez in a mandatory fight. Too.
Now he only thought the one time in twenty twenty three.
He came back in December of that year and he
won a unanimous decision over Lynda Arthur in a very
one sided fight. But then he went six months when
the fight between him and de Vaute was between rather
him and Better be Able was supposed to take place.
Obviously better be have had the injury, so he stayed
on the card and he fought Emlik's inod in Riad
in June and scored the knockout, first knockout he had
in several years. But and now he was going into
this fight with better VF, so he he hasn't. He
just fought the one time in twenty three, one time
so far this year, so not a not an inactive schedule,
but not a row bus schedule now in terms of
Better VF though he's sort of in a similar situation
maybe one last fight, had the two fights in twenty
twenty one, the one fight in twenty two, one fight
in twenty three, and he has had though one fight
so far in twenty four, back in January. So the
inactivity that you're talking about, he's only off a nine
month layoff. And it was an outstanding performance in the
last fight where he went to Canada and he you know,
in you know, in his home, in front of his home.
You know, he's from Russia obviously, but he's an Inadian citizen.
He was fighting Inada, right right, So this was like
his crowd where he hadn't fought in Canada for you know,
a few fights, and he put on a great performance
against Callum Smith. So he's not coming off some crazy
long layoff. Now he is coming off the injury. But uh,
the inactivity or or activity is basically marginal. They're about
the same. I don't think that's got one damn bit
to do with this. This is gonna be about who
can impose their style best. Can Bieter bev go get
him with that crunching punching power and and physical nature.
Because if you take a look at all the fights
of Beballs, I've seen pretty much every one of his
fights ever and I don't ever remember him seeing hurt
other than in the very late round against Joe Smith
where he where he looked a little wobbly, but he
got through it. Uh, and better beev He has been down,
although against a puncher like Callum Johnson, but he struggled
with some boxers occasionally. You know, when he won the
title against Rico Coling, he was winning all the rounds,
but he was having some struggles. But he's a devastating puncher,
So can he can he show the punching power or
is it gonna be ble that's gonna you know, use
that that that mastery of the skill set and the
and the defense of wizardry that he has in a
long jab. I think the jab is super important this fight.
They both have good jabs. Who can get there first
with it? I don't know even know what else to
say about it. The one big advantage that bee Boll
seems to me to have is is the age, and
because better byeav is thirty nine years old, but he's
like an old thirty nine even though he's still undefeated.
He's breaking down, he cuts. You know, he's had a
few issues here and there. He struggled to a degree.
I mean, he ended up scoring the knockout like he
always does. But when he fought the fight against Anthony
Yard in January of twenty twenty three, he had a
lot of struggles in that fight. It it was a close
fight up until the time where he did get the knockout.
And you know, you just don't know this.
Speaker 2: The old aches and pains and a knee injury, we
don't know until he gets in there. Does that affect him,
Does that affect leverage punches? We don't know. It's another pair.
Speaker 1: I mean, all I know is this whatever, whatever it is,
I hope everybody who's a boxing fan enjoys this fight,
and especially those of us who live here in the
United States where it's not a pay per view. It's
as good as it gets as a non paper As
I've described before, if you live in the United States,
this is a live free on your ESPN subscription if
you subscribe. Stop with the nonsense. Well you have to
subscribe and paid for it. Well, no, you're not buying
a one off event. It's part of your regular subscription,
as is the undercard on Desowne. In the United States,
it is. But even if you live overseas, the full
event as a pay per view is depending on your
local currency. He's like about a twenty dollars equivalent pay
per view, which is still, in my opinion, based on
typical pay per view prices, Yes, tremendous value. So looks
gonna be a great matchup. And then, like you mentioned
in the introduction, it's a very solid, good undercard, very
worthy undercard. Remember it was supposed to include Sukhor Stevenson,
but his injury knocked him off the show, and so
he's not going to fight on this card. But they
still have a very worthwhile card. Anyway, they got die
opened well. The co feature is Fabio Wardlea Fraser Clark,
a couple of big, big, strong heavyweights who had a
fantastic first fight earlier this year that was a draw,
like a legit draw. So they're duking it out for
the British heavyweight title and just another super matchup. Both
guys undefeated. The only blemish is the draw against each other.
I mean, I don't see how that's not gonna be
another you know, as I like to call it, a
sloburn knocker, and then he had other good fights on her.
You know, Christian Bank Junior, he's not in a particularly
competitive fight on paper, it doesn't seem to me, but
he's also in the running to fight Canelo Alvarez when
Canelo returns in the spring. You know, you remember he
was a candidate to fight him, but Berlina in the
U beginning to fight. But a U Bank with a
nice knockout or a good performance certainly could put himself
in that position. One of my favorite fighters in boxing
to watch is Ji Opataia, who's the LINEAL and IBF
cruiserweight champion. He's defending against Jack Massey, who's a maybe
not the elite contender, but he's no pushover. You know it,
don't be mistaken because he lost recently. That was that
heavyweight to Joseph Parker, not a cruiserweight, totally different ballgame.
So there's that fight and and then you know, look,
you got some of the other folks on the card.
He got Ben Whittaker, the flashy right bettalist from Britain,
the you know light heavyweight that's uh you know, is
developing a reputation either you love him or you hate him,
but people are gonna watch him.
Speaker 2: By the way, quick TJ insert got to see more fighting,
less hot dogging out of that guy period.
Speaker 1: But you know, to his credit there, you know, he's
only eight and no, he's stepping up in terms of
if you compare it to who he's faced previously, against
a fighter named Liam Cameron who's by far and away
his best opponent. And you know, they'll be making a
little bit of history in terms of this fight because
there has never so far, of all these deep cards
that they put on on the read season events, there
has yet to be a women's fight. But that will
happen now and happen in Saudi Arabia where you have
the WBC's women champion Sky Nicholson, who's undefeated, defending her
title against the undefeated Raven Chapman. That's uh, you know,
Australia versus England. So you know that's a damn good card.
I mean it was. And by the way, that's all
with the most outstanding main event you could ask for. Yes,
So a lot there.
Speaker 2: And by the way, we got some humor early in
the week. I need humor right now with Hurricane Milton
and all of this, with people saying, can you have Dan?
Please explain again?
Speaker 1: How the no?
Speaker 2: Look, we know you're having fun with us. I will
say it one more time because you don't. I don't
want you to, you know, have steam coming out of
your ears. In the United States, as Rayfield would say,
if you want to see the main event, you have
to have ESPN. Plus the entire undercard is on regular
dizone in the US. It's not a pay per view,
so that's a bonus if you're a US fight fan
that's subscribing to these things. You don't pay extra money
everywhere else.
Speaker 3: In the world.
Speaker 1: How am I doing? Rayfield?
Speaker 2: Everywhere else in the World. It's a dizone pay per view,
reasonably priced and you get the whole thing.
Speaker 1: It's note one one small caveat to that. Uh when
when I say to you that the undercard is part
of a regular zone subscription in the United States, it
is also part of a regular subscription in Canada.
Speaker 2: Okay, fair enough. However, if you don't have ESPN Plus
in the United States or Canada for this event, you're
not gonna see better BV and B Bowl. And you've
got warned ten times.
Speaker 1: I don't They don't think they have ESPN Plus in Canada.
Speaker 2: So it might be TSN, it might be I'm not
exactly some version of it right.
Speaker 1: Who's showing the main event in Canada. But you know what,
my Canadian friends are smart people. They'll figure it out.
Speaker 2: At this point after we have gone over it and
gone o. It's like my wife the school teacher. You
know what I'm saying. We've gone over and gone over it.
If you don't have it, I can't help you on that.
Speaker 1: So you missed because you're an idiot. Will tell you
all about it on the recap. We will on the recaps.
Speaker 2: On the recap, on the recap, all right, bet Us
Boxing Show will handicap some of these fights, including that
wardly heavyweight battle with Fraser Clark that is one Eastern
time on Friday. All right, let's get to this. This
is interesting. Tim Zuo challenging for the IBF Junior middleweight
title now that is slated for next Saturday. I say
that against Bachram martaz Alaiev, and where it's going to
be is up for grabs. We're gonna talk in a
couple of moments, well or do you want to talk
about it now?
Speaker 1: Either way? Either way because of the hurricane. So the
interview with Tim Zoo obviously I conducted with him, you know,
before the hurricane hit Florida, so he was, you know,
and people can hear it on the interview. He's ready
to go. And Tim is always a he's to me.
I'll tell you what. I give him the highest praise
of all the fighters in boxing. He's among the elite
when it comes to dealing with the press. He's pleasant,
he's kind, he's understanding, he's patient, and he's he gives
you a good quotes. I mean, he's he's and I
think he actually enjoys it, which is funny because his
father Costaz you who I also covered. Not that he
was disrespectful or not good, but you could just tell
it wasn't his favorite activity to talk to the press.
But Tim, I think he enjoys that interactions. Nonetheless, Uh,
I've made a couple of my phone calls today to
different people that are involved with that event because it's
supposed to take place at the Crib Royal Resort in Orlando,
which in and of itself the facility. I am told
no damage. Everything is good, but as you know, there's
tons of other issues going on in that area of Florida,
flooding and power outages it right, So as of when
we're taking this on like late Thursday afternoon, I am
told that everything is status quo, business as usual. Their
plan is to still go forward and do the event
without a hitch come this October nineteenth, but they won't
know one, I guess until you know, Friday or Saturday, when.
Speaker 2: They've obviously it is such a mess here that if
they get any indication we're not going to really be
able to do this next week, they've got to go
ahead and move it to where they're going to move
it and start promoting that and making arrangements. Well, that
decision's got to be made.
Speaker 1: Just to address that for a minute, and talking to
the pp to the PBC people, Uh, they have an
alternate plan if they if they have to have to,
they probably they probably would not move to another location
for the nineteenth. They would probably delay it by a
couple of weeks because they also have a date in
that same location if they want to use it in
early November.
Speaker 2: That's that's fascinating. So stay tuned, flew keep up with
Dan Substack, et cetera. With all that out of the way,
let's hear from Tim Zoo trying to regain a portion
of the junior Middleweight World championship coming up on this
fight when it happens with Bakram. Let's do that right
now on the podcast.
Speaker 1: Well, it is my pleasure to welcome to our podcast
this week. It is Tim Zoo, former WBO Junior Middleweight
world champ, and Tim, you got a big fight coming
up October nineteenth. You'll be challenging this time for the
IBF version of the title against Bakram Martazziliev in Orlando, Florida.
It'll be on Prime video, the first non pay per
view of the Prime Video association with PBC, so welcome.
I appreciate you doing this. I know you've been in
Vegas preparing for this fight or whatever fight you were
going to have. I guess even before this fight was made.
Are you healthy now with the cut? That's what everybody
wants to know.
Speaker 3: Perfect. Perfect.
Speaker 1: I'm glad to hear that. So I want to talk
about that situation. Then we'll get into your upcoming title
challenge against Martazzali. Of when you fought the fight in
March that I referenced against Sebastian Fandora, that was the
first PBC event that they did in their new deal
with Prime Video. It was a pay per view headliner.
Now you're headlining the first non pay per view. It's
like you are the PBC man of first with this deal.
Do you feel special because of that designation?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's an honor for me, you know, to be
able to be to be picked out of the big
stable of fights and to be representing it's an honor.
Speaker 1: That's cool, all right. So, like I said, before we
get into your upcoming fight, I just I wanted to
talk about a little about the Fundora fight. I'm probably
I think you're probably sick of talking about it. But
it was such a riveting fight for a lot of
different reasons. Just a tremendous battle. This was back on
March thirtieth at the Team Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Unfortunately for you, you lost a split decision cost a
year world title. But I have to believe you made
a dramatic amount of fans in that fight, given how
you fought that the excitement of the fight. Also, you
had a chance to win the WBC's vacant interim title
in that fight. Tim, I thought you dominated the first
two rounds. I thought you were on your way to
a knockout victory against Wndora, And then it happened. He
hits you with the elbow by accident at the end
of the second round, and the blood opened up on
that cut, on your top of your head, on your scalp,
and pretty much to fight. It seemed to me anyway
as a viewer, that had just changed everything. Even though
you fought your heart out. How much did that impact you.
Speaker 3: That's a good question. Like, looking back at it, I
think it did.
Speaker 4: There was plenty of emotions I guess running through you know, blindsided,
You're constantly thinking about the cut rather than thinking about
the fight.
Speaker 3: The momentum shift.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I could say it played a pop again, it's
some an excuse. Sometimes you have to adapt and be
able to deal with what you've got.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't think anybody that would see you, or
any fighter fight through that type of cut, that type
of blood, would would take anything as an excuse. And listen,
he was not in a perfect situation either because you
broke his nose, it seemed at the end of the
first round or in the first round. It just felt
like you had more to deal with than he had
to deal with. Because he had the blood. He was
probably swallowing it. Here you're just pouring down your face.
It's very obvious. How in the world did you fight
through the blood, because it's one thing to be cut
and to feel it, and it's another thing to just
i don't know, probably not be able to see very well.
And it's just it was it was. I mean, I'm
sure you've seen the pictures in the video. It was
rough man, How did you How do you go on
for another ten rounds like that? I'm in awe of that.
That's why I'm asking it like that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, you know, what When it first happened, I
knew it wasn't a normal cut something that I've had before,
or what anyone's had before.
Speaker 3: I knew it was.
Speaker 4: This was something different because as as soon as I
put my head down, or remember the fountain of bloodsprushing,
and I was like in my head, I.
Speaker 3: Was like, Nah, this isn't this isn't right. You know,
this early, not this early right now? You know, maybe
in the later rounds, but not not now. Uh.
Speaker 4: But yeah, it affected me to a certain extent. It
was it was annoying.
Speaker 1: Did it hurt or was it just in your way?
Speaker 4: I wouldn't say it heard, but it was just the
amount of blood that was coming in. It was I
couldn't see it. I couldn't see it was it was
that's blood is strong. It's not like water. It's it
stinks and when it goes into your eyes, it sort
of stays there.
Speaker 3: So for me, it was more like I was.
Speaker 4: I was like I was, if you screen your eyes
like that, you can you can barely see stuff. So
it was like that, but it red.
Speaker 3: I remember, yeah, you remember what I remember.
Speaker 4: Going through the first couple of rounds, I was like, damn,
what the hell, there's certain punches I can't see, uh,
that are.
Speaker 3: Just kidding me. And I don't understand.
Speaker 4: When you're getting frustrated, you're starting to swing more and
you and you again, you get caught with it, stupid shots.
And it was more about trying to adapt to the
situation for me.
Speaker 1: So while you're dealing with that and trying to do
a lot of stuff, get through the fight, deal with
the blood, obviously, try to score your punches. Are you
at this point realizing that he's also struggling because you've
broken his nose and he's got his own issues to
deal with, And it's kind of like who can outlast
the other guy?
Speaker 3: Nah?
Speaker 4: Say, that's that's where That's where everything went wrong for me,
is that I stopped concentrating on the game plan. I
stopped concentrating on what's happening in front of me. But
I was rather trying to figure out what to do
with myself. And that's never been, uh, that's never been
in my head when I used to. When I fight,
it's all about breaking an opponent down, seeing where his
weaknesses are, seeing how he's breathing, seeing everything about the fight,
and and and that's that's where I wasn't able to
pick it up.
Speaker 1: Now, was there any point where you thought, Okay, you
know what, my corner is going to stop it. The
referee or the doctor's going to recommend to stop it
because a lot of us watching, you know, the conversation
that's taken place since that fight was Boy, they could
have stopped that fight. And you know, because it was
an accidental foul, you go to the cards, who's gonna
win the fight? And you get out of dodge, you
have your belt, and you know that's living. You fight
another day.
Speaker 3: No, that wasn't. That wasn't in my head.
Speaker 4: The method of victory for me was to was to
win convincingly and to win the purple way, not not
due to an accident until over.
Speaker 1: Well, I just know that I've been doing this a
long time. I've been covering boxing almost twenty five years.
I've been watching it for probably forty years. I don't
know if I've ever seen anything like that. I have
so much respect for what you did to fight through that.
That actually took a photo of the blood coming down
your face and made it the picture on my social
media as a matter of fact, on my on my
twitterally just it was a remarkable thing. But now i'll
talk about what's come since then. You were supposed to
be lined up to fight against Verses in August, and
I guess that got called off because the doctors, your
doctor said, you know what, he's not ready to go
because of the cut. How disappointed were you to not
get that opportunity? That was on a big card with
Terrence Crawford Los Angeles. Uh, you know, on a on
a on what was a really deep show. A lot
of people were saying that the Tim Zuo virtual artis
that's the best fight on the card. Obviously it never
did not happen because you were not clear to how
disappointed were you in that not happening.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was Look, as soon as I got back home,
I booked Thailand, when I caught up with my dad
in Talian, did a little training campaign and I was
ready to go. And then then I didn't get the
clean and I was I was devastated because again because.
Speaker 3: It was something I would have put me brought back
in the mix, and it is what it is.
Speaker 1: I guess I kind of think about it like this.
You tell me if you agree that maybe it was
a silver lining that that fight did not happen because
if you had fought Virgil Artis, you are the undercard,
you're fighting for an interim title. Now you're the main
event and you're fighting for a full title. Is that
like the silver lining in terms of you know, sort
of everything happens for a reason mentality.
Speaker 4: It so it is, yeah, like stay patient, you know,
and sometimes the right opportunities will come. I was, I
think I was a bit desperate and I was ready
to go, and I was I was.
Speaker 3: Just ready to go.
Speaker 4: I was like, let's see, man, I just just had
my loss, but I'm not devastated.
Speaker 3: I'm not down. I'm ready to go, like it's all good.
Speaker 4: Uh, but due to the to the cut, it was,
it was still not ready. But yeah, everything happens for
a reason, and I'm happy to be in his position
right now to be fighting for the full IBF bel
On on the first free to air Amazon Amazon fight.
Speaker 1: Line exactly now your opponent and Barker Mark matiz Leef.
I don't think a lot of people, at least here
in the United States, anywhere probably anywhere even maybe even
around the rest of the world, don't really know a
lot about him. Uh. He did win this vacant title
when Jamel Charlote vacated the title. Rather than go through
with that mandatory defense he had against Martazliev, he ended
up fighting Jack col K in Colek's country of Germany
in April to win the vagant title. He scored a knockout.
He looked really good in that fight. It was a
very exciting fight, and I just wonder what your thoughts
were about that performance if you saw it now.
Speaker 3: I didn't really watch it.
Speaker 4: I watched a little bit, like the highlights, but I
don't really watch too much too much of.
Speaker 3: My parents, so to try to figure him out on the.
Speaker 1: Spot, So you or your team, no one's even bothered
to take a look at that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, my team watches, we create a new game plan
from that, but not myself.
Speaker 1: Okay. So, like I said, it was a pretty impressive performance,
and I got a chance to see him a few
different times. Back. If you go back to your first
fight when you came to the United States and you
fought against Terrell Geshet in March of twenty twenty two
up in Minneapolis. You were the main event obviously that night,
and you got a victory against Geshe on the undercard,
not even part of the main broadcast on that show.
He was on that card and continued his undefeated run.
He scored a first round knockout against a you know,
a journeyman type of opponent. I wonder do you remember that.
Did you see him that week? Did you meet him? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I remember saying him that week. I remember saying how
how Tolley was? H he was. He's as much skinny
a guy. I don't know how he made the way
he's he's quite a big boy. Uh. And that's it.
That's I do remember glimpses of him.
Speaker 1: And did you think at that point, obviously you know,
you were on your way to becoming a world champion.
He's an undefeated fighter, you know, being built up as
getting close to a mandatory situation. Are you thinking in
the back of your mind, you know he's in my
weight class. Maybe down the road, I may have to
fight this guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, to a certain extent, Yeah, I remember, Like I
remember like us sort of like seeing each other and
like sort of gave.
Speaker 3: Each other like that then knowing that we're gonna get
it on one day.
Speaker 4: You know, none of his friendly talk give each other hugs,
It was just a nod seeing the ring sometime in
the future.
Speaker 1: But that nod so when they when the fight between
you and he was made, his kids when the fight
was made, was I'm so happy that I'm fighting Tim Zoo.
I'm paraphrasing what he had to say, and I also
don't speak Russian, but he was basically saying like I
I even before this fight was ordered by the IBF
or you know, he was the my mandatory. Tim Zoo
was the guy I wanted to fight. Are you aware
of that? And you know you're not a guy that
a lot of people call out, So that sort of
showed me, like, you know, he's for real.
Speaker 4: Man, Like I think we tried to make the fun
happen and stuff was getting into ways. I don't know
what sorry he's coming from. It's easy to say when
some fights a mandatory, of course, it's easy to say that,
But I don't know if he's telling the truth that
brought the in.
Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough, Stone, I'm thinking to myself, whatever happens
in this fight, I mean, if you win the title,
obviously it's a huge boost for your career. You're a
champion once again. If you even if you don't win
the fight, it is something in your in your future
that you want to have happen. Another rematch against Fondora.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: I want to just make the biggest thoughts happen, you know,
I want to I want to keep myself busy.
Speaker 3: Uh, keep fighting.
Speaker 4: For the for the the US audience, something that is
big for me, big dream of mine.
Speaker 3: And then yeah, just keep performing well.
Speaker 1: I mean I would have to think that if you
were to go against Vandora in the future, particularly if
you're the winner of this fight, you're the IBF champion.
He's a unified champion. That's three dolts there, so it's
a big time unification. Plus there's the drama and all
the excitement and everything that occurred in the first fight.
I would think that would be a pretty big fight in
one hundred and fifty four pounds, would you? Would you
agree with that?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: This this again the PBC russ is beak and there's
plenty of fights to be made.
Speaker 3: So that is the charlos as well.
Speaker 1: The Spencer's Karence Crawford is in the division as a champion.
U still there. You got Eric Salubin that's been chirping
about you you got.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's there's plenty. There's plenty of funks to be made.
And you know me, I'm not the I'm not to
sit down and wait.
Speaker 3: I'll get it.
Speaker 4: Take again, suck John Wick hit list and just take
them all out.
Speaker 1: Well. I think after a guy looking a fight through
that blood, who fought once through a couple of weeks
after having a dog bite on his arm, we could
easily called off the fight. I don't think anybody's gonna
disbelieve you. Tim. Thank you very much for your time
with this. I appreciate it, and I wish you best
of luck in the fight.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that. Thank you.
Speaker 2: You bet all right again. You saw him, you spoke
to him. As you said in the build up there
to the interview, he's ready to go again. It's worth
mentioning that was done before the mayhem with Hurricane Milton,
so that could be a variable on where is the fight?
Speaker 1: When is the fight?
Speaker 2: As you just said before the interview, you believe from
the reporting that you're talking about, they're still going to
be good. And by the way, it's amazing what they
do in this state with being able to get things
back on and back together and you've got nine or
ten days to get this thing ready for the carib
Royal Resort in Orlando next weekend. But a final thought
on Tim Zoo, exciting fighter. We both like him. Final
fought here off that interview.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like I said, he seems very ready
to go. He's been in training, he's here in the
United States. There's no issues in terms of coming from
Australia to America to acclimate himself to the time change
or climate change or anything like that. And if you've
ever watched backroom fight, you know he makes you know,
entertaining fights, comes forward, good, good puncher. I think this
is a sleeper fight for you know, something memorable potentially,
I mean a really good on paper anyway in terms
of excitement level, and you know, made the best man win.
Speaker 2: Much more time to preview that coming up next week
as all of it unfolds. Okay, some news and some nostalgia,
all right, David Benavitez, it looks like he and David Morrell, Yes,
give me more on what you have found out here
for the two guys that are now light heavyweights.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is gonna happen. I mean, everybody that I've
talked to says it's on, and David Morrell himself posted
about it happening on his social media. And remember if
you go back to June of twenty twenty three, and
I went and I looked this up because I remembered
that I had written about this back at the time,
and I found my article that I wrote about it.
So in June twenty twenty three, their teams had made
a deal for the fight and it was supposed to
happen that fall, like October November, and the morel people
were definitely on board with it. His promoter even gave
me quotes on the record about making the deal. Samson Lookowitz,
who was the promoter for David Benavidez, also gave me quotes.
It wasn't like I was reporting. I mean I do.
I report plenty of fights where its sources when deals
are not done or you know, people don't want to
talk about it just yet, but this was actually not
one of them. This was both sides on the record
stating that we're doing this fight. As it turnout, Benavidia's
got a little bit sideways with his promoter because he
didn't feel like he was properly informed about it and
there was some issues there and he decided he wasn't
going to fight David Morrell and instead he fought dimitris Andre.
That was the fight they went forward with instead of
the Merrell fight. Obviously, David looked great, he knocked andred
out and they've had their back and forth since where
they've been calling each other out this and that. Particularly,
you know Morell after he scored a win, calling out
Navid's when Benavide's was sitting their ringside at his fight.
In any event, there has been a lot of conversation
about what would they do next. Both of them, of course,
were not able to get a Canelo fight at super middleweight.
They both moved up to light heavyweight. They both made
their debuts in that weight class and won their fights.
Benavide's did so against Alexander Vodzik back in June on
the Tank Davis Frank Martin undercard. You had David Morrell
making his light heavyweight debut on the Terrence Crawford Madri
Mavriatte season card in August and the Los Angeles they
both won beltz Morel with the regular WBA title, Benavide's
with the WBC's interim title. Anyway, they need a big fight,
and there's you know our better BF and B Ball
are going to take care of undisputed on Saturday. And
to me, anyway, and I don't think this is going
out on a limb by any means, is that this
is the next best fight you can make at one
hundred and seventy five pounds at least at the moment,
and both guys are into it. It's going to headline
a PBC pay per view. It'll be either January twenty fifth,
potentially early February, site to be announced or determined, probably Vegas.
You know, it would not be surprising whatsoever if it
was out there and it's just a first plast matchup.
I mean, if you again, if you like boxing, this
is what you want to see. This is literally like
the next best guys in the division to produce what
would be the guy that everybody will say we want
to fight him. We want to see this winner fight
the winner of the undisputed fight. And also everybody seems
on board of it now, like it's not like it's
you know, there's issues there. They've been, like I said,
been calling each other out and.
Speaker 2: Say we're we're kind of going to be able to
roll here on these news items that we like good things,
and good things are going to be happening apparently, so
that one that one's apparently going to happen.
Speaker 1: Let me just mention what our thing about this. This
was not announce and by the way, the fight's not
like official bit announced. But my reporting is that when
Morrell and Benevitez have this fight early in twenty twenty five. Again,
this is not done, but this is let's say it's
trending this way. It's likely to be the case that
the cofeature is going to probably be the rematch between
the newly crap WBA one hundred and forty pound title
holder jose Reyel Valezuela against Isaac Pittbaul Cruz, who he
defeated on that same August third card when Morell made
his debut and claimed the belt in the light heavyweight division.
So he dominated. Yeah, I thought that he won the fight,
but I thought that Cruise made it much more competitive
than some people did. Nonetheless, that's a rematch that they're
looking to do. He had a right to a rematch
if he lost a fight. It looks like they've accepted
that and that's what's going to go forward.
Speaker 2: Now it's interesting now we'll tie it into speaking of
co features. We were wondering if Benavetez might be the
co feature for December with Gravonte Davis. That's not the case,
and you have found out and have reported what the
co feature is, even though it hasn't been announced. Go
ahead share that real quick.
Speaker 1: So there was a chance that David would be that
co feature. There was some conversation he might fight Jesse Hart.
If you look at the statement that David posted on
his social media when he announced he was in be
fighting Morel he was talking about how he only wanted
to fight the top guys and with a lot of
other names are He was alluding to Jesse Harden others
at that similar level. Not to knock those guys, but
they're not morell uh So. Anyway, now that that side
of the way, and he's not fighting on the tank
undercard like he did back in June in the co feature,
I am told I've reported this, others have reported this,
and this is definitely happening. I've had this confirmed by
a multitude of people involved with the event that the
co feature win Tank Davis and Lamont Roach fight on
December fourteenth in Houston. Is going to be Brandon Figueroa
in a rematch against Stephen Fulton, which is their first fight.
Was a Fight of the Year contender and I say it,
Sign me up, Sign me up. So back at that point,
they fought to unify titles in the junior featherweight division.
Stephen Fulton won a very close and heavily disputed uh
if I miss if I remember correctly, a majority decision,
and he would go on and make a defense and
then he ended up losing those titles by knockout to
know you in a way when he traveled to Japan. Meanwhile,
Figureoa moved up to featherweight, where Fulton has recently moved
up and had his first fight in the weight class.
Figure Out moved up before him and want to won
a elimination fight, and then he ended up winning the
interim belt of the WBC and now they're going to
do this rematch, so he's going to be the guy
defending the interim title, but he's looking for revenge on
a guy that just barely eked it out when they
fought a fantastic fight on showtime back in their first matchup.
So really good, really good undercard fight for that show.
I mean, if it's the if it's as good as
the first fight, we're in for a real treat because
that's just a I mean, you like my lines.
Speaker 2: They fought that first fight on a bathroom, Matt, you
didn't need much more lateral room than that the way
that they just and it was mainly figure Roa who
was instigating that and trying to make it a brawl
on the ropes and Fulton oblige him, slugged with him
and then pick your winner at the end. And now
we get to see it again. We're on a roll.
We're on a roll right now. If can we can
we we have good things, all right? So can we
have good things? Part three on the news is the
undercard that has now been announced for the Fury Usik
rematch Usik Fury two, because Yusik did win the first
fight and a very intriguing junior middleweight fight is leading
the way. Tell us more about that real quick.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So earlier this week, Turkey El Chic, who obviously
oversees these reat season cards and likes to make the
announcements in his own way of what the shows are
and they have loaded up these undercards since they started
doing these REAT season cards a year ago. And he
did the same thing in terms of announcing this on
his social media earlier this week, and well, I have
to be honest, it's a good card, but it's very,
very heavily British, which I don't personally mind, but I
don't think that's going to be that appealing to the
American audience. And to be quite honest, and I say
this because now they're held to such a high standard,
These REAT season cards are so tremendously outstanding for the
most part. And again I'm not saying this is not
a good card, but again when I first saw it,
I was like, Nah, of all the shows they've done,
it maybe is the weakest. So it's kind of like
when you you know you have a dominating a team
or something. They might not have their best performance, you
might knock them a little bit, but they're still better
than everybody else, if you know what I mean. In
an event, the undercard for this fight is go feature tremendous.
The co features first class all the way is going
to be Israel majimof coming off a very close loss
to Ternce Prawffer where he lost his belt taking on
Saray Boachek, also a junior mid away coming off of
an extremely close loss against Virginial Ortiz in their interim
titled Boubt, where he had Ortiz on the deck twice.
And so I think it's a fantastic thing that you
take these two excellent fighters who are coming off tough,
close losses against top notch opposition, and no one's looking
at it like, oh, you know their careers are over,
let's get rid of them, or let's you know, really
hamper them coming back and give them a much smaller fighter,
not as much money or much lower profile, or this
or that. But they took these two guys that loss
these post fights, and to their credit, they're willing to
fight each other in the first fight back to really
get themselves back in position for a title fight. They're
gonna make good money. And believe me, Majama Bochak, in
terms of action, I think that's a damn good fight.
The rest of the under card, it's got a couple
of heavyweight fights where you got heavyweight up and comers
taking steps up. You got Moses Moses Atama the British
fighters ten and zero considered, but he's only nineteen years old.
A lot of people think he's the best heavyweight prospect
in the business, especially now that Jared Anderson has been
you know, knocked out. He's taken on Demse McKean, who's
just got the one loss and a tough fight he
had against Philip Herkovitch where he got stopped late in
that fight. The other heavyweight fight is the very popular
British fighter Johnny Fisher, also undefeated, not taking as big
of a step up in my mind as a TOMA is,
but he's taken on the popular British fighter David Allen.
You know that that's David Allen's a little bit passed
his best for sure, but it's still a step up
for Johnny Fisher. And then in the other fights they've
announced are a junior f weight fight between two prospects,
Dennis mccannon and Peter mcgrail, who are both uh not.
That should be a good fight, even if it's not
the biggest name names in the world. And then the
other fight is a featherweight fight between Isaac Lowe, who
is on the card because he's one of Tyson Fury's
closest friends, and he's taken on Lee McGregor in that
battle at featherweight, and that's uh, you know McGregor, you know,
had an upset loss, but is considered like still a
possible you know, rising talent, you know, potential champion. And
so there you go. That's the cart that'll be on
December twenty first. Also, and Ria, all right.
Speaker 2: We'll move quickly here because we've got nostalgian and then
I've got to get out of here as well with
all the mayhem here with the hurricane. Hey still on
a roll? Can we have good things? The WBO says
Jana Beck, the middleweight champ. We want you to fight
hams As Shiraz and this will satisfy you keeping the
WBO belt, Rafael, Can we have more good things? What
don't we know?
Speaker 1: Well, not not to belabor this, but we we un
overall the nonsense that was associated with what happened with
Janna back and the WBO in the last show when
he defeated Miklovich in Australia, but it was only for
the IBF title, and the WBO had said, we're going
to give you a couple you know, five days to
show us why we shouldn't trip you. Because he did
not follow the proper WBO Championship title defense rules top rank,
his promoter made the argument to the WBO, hey, listen,
we didn't defend the WBO or follow those rules because
we were it was not our fight. It there was
the Mkalovich people who only wanted the IBF and they
were in charge of the show. Blah blah blah, and
so it was out of our hands. The WBO accepted
that said, fine, keep your title, but oh by the way,
we're now invoking your mandatory. You must defend. And as
as as you know, the mandatory in the WBO is
Tomasa Shiraz, who's coming off with spectacular performance on the
Anthony Joshua du walcard where he just got rid of
Tyler Danny in two rounds. So the question is now
the geneback is still the unified IBF and WBO Middleway champion.
Will he listened to the WBO and attempt to make
the fight. And now Shiraz is supposed to make a
European on the European title, supposed to be European man,
a European mandatory defense against Denzel Bentley, but I don't
to me if you're if you're the Sharaz people, I
mean talk the title fight in the World Championship for
two belts is a lot bigger deal you and the
European So we'll see what happens with that. I mean
the fact that that Hams of Sharaz is so closely
associated with the Riad Season to the point where Turkey
Alshk made him personally selecting as to be one of
the quote unquote Riad Season ambassadors. They want him on
these shows. They offered the fight to Janebec show top
rank claims and uh and Queensberry claims to have done
the fight in place of the Tyler Denny fight, but
the U Janebec team turned it down and ended up
going to Australian instead. So now maybe there'll be a
lot of money there, A great, big opportunity I hope
to fight happens. And like I said, in the middleweight division,
we talked about how terrible it is for the most part,
but if you can make a good middleweight fight, Janebec
Sharaz is about as good as a guess in the
current line.
Speaker 2: Sign me up yet again, sign me up if that
one's gonna happen. Said that happens all right, real quick, Suprio.
Matthias uh is back. He's going to be fighting with
a new promoter though, right and when? What's the latest
and win real quick?
Speaker 1: Well, it's not really a new promoter he is. He
has always been promoted for a long time by Fresh Productions,
which is a company out of Puerto Rico, where he
is from. But he had done a co promotion deal
with Mattroom Boxing, which had got him one fight where
they brought him home to Manatee, Puerto Rico to do
the defense and he got upset by Liam Para. And
so this fight was announced h that that that Mattias
was going to return and fight in Beamon, Puerto Rico
at the Roberto Ramirez. I mean to fight against Roberto
Ramirez on this card in Bemon on November ninth. It's
actually going to be a pay per view PPV dot
com as well as You're in demand on UH on television.
But there was no mention of Mattroom Boxing on the
on the UH on the press announcement. So I actually
asked somebody at Mattroum, hey, what's up? Are you got
you know. I mean, it wouldn't be a shock if
they just did a separate fight while he was just
kind of dust himself off. But as it turns out
from what the match from person said to me that
you know, the contract is over. It was just the
one fight he lost and that's that and they wish
him well. So anyway he's coming back and love him
or Adam Subril Matias makes good fights. He's a huge puncher,
and uh, you know, it's a chance for him to
dust himself off. But again, the opponent is not a
top notch guy, but I don't think anybody expect him
to be fighting a super top elite opponent coming off that
kind of loss. Uh. And they have Emmanuel Rodriguez on
the undercard in a in a title eliminator abandoned weight
against Jose Salas in the co feature, and then a
bunch of Mexico versus Puerto Rico matchups in the rest
of the undercard. So if you're a Sabrill Matias fan,
you know that should be a fun card. I suppose
here and he's back in action after that loss.
Speaker 2: If you're a Sabrial Matias fan, hopefully he shows up
for this fight. He no show the Liam Parlo fight.
We'll see if he's any better. I two more quick things.
All right, the run is over on can we have
good things? We're not gonna see Terrence Crawford and Sebastian Fundor.
But I didn't really believe we were ever gonna see that, right,
So we're not gonna see that from the WBO standpoint, right.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't. I don't. I don't put this
in the in the category of why can't we have
good things? Because A I never believed that Fondora and
Crawford first place number one and number two. While I
certainly would have no objection to the fight whatsoever and
would be perfectly happy and excited to see it, I
don't consider this like a, oh, I must see that.
I'm sorry, you know, it doesn't fall into that category.
But the bottom line is this. Because Fuendor was injured
and out for a little while because of his injuries
from the back in March fight against him Zoo, the
WBO allowed Terrence Crawford to fight for their interim title,
the vacant interim title against Magic Moov, even though he
was also fighting Magimov for Madgemov's WBA full title. Obviously,
Crawford won the fight, became the interim champion, and as
the WBO, which they're pretty good about doing this if
there is an interim champion, they ordered that consolidation fight,
you know, as soon as possible. So they had ordered
Crawford and Fondora to meet to get rid of their
interim championship status that Crawford had won. And so they
were doing this, They were doing the process where they
were speaking to each other, and they had given them
a deadline at some point this week. I think it
was supposed to be Thursday afternoon, actually at four o'clock
Eastern time, and if they didn't make a deal, then
they would schedule the purse fit. But on Wednesday, the
Crawford people, with full input from an approval by the
Fondora team, sent the WBO a letter saying, hey, listen,
you know, Fandora is okay to take an optional defense
and then we can resume our conversations after that defense.
Even though Sebastian Fandora and his promoter Sam Seluquez, they
wanted the Crawford fight, but they weren't gonna go crazy
lose their minds. They're like all right, if he doesn't
want to fight us right away, we'll do something else.
And anyway, on Thursday, I spoke to the WBO. They
told me that they approved that, okay, to give Fondora
the optional defense, and he can do that in his
next fight, but with one caveat the long discussed rumored
fight between Fundora and Errol Spence. While it still potentially
could happen in the early part of next year, if
it does happen, it can't be involving the WBO title. Now,
maybe Fondora can do it anyway because he's also the
WBC champ, But the WBO made a very clear point, say, listen,
they got nothing against Aerol Spence, but he's been an
active for over a year. He's coming off a knockout
loss and a one sided fight in his last fight, and.
Speaker 2: Alone never fought at junior middleway.
Speaker 1: Well, that's not necessarily an issue for most organizations based
on the rules, but the reality is it's the length
of inactivity, it's the way he lost, and frankly, he's
not ranked by them because he hasn't fought for over
a year, so he can fight anybody in their top fifteen.
But it's not going to be against all right, so
it's for at least it's for the WBO title. I understand.
Speaker 2: No Fundora Crawford and probably not Fondora Spence unless it's
not for the WBO belt. Well done by the way,
Ryan Garcia in the news, still not eligible to fight,
but now I guess he got a victory outside the ring,
which is the charges have been dropped for the whole
vandalism at the hotel in Beverly Hills.
Speaker 1: Right, what's the latest. Yeah, he had a hearing on
earlier this week on two and although the LA District
Attorney's office still wanted to go forward with these you
know well, first of all, to back up in the summer,
he had been arrested for you know, some kind of
an incident at the Beverly Hills. What was at the
World World Waldorf Astoria hotel in Beverly Hills, where he
is accused of fifteen thousand dollars worth of damage to
the hotel room a big screen TV. They listed all
the things in the in the you know, in the
in the court when they went through this process, as
well as a hallway. Anyway, he got arrested. They ended
up reducing the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor,
and they had the hearing and and against the district
attorney's wishes, the judge in the case dismissed it and
basically was like, look, he doesn't have but they went
through the process. You know, he first of all, it
was based on the fact that Ryan Garcia did make restitution,
he did repay the money to the damage that was
that happened. He's not saying it didn't happen. And this
is you know, I know Ryan's a famous name, but
I think this would happen with a lot of people.
He had zero history of any kind of criminal back
priminal convictions, right, So no issue there, made the restitution,
apologize and the judge let him off with and it
was down to a misdemeanor, So it wasn't facing like
any at that point, like you know, huge, huge, like major,
major jail time, maybe up to a year in county jail.
And that's if you get convicted and you get sentenced
to the maximum. So in the scheme of everything, that's
not a huge penalty. And the judge, apparently in a
very experienced judge, gave him a gave him a real
stern lecture in the court and told him to hang
out with better people and don't let everybody be in
your pocket for your money. He has a top notch
defense attorney that was there with him and he got
off on it. And so you know, I hope Brian
Garcia learns from this incident and is able to get
passing and with all the stuff, whether it's the drug
testing situation or his substance abuse issues or whatever the issues,
the young man has to deal with it, because if
he can get a shit together, he can be even
a bigger star in boxing that already is, and maybe
achieve the level of potential that a lot of people
think he has for him and become a bonafid world champion.
Speaker 2: That two letter word if you said that, if if
and he's.
Speaker 1: Still and he's still serving the suspension for the pat
for the storing and being being su Yes, true.
Speaker 2: All right, one bit of nostalgia and then we're done.
And that nostalgia you mentioned Chris u Bank Junior coming
up on this fight card this weekend in Saudi Arabia.
We are already at the what thirty first anniversary October
ninth from earlier this week nineteen ninety three was Nigel
Bin and Chris u Bank with the draw that is
still being talked about, huge event in the UK and
there was not a winner that night thirty one years
ago October nine, nineteen ninety three. We can't emphasize enough
You and I are nostalgic for the younger fans. This
was a massive deal when it happened in the UK,
and these guys.
Speaker 1: Are still revered.
Speaker 2: The seniors, Nigel Ben, the father of Connor Ben, and
Chris u Bank Senior are still revered in no small
part because of their fights, including this fight.
Speaker 1: I mean, the whole reason that Connor Ben against you
Bank Junior is a thing, quote unquote is because of
the dads. It's not really nothing to do with individually,
and not to say they're bad fighters, but that wouldn't
have been like really a fight that the that the
Brits would have coalesced around because they were they are
separated by a little bit of weight and it wasn't
like an obvious fight. But because their fathers are who
they are, it became a big deal. Obviously. It became
even bigger when the fight was canceled because of Connor
Ben's fel drug tests, and you know, I suspect eventually,
trust me, when I've had this, as long as somebody
doesn't do something stupid, that fight's going to happen eventually,
And when it does happen, it's gonna be an absolute
fucking monster. But if you go back to nineteen ninety
when Chris u Bank Senior and Nigel Benn fought for
the first time, I was not quite as big of
a deal as the second fight, even though it's still
a big deal. They fought in Birmingham, England. It was
a tremendous battle, really outstanding fight, and it was Chris
I was a Nigel Ben. It was a WBO. This
is back when the WBO was not worldwide considered like
a really big deal, but in Britain it was considered
a big deal, which was kind of weird to me,
but nonetheless anyway, So you had that fight happening for
the wo Middleway title and Chris Ubank knocked Nageo Ben
out in the ninth round. Fantastic fight, very very close
and competed up to that moment. The rematch was going
to obviously take place. They both fought a bunch of
fights in between, and finally in memory you want to
buy an activity. These guys fought a bunch of times
in between. But when they got the rematch together in
nineteen ninety three, d the ninety three October ninth, nineteen
ninety three to be exact. They went to what's called
the Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester, England, had a crowd of, like,
you know, forty plus thousand people. Huge deal, massive event,
highly anticipated. In the time frame between their first fight
and the rematch, each of them had won belts in
the super middleweight division. Nigeo Ben had become the WBC champion,
Chris Cubank had held the WBO title, and so it
was to unify those belts. It was Frank Warren and
Don King. The first fight was not televised in America.
It was such a big deal though, that when they
did the rematch obviously was on. And here's the thing,
tj in Uk. One of the reasons why the rivalry
is still revered thirty plus years later is because this
fight was not darried away on a streaming sapp This
was not on cable or a premium cable like an
HBO or Showtime. In the UK, this was on free
live to air Tellivision over THETV. Yeah, maybe at ABC
or CBS or you know, NBC or Fox. In the
United States, ITV, which was a big supporter of boxing
back in the day. I love the theme music to
their shows. I can still hear it on my mind anyway,
live on ITV, and in the United States, where Don
King was doing a ton of business at that time,
Showtime had this fight, so it was seen in both countries.
It was a really big fucking deal. And the fight itself,
while it wasn't as just grinded out violent, just caveman
shit like the first fight, was still a really good fight.
And in the end one fourteen, one thirteen for one guy,
one fifteen, one thirteen for the other guy, and then
one jud had it all even, one fourteen to one
fourteen and it was a draw. And to this day
it's still is kind of mind bobbling. And they never
fought for the third time. Considering how big this fight was,
I don't really know why it didn't happen if there
was a movement for it happened, because both guys ended
up fighting quite a number of times after their second fight,
but it was a huge deal and you combine that
with the greatness of the first fight, all action. There's
a reason why these twos got and they all both,
by the way, had other big fights in their careers
against other top guys in the UK, but nothing like
their their rivalry with each other. And they still talk
about it to this day. And if you never saw it,
you know they're both fights are in their full entirety
on YouTube. It can be easily found. I would highly
recommend if you're looking for something to do and you're
you know, you're looking for some kind of fight you've
never seen, you know, YouTube it up, as the kids say,
and sit back and relax for you know, an hour
and a half.
Speaker 2: Those are a couple of classics from those names. And
again now we're old enough that the suns are involved
and eventually fighting. Listen, great stuff all the way around here.
Thank you for a little therapy here in the middle
of Hurricane Milton aftermath and our cleanup Again. I look
forward to being with you. I'm saying this positive thinking
here for the bet US Boxing show coming at one
Eastern time on Friday.
Speaker 1: But great stuff.
Speaker 2: Previewing the read season card in Saudi Arabia for Saturday.
We heard from Tim Zoo. You got news, you got nostalgia,
my friend, we got it, we got to, we got there,
We got the podcast out, and hopefully I have power soon,
and hopefully the hundred hundreds of thousands of people that
are in Tampa, Saint Pete, Clearwater, Sarasota, south of US,
et cetera, that are without power, they get it restored
and we get back to some normalcy this weekend of cleanup,
et cetera from Hurricane Milton. But this was good and
I look forward to seeing you physically on the bet
US Boxing show coming at one Eastern time on Friday.
Speaker 1: Off of this, my friend, Yes, sir, and I just
hope that when we come back and we do our
recap podcast, now we have a eight memorable historic fight
you're talking about with better Bevan po Bault, Because if
it's not that, I'm gonna be so disappointed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it will be a huge letdown, But I think
the strong likelihood is whatever happened, we're gonna remember it
and talk about it because it's four built on disputed
it light heavyweight, great stuff, and the recap podcast obviously
off the weekend for now, there's Dan Rayphiel. I'm merely
TJ Reeves follow Subscribe to this podcast feed on Apples, Preak,
or Spotify. We preview going into the weekends, with recap
coming off the weekends. You have been listening to the
Big Fight weekend preview