Speaker 1: The countdown is on to fight time.
Speaker 2: This is Big Fight Weekend. Now here is your host?
DJ Leaves? Well, well, well, we have reached the weekend
of this massive we odd season pay per view card.
But right now you can't tell the players without a scorecard.
We're ready to try to help with that on the
Big Fight Weekend preview. At least I think we know
who all is fighting this weekend. Stand by as we
do this. I am merely the somewhat capable host TJ Reeves.
He is our insider. Dan Rayfield. We launched this and
we love the podcast audience. We launched this every time
we do this Thursday, usually in the evening Thursday night
into Friday, and we're glad that you're with us. And
I think I think we have everything solidified. But it's
not Friday yet anyway, Dan Rayfield, to have you back.
We've got ill fighters. Floyd Schofield is off the card
because he's ill. Daniel du was off the card that
he's because he's ill. Dan Rayfield's not off the podcast,
even though you're a little bit out of the weather
as well. Good to have you back. I know you're
still fighting u illness yourself, but you're posting you posted
here on the.
Speaker 1: Pod hanging in there. Uh. I don't have to fight though,
And uh, it's been Uh. I mean I've I've covered
a lot of fallouts and a lot of late breaking
cards that have changed at the last minute, but I
can't say I've seen a card that was this loaded
in the first place. Have two major players, you know,
in World championship fights drop out, one a challenger won
a title holder, and make switches on one on four
days notice, one on three days notice. And you know,
we'll get into all of it, but it's it's been crazy.
I'll tell you what though, even if, even if, for
the worst thing could have happened, and let's say both
fights actually were hanseled because they couldn't come up with
a replacement, and this, of course Stephenson fight was off
the show completely, and the Dui and Parker fight was
off the show completely. It would still be a hell
of a pay per view. And they have managed, with
a lot of elbow grease and for good fortune, et cetera,
to be able to keep these two bouts on the
event and still have a great show.
Speaker 2: And by the way money talks, we know this and
when you have money, you can make things happen, and
they have been making it happen. All right. Speaking of
making it happen, we make it happen here on the podfeed.
We thank you the loyal audience. We preview going into
the weekend, we recap coming off the weekend. The least
you can do is rate us and reviews. Review us,
follow follow along, give us the five star review. Those
all help.
Speaker 1: A while.
Speaker 2: Let's go. If you enjoy it. By the way, you've
been killing it with the interviews. We put back up
on the podcast feed the Dmitri Bevil interview earlier this
week as he gets ready to fight better BV. In
the rematch, we put up the Joseph Parker interview. Got
a lot of great insight about fighting DUBI. Unfortunately none
of that matters, but you'll hear from Parker on his mindset,
the underdog thing, the whole bit. So that's on the
pod feed.
Speaker 1: A good amount of that Joe Parker interview was not
even related to particular the evolution of where he's been
over the last year, the upsets, getting back in position,
his new working relationship with Andy Lee and George Lockhart,
is nutrition and strength coach. So a lot of good
stuff from Joe and other than do.
Speaker 2: What And by the way, if you appreciate this, Ray
I might have said this, rate us and review us
and say so if you enjoy the content and the
coverage with what we do. All right, So let's get
into the nuts and bolts. The chronology is that Floyd
Schofield was sick earlier this week in Saudi Arabia, so
pick it up from there, because there was some debate
about whether he could fight or not. It turns out
didn't get cleared, didn't want to try it while he's sick.
I can't blame him for that. I mean, if the.
Speaker 1: Flu that he didn't have a choice, DJ I understand.
Speaker 2: I understand. But if this is no joke when you're
talking about going into the ring to get ready to fight,
if you're not healthy, if you're ill, they shouldn't let
him fight. I'm with you. So take me, take me
through that and how we ended up with the opponent
we ended up with for Shakur, because that was the
first casualty this way.
Speaker 1: All right, So putting aside all the nonsensical conspiracies by
Floyd Scofield's lunatic father about how cha course teams set
them up and rubbed cream on them because of messuse
got involved, the complete idiocy.
Speaker 2: I had not heard that one, but I keep going. Yeah,
put it aside.
Speaker 1: Okay, a fighter going overseas and in flu season or
you know, in the season where this happens, coming down
with an illness, whether it's a cold or it is
the actual flu, or it's COVID or it's something else,
is not entirely unusual. Bottom line is floyd' Scholfield would
not have traveled thousands and thousands of miles away for
a payday that is probably tenfold of what he's ever made,
uh to fight for a world championship on a big
cart and if fight that he has called for for
a while and really really went to the mat to
get it. Actually in a situation where the folks at
Golden Boy, which are his promoter, did not want to
do the fight, but he basically talked them into it.
So anybody thinks that the kid pulled out just because
he was somehow afraid of the fight or something is
just a fucking idiot. But besides that, so Tuesday night
he falls ill. I don't know the exact situation some
of sixers, and maybe it was a weight making scenario.
I haven't heard that particular. The bottom line is.
Speaker 2: That he was not he was in the hospital.
Speaker 1: The hospital.
Speaker 2: He was in the hospital.
Speaker 1: So once that happened and he is released, I guess
he's doing okay. But here's the point though, Even if
all that's the case, even if you still wanted to fight,
and even if it was feeling better the end of
the day, the regulators do their job. The British Boxing
Board of Control regulates the fights in Saudi Arabia these
reat season cards. The only exceptions have been the Uzik
Fury fights, where they brought in another regulation outfit to
do the main events because Zusig didn't want the Britts
regulating a fight against the Brett understandable, but the British
Boxing Board of Control was regulating this fight and they
were like, no, you're out. That's it. They are the
ones that pulled the plug on the fight. They had.
Floyd Schofield had no choice even if he wanted to
continue to go through with it, so he was out now.
As soon as that happened, there was a, you know,
a mad dash to get a new opponent. And you
have a lot of promoters involving these shows, whether it's
Frank Warrens folks, there's Toppering people involve. There's obviously Mattroom Boxing,
there's gold Star, there's Sella, There's all these different entities,
Golden Boy, There's a bunch of different people. So they
had all their people, like you, rolling up their sleeves
trying to get this work that. As it turned out,
this was the opponent by all accounts, that Turkey Alshic
picked to try to see if he was available to
do the fight. And it's a fighter named Josh Padley.
And you may remember the name Josh Padley because on
a card last fall, I believe it was on the
big card that took place at Wimbley Stadium when in
September when he knocked out Anthony Joshua. On that undercard,
you had Mark Chamberlain, who is Turkey's favorite fighter, the
lightweight up and comer contender, however you want to describe him,
and he was defeated in that particular fight in an
upset and Padley was the one that beat him. Padley
is undefeated, he's now fifteen to zero. He looked you know,
pretty good. He was an underdog against Mark Chamberlain. He
won a pretty clear decision, knocked him down in the fight,
and he hasn't fought since that fight. And as it
turns out, and you know, say what you want about
the merit of the WBC rankings, that's a conversation for
another day. But here's the fact. Before all this stuff happened,
it just turned out that Josh Padley was one slot
ahead of Floyd Schofield in the WBC rankings. One guy
was twelfth, one guy was thirteen. So if according to
the WBC who approved to prove this fight, they're actually
doing a title defense for Shakhor against a contender rated
higher than the original opponents. So take that for what
it's worth. You know, I think both of the fights
were mismatches. That's my opinion that of all the great
fights on this show, that was the one that was
the widest. And but all credit to Chamberlain. He was
in shape, he was you know, I guess close to wait.
Speaker 2: Credit to Padley, Yes, I know who you mean.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Padly, My bad, my bet Padley for him and
his team willing to do the fight on such short notice. Obviously,
being well compensated, and you know, life changing money for
a basically, what is a guy who's been a club
fighter other than the victor against Chamberlain, and he's you know,
he's gonna roll the dice. He has nothing to lose
because even if he loses a twelve round decision, or
if even he gets stopped, you know, he he went
in there on such short notice. He made a big
amount of money. He got in the good graces of
everybody involved with the show, match room certainly, and Turkey obviously,
and and uh, you know again, you're fighting shirt course
Steven Stalls.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: You might get stopped, but you're probably not going to
get beat up because Shakur's game is about, you know,
the sweet science of box.
Speaker 2: And here's the reality with what you're saying. I'm sure
his own people prevailed upon him and others. You may
never get another opportunity like this. There's no guarantees. We
hope you will to make this kind of money, be
on this kind of a van against this kind of fighter.
You're in shape, you're on weight. And by the way,
rayphel that's a whole nother debacle. Is everybody gonna make
weight on Friday. That's a Friday problem. That's a Friday problem.
But allegedly Padley is on weight right, has been in
training and now he's the new opponent for Shakour.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess they were. They were having conversations about him,
and not that he would be in training camp already
for this fight, but there was conversations where he may
have been the next opponent to face Dalton Smith from
the UK and undefeated contender who's now in the number
one position I believe at one hundred and forty pounds.
And so look, Padley got on the plane on Tuesday night,
he got to Rehid in time to be at their
press conference on Wednesday, and he basically said, this is
what every boxer gets in the in the sport for.
Is you want to you know, be in these world
title fights, beyond these big cards, make good money, and
you know basically say, and I'm getting to do all
three of these things at once. So when you're at
whatever level you're at in boxing, you can always go
in the ring and lose to nobody for no money.
So not that that's his mindset that he's gonna lose,
but if you're going to do it, you might as
well do it against the best opponent on the biggest stage,
for the biggest money, and Padley's taking advantage of the
of a situation. It's unfortunate for Scofield. Hopefully, you know,
he'll get another opportunity somewhere along the line, or you know,
step up and fight another contender and continue his career.
He seems like he's gonna be okay in terms of
his health, but not enough to be in the ring
on Saturday. So Padley gets the opportunity of a lifetime.
It would be a gargantuan I mean, an upset of
epic proportions if he was able to bump off h Course, Stevenson,
who you know, for his perspective, is like, look, I'm
fighting Schofield, I'm fighting Padley, I've been training, I'm ready
to fight whoever it is in the ring. He made
the analogy during the press cover ince that it's sort
of like when you're in an amateur tournament and you
don't even know you're going to fight just before they
do the draw. So he was thinking about it from
those from that point of view. Again, Shakur was a
decorated amateur who went in a million tournaments and won
a silver medal in the Olympics, so that the notion
that he's fighting a guy who he didn't know about
until right up till them was fight time as not
an alien concept for guys who are top amateurs.
Speaker 2: And clearly he's heavily favored, he's very talented. But Shakur
also off of a hand injury as well in this,
so we'll see how he looks. We'll see how he looks.
And again they had to throw this together, as we
like to say, but wait, there's more work. So now
we rolled into Thursday and the reports began to surface
Thursday morning US time, middle of the day UK time
that Daniel Dubois was suddenly ill and this is the
day that they're going to do the press conferences with
the fighters, etc. In Riad And then it became a debate, Okay,
how ill is he? Can he go on? And Frank
Warren even said at a news conference, We're not sure
yet that was night time, saudy time, but earlier in
the day. Now you and I are taping this in
the evening on Thursday. What ended up happening is same scenario.
Right the the British Boxing Board of Control saying with
their doctor he's sick, he can't fight.
Speaker 1: It was not a British from I understand. This was
not the British board that said that. They probably would
have but regardless, he was ill and could was not
going to fight. I mean, end of story. I mean,
you're not gonna again. He's not looking to duck out
of the fight. He took the fight. Did the promotion
train you know, I'm not I don't believe there's anything
nefarious whatsoever. I mean, a guy's travel different weather, different food,
different schedule, time zones are mixed up, you know, and
it just lowers your immunes, I guess. And so you know,
he got sick. It's not unusual and so he's not
going to fight now again. Like I said about what
happened with Shakor and Padley, you have a lot of
boxing knowledgeable people involved in this business who've made matches
a million times, promotional folks and matchmakers and managers and uh,
and a lot of money that can be used to
grease the wheels to get a guy in the fight.
So uh, they were gonna clearly keep Parker on the
show if they could come up with a suitable replacement opponent. Uh.
You know, it's unfortunate for DUIs coming off such a
huge victory against Joshua, this was a great opportunity to
follow up on and put yet another big win in
his in his uh, you know, in his uh, in
his ledger. Remember he had won three in a row
Jarrell Miller Argovich to win the interim title, upgraded then
knocked out Joshua in the first offense spectacularly.
Speaker 2: And we need to say this massive interest in this fight,
obviously in the UK, massive interest in Europe and in
the CAR. But there was gonna be massive interest in
this bout because of Dubois and the and the angle
of him being the the IBF heavyweight champion and.
Speaker 1: Parker, and Parker is a well known fighter to the
British crowd also because most of his big fights have
been in Britain, whether it was against his unification against
Joshua that he lost or obviously he lost also to UH,
to Joe Joyce, but he's also fought fights in the
UK in one fights and he's also on a great run.
He's won five fights in a row, including back to
back fights in Riad where he took down Deontay Wilder
Zilly Zang. So he's been red hot also. We talked
about that on our interview in the podcast that was
on the previous episode. So they were looking for a
new opponent for him. Now, there was a bunch of
names that came up as the possibility that he might fight,
and you know that always happens. You know guys who
are volunteering, your guys who they're thinking maybe get in
the fight. So there was a couple of guys they
mentioned that are supposed to fight on the boxer card
on April fifth. One is Lawrence o'koley, who is new
to the heavyweight division although he had a title at
bridgerweight and at light heavyweight I mean, I'm sorry at cruiserweight. Cruiserweight.
David Atdlier another Britt who'd been on Riat season cards
in the past, who also was scheduled for a boxer
card on April fifth. The other name that had come
up was a fighter named marod Aliev who was a
French fighter, a southba who was a twenty twenty Olympian.
In the end, you had Billy Nelson, who was the
manager and trainer of the big Man Martin Bacoley, who
was posted on social media. Hey, you know, we told
our promoter, which is also a boxer, that talked to
the folks in Saudi Arabia and Martin Bucoley is ready
and willing and able to fight. So so Parker, Uh,
no problem. And you know, within a couple hours of
that of that post, Marin Bacoley had accepted the fight
and got the offer, and he's on his way to
Saudi Arabia probably as we're or soon to be on
his way to Saudi Arabia on three days. Notice, a
very dangerous fight for both.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, I agree. So before we get into
the actual matchup here, the one thing I considered, and
you and I were not in communication on Thursday, but
I was communicating with Ricky Carroll, who does a great
job right now as our lead writer on Big Fight
Weekend dot com, and I said, what are you hearing?
Because he was checking with some different people. Could they
make could they make the fight with a Jeet Kaba
Yell more so than Jang because Parker had beaten Jang.
So Kaba Yell and Jang are on the undercard. To me, again,
it's boxing, but it seemed kind of interesting. Could they
accommodate Jang, pay him and let Kaba Yell fight Parker
because they're already there.
Speaker 1: There would be absolutely no reason to break up the
Jang and Caveall fight, especially given that it was already
situated for the Dumble BBC interim title. Zero chance that
was going down.
Speaker 2: But I'm just saying. I'm just saying because he was
already there, the fact that that you could make it.
Speaker 1: All you're doing is ruining one fight to make another fight.
It doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2: But the other thing is that Caaba Yelle, supposedly on
the trajectory, would have a legitimate chance here. Jang is
kind of the opponent. I was just theorizing it. I'm
not saying how realistic it is.
Speaker 1: I don't know if i'd say Jang is the opponent.
I think a lot of people think Jangs and knock
Cabby Yell out.
Speaker 2: Well, we'll find out. We'll find out, and then we'll.
Speaker 1: Know they weren't going to break apart that fight to
make another. But they got Bacoli in the fight. Now,
Bacoley hadn't fought since the Zip then since the August
fight against Jared Anderson, when he detonated him and destroyed
him and looked right. And he's had trouble getting fights,
and so this is an incredible opportunity for him. The
one great thing when you're a heavyweight taking a fight
on Charno's, you're gotta worry about making weight. Whatever Marley
is is it?
Speaker 2: Is it the skeptic in me that's wondering is all
of this still gonna work out? Because Baccoli's got to
get there as we're taping this. He's got to clear
the medicals and all of that, because again, he's not
a fighter that has been in Saudi Arabia where they're
checking him out for the last two or three days.
At least Badley had a couple of extra days notice
on that.
Speaker 1: Well, he had one extra day notice.
Speaker 2: Well it was yeah, Tuesday, Wednesday. But any in any
in any event, am I am I being too skeptical?
Speaker 1: Well, anything, anything could happen. I mean, who the heck knows.
But the fact that you found an opponent where weight's
got an issue, I have to imagine the medical is
not an issue. First of all, he's fought in Saudi
Arabia in the past. He's a fighter that fights out
of Scotland, so he's under the under the jurisdiction of
the British Boxing Board of Control. By all accounts, he's
you know, he's not injured. He came off a great
win in August, so I don't As long as he
can get his rear end, you know, to the airport
and get on the plane and make it to Saudi Arabia,
I don't see why there is a problem. And from
Joseph Parker's perspective, in listening to Joseph at the press conference,
you know, wished good good health to Daniel Dubois, but
he said I'll be ready for Saturday. And his manager,
Spencer Brown, who's involved with the event, and Saudi ready,
He's like, look, there's gonna be a fight on Saturday,
and Joe's ready, willing abele and he is a throwback fighter.
Him and I talked about on the podcast about his
willingness to just fight whoever. So there might be only
one fighter in boxing willing to take on Martin Bucoley
on three days notice, and it happens to be Joseph Parker.
Not a lot of guys would be willing to do that.
So that is a this is a fight that if
they had announced this when they kicked off the entire show,
people would have said, oh shit, that's a good fight,
Bocoli against Parker. Now, as it turns out, not that
this is a reason, not that this is why it's happening.
When Parker was fighting Duboi, it was for Dubai's IBF title,
and it had already been predetermined in an agreement with
the WBO and Parker's team. Parker, remember when he beat Jang,
he won the interim WBO title. Now, the WBO is
not big into interim titles. They try to get rid
of them as quickly as possible. They're usually only in
a in a particular situation, mostly injury, but there their
rules do not permit, and they're and they're very steadfast
about this to have an interim champion fight another champion
from another organization and somehow unify a full title with
an interim titles, because it's just fucking stupid. So it
was already known that once the bell rang, Parker's interim
title of the WBO would be vacated. But because the
IBF title is not at stake and he still is,
the WBO interim champion and McCauley is a bona fide
legit contender. My back and forth earlier today with Gustabo Olaveri,
who was the president of the WBO, because I asked
them out, he says, yeah, we'll allow that fight, So
this will be sanctioned instead of being an IBF heavyweight
title fight, it will be in fact for Joseph Parker's
interim WBO title. For whatever that's worth, but there is,
I'll tell you what it's worth. That's for sure.
Speaker 2: What it's worth is whoever wins this fight, If if
Alexander Usik is not willing to fight them and fairly
soon later this year. This is me saying this, they
could be elevated as the full champion. That's the whole idea,
that's the whole reason why they did the interim And
the point I don't.
Speaker 1: Know about later this year. Remember when you're a unified champion.
The way that the way that Usik is they do
a rotation system and so the WBO my recollection is
not the next step in line. But the point is
there's there's some added stakes because of it. So it's
a great opportunity for Bacoli Parker is defending that title
instead of fighting for the other title. It just an
added element to the fight, you know. And even if
there wasn't around, they probably still would have made the match.
And what happened, I'm just saying it just adds to
it with a little bit of the just a different organization.
Speaker 2: And and you and I aren't agreement. Dangerous fight here
for pugurely dangerous with with Bocoli, asked jar At, Anderson
asked Tony Yoka who he beat? You love my phrase
pillar to post when they fought a couple of years
ago as well.
Speaker 1: So I just don't I just don't know what Bocoli's
situation is in terms of in the gym, like in
fighting shape, because he doesn't hate to add anything scheduled
and sometimes with Martin, the thing that that can be
an issue is the conditioning. Is the weight. Parker's been
in camp for you know, nine or ten weeks, so
he should be, you know, ready to roll. It is
a big change of the style of opponent. I mean,
Duboi is a smaller, shorter, quicker, uh problem, heavier puncher
than Bacoli, who is a much more taller, wider, more
lumbering but powerful. It's a different kind of animal South.
He's still in there with a big man trying to
take your head.
Speaker 2: Off and a big left. And credit again to Parker
for being willing to do all of this. So first
time I'll mention we'll handicap these fights on the bet
Us Boxing Show at one Eastern time Friday. I'm interested
in your handicap of Parker and Bocoli, so to our knowledge,
can I qualify it one more time? That's it on
the moving and shaking on this read season card. Now,
if something else has happened overnight, God help us overnight
Thursday into Friday morning, you and I will be talking
about it on the bet Us Boxing Show. But for now,
this is all the musical chairs that we have at
the moment. Is these two fights, we think as we
put the pod to bed, all right, So that leads
us back to the top, which is Archer better BV
and Dmitri Bvol. The rematch again here from Bevol on
the hod Feed a couple of episodes ago, if you
missed it, talking with Dan about this rematch, and this
is kind of rare that it's an immediate rematch, like
four months later. We've seen some immediate rematches, like the
Usik Thury rematch was within the same year, about six
months apart, but only four months later the two Russians
are fighting again. Dan, what are your thoughts as we're
now within the forty eight hour window of having that
rematch undisputed light heavyweight title fight.
Speaker 1: Besides all the craziness of what's been going on with
some of these undercard fights, you know, with Dui and
the Shakurt fights, I mean, this is still the main event.
This is still the main attraction. This is still the
one for all the marbles. This is still a rematch
of what was an extraordinarily close fight in October, a
fight that I personally scored one fourteen to one fourteen.
It was a very close call in favor of Arthur
Better bv. I mean, it really could have gone either way.
I think even if you're a supporter of the other fighter,
you acknowledge that it was a super close fight. It
was a majority decision. One judge did have it one
fourteen to one, fourteen one with seven to five fifteen,
one to thirteen. One was eight four one sixteen one twelve.
Some people kind of lost their mind like not going
to be eight to far. It was really close fight. Yeah,
But if there's like a bunch of four or five
close rounds in the fight and he just happened to
take it off to the other guy eight four in
a fight like that, it doesn't doesn't is not indicative
that it's a wide fight, because each of those rounds
were close, like literally TJ in this fight, basically all
twelve rounds were close, competitive and better beev to the
view of most people, including the judges, closed much stronger,
and so whatever he needed to do, he got the
benefit because over the last three rounds he basically was
that was what provided him with the margin to be
the winner of the fight. So Beevol wants to as
he said a million times leading up to the fight,
including in the interview your referenced on the pod a
couple episodes ago, he needs to do more, he needs
to throw more punches better. BV probably wants to get
off to a little bit of a better start. But
there's not any tricks here. I mean, these guys are
who they are. They're veteran contenders, they're veteran championship level fighters,
and there's not a lot that you're gonna switch around
in four months. Maybe a wrinkle here, a wrinkle there,
But I anticipate, you know, a similarly you know, close
and cagey kind of fight. To me, it's about can
can better be of land the big bomb that he
was not able to land the first time, because we
know he's one of the more devastating punchers in boxing.
That was the first time he ever went the route
in his professional career and knocked out all the opponents.
He was the only reigning world title holder that had
one hundred percent and has not got ratio. So it's
a very fascinating fight. I do not expect it to
be some kind of great action fight, but I do
expect it to be a competitive, cagey, interesting, tension filled
kind of fight where you really have to pay attention.
If you're scoring the fight, you got to really really
pay close attention because every little thing can count and
make a difference. And you know, again, when they fought
the first time around, there hadn't been an undisputed light
heavyweight champ in twenty five years. Since nineteen ninety nine
when Roy Jones did it. There had never been an
undisputed champion since there's been a four belt era and
better be A was able to do it, but Bibo
wasn't that much behind. It was like, no, I thought
even maybe he's a half step in one round. I
mean whatever, but it's a just a it's a it's
a really good matchup between two top ten caliber pound
for pound fighters.
Speaker 2: Has he learned from fight one? We're about to find
out what can he do differently again? You and I
are going to handicap his high stakes.
Speaker 1: Yes, by the way, yeah, Turkey al chic back, you know,
back after David Benavite's defeated David Morrell in the light
heavyweight division, invited David to come and be as guests,
And from my understanding and what I am told that
David will be on a plane or is on a
plane headed to Saudi Arabia to be ringside. Because he
is as the as the bizarrely unified WBA Regular champion
WBC Interim champion, he is the mandatory in two organizations
because a WBC has already said you're the mandatory at
light heavyweight by virtue of being the regular champion, you're
automatically the editor in the WBA. And on top of that,
he's the biggest name in the division. Uh and some
people would consider might bigger, maybe not the champion, but
in terms of the name value, at least in this
side of the world, in terms of the money he generates.
You know, David Benavides is is a significant fighter in
the division, probably the biggest name that there is, frankly,
and so he's right there in line potentially to fight
the winner as the mandatory perhaps later this year, be
it in Saudi Arabia, perhaps on a Saudi card that
they may, you know, do with some more events here
in the United States. But I don't care who the
winner of the main event is, whether it's Bibel or
Better be It. You can't tell me you're not interested
in seeing that victor take on David Benabez A fascinating,
really interesting fight.
Speaker 2: Amen, And so let's see what happened. Lots of options,
lots of options, including the name Canelo Alvarez down the
road could be an option too against the undisputed winner here.
So that's what's it's taken on. Obviously, Bible has a
win over Canelo.
Speaker 1: I will tell you right now there's probably zero chance
that Canelo will fight Better be It.
Speaker 2: So that if he is the winner, if Bevil is
the winner, who.
Speaker 1: Knows the one fight.
Speaker 2: Of course? Of course, all right, so we have that.
By the way, I need to mention because I was
derelict at the beginning because of all the chaos with
the fighters moving around. Lamont Roach is on the pod
with you with Gervante Davis. We're going to play that
interview here in a few minutes as you spoke with
him as his battle with Gervonte Davis on pay per
view is next Saturday, March the first, So you'll hear
from Lamont Roach uh in a little bit here on
the pipe. We just got we have so much on
this ri odd card. We got to keep going Dan Rayfield,
all right, So now we move down the card, and
I really believe for me, this is the fight that
I'm looking the most forward to. That is Hams of
Sharaz going for the WBC middleweight title with Carlos a Damas,
a Damas who is a Dominican fighter, a hard body puncher.
There's there's a lot of intrigue Sharaz with the size,
with the height and the reach. I'm very intrigued by
this fight coming on Saturday. Give me a little more
in a preview.
Speaker 1: About well, Schra's is probably the hottest guy in the
division right now. He is undefeated. He's been closely associated
with these read Season cards and made him a Read
Season ambassador. You know, he's the house guy even though
he's not the champion, and you can take it to
the bank that that's the guy that Turkey wants to
see win the fight. And he's coming off some worthwhile
victories that put him in a position that he is
a legitimate contender to be fighting for now. He is
the WBC's mandatory challenger, and you know he is undefeated.
But his run where he started really open eyes and
make people believers and take serious notice, goes back to
February of twenty twenty four. Had a big year in
twenty twenty four. He won three fights. He won all
them by knockout. He looked really good in all three fights.
The first one was back in February where he had
a first round knockout against Leam Williams. Now, Allan Williams
might have been a little bit past his best days,
but no one had ever done that to Liam Williams,
who's been a you know, was a good contender for
several years, so that was a first round destruction. Then
in a fight where there was a lot of sentiment
on both sides to be quite honest, he was taken
on remember the five on five card that took place
in June. He was on Team Queensberry. He was matched
up with the matchroom fighter, Austin m. O. Williams, the
undefeated American fighter, and it was a good fight and
Hams of Shiraz was bigger, longer, and obviously he's stronger,
and he took Williams out in an eleventh round knockout.
It was a very big win for him. And because
he was the captain of the team of Team Queensberry,
because he got the knock out, he got the extra point.
Then as people remember Frank Warren's team you know, steamrolled
and won by shutout against Eddie Hernstein. But he got
the extra point as the captain. Anyway, that was a
very impressive victory. Then he returned in September. He also
fought on the Wembley card when Joshua and d had
their fight. He fought on that undercard. He's from England,
so he's front of the home crowd and he knocked
out a fellow britt Tyler Denny. He won the European
Middleway title very impressively in the second round. Like just
you know, I'm not saying I thought he was going
to lose that fight. I fought for sure he would
win that fight, but I actually thought that that Denny
would hang in there for a little while, and he
just made it, you know, like a blitz and he
was done for her. And so now he has this
opportunity against Carlos Damas, who is taking on his mandatory,
is getting his biggest payday traveling. Look, Adamas has been
a good fighter for a while but does not have
the name recognition, hasn't achieved the notoriety, but he's got
a couple of solid wins. You know, if you go
back pre championship, you know he had defeated like for example,
in a close decision, he beat Sergei debrian Chenko, who
lost to the very best fighters out there. Remember when
Charlot went the distance when with Juan Messias Montielle, Well
it was a Damas who blew him away in three rounds.
Didn't have to go to the distance with the guy
that was a you know, a domination for that fight,
and then he beat the former Juor Middleway title holder
Julian Williams, who had moved up and knocked him out
in the ninth round. That was on Showtime if you remember,
back in twenty twenty three, and then he didn't really
look good in this particular fight, but he still won
pretty handily in terms of the scoring. He took on
Terrell Gachet back in June. That was on the same
card that was the doubleheader where he had Tank Davis
against Frank Martin and benavide Is against Alexander Votek. One
of the other pay per view fights that night was
a Domis dettending the Tunnle. She hasn't fought into June,
and like a lot of these guys, there's good money
and he's taken a show on the road to put
onto this fight. Now, I'm not sure that he can
compete in the sense of just the punching power that
Shiraz has, the freshness that Charaz has, and also Charaz
is like six foot three, which is giant from midway. Now,
it's not like Adamis is short. He's five to eleven.
That's pretty decent size for one hundred and sixty pounder,
not like a small guy. But I think he's gonna
be outgunned just in terms of the physical attributes height, breach, power, speed.
It's a it's uphill battle, it seems to me, all right.
Speaker 2: So two other things though, too. A Damas was completely
screwed over by the WBC not mandating that Jermal Charlo
fight him or will strip you. And they waited and
he had to wait, and he waited and waited and
waited trying to get the Charlot fight and that never happened.
So that's the reason why he hasn't been very active,
as you mentioned, two fights in two years, headed into
this February showdown, and I like him as a body puncher.
When you watch him fight, I don't know if he's
going to get in the kitchen as we like to say,
and get after Shiraz, But stay tuned. I'm very intrigued
by this fight. And you and I sound like we
might be on opposite sides of the aisle on the
bet Us show.
Speaker 1: Maybe if you're tuning in, promise, if you're five eleven
and you're fighting a six to three guy and you
got inside that height disadvantage, you should be going after
the body, especially if it's one of your better attributes.
Speaker 2: You got it. We got to see if that will happen,
all right, But like we like to say, how much
would you pay now for the GINSU State Knives nineteen
ninety five twenty nine ninety five? My lord Rayfield, there's
still more and I think you I won't speak for you,
but you've spoken two or three times about how excited
and intrigued you are by this next one. Is this
may be your favorite fight that's not the main event.
Virgil Orti here and madram Off for the interim WBC
Junior middleweight title. What about that fight that is best
down on this card? But it's still intriguing.
Speaker 1: No, it's a really good fight. I like this fight
a lot. I didn't rank it number two behind the
main event. I mean I actually have a piece on
my substack prior to the postponement or cancelation if you will,
of Parker and Dui. That was actually my second favorite
fight on the show. But I act and go read
that where I rank all seven fights and give sort
of my take on it. But in terms of a
virgual artis imagium off, there's nothing not to like about this.
Two prime guys, two guys that are good punchers, two
guys that can box, but also can definitely stand in
there and fight. You know. Virginal Artis went the distance
for the first time in his career back in the summer,
coming off one of the Fight of the Year contenders
when he had that incredible brawl against Sara Boachuk. He
got off the deck two times, ended up winning a
winning a majority decision. He ended up because of the decision,
he won the interim WBC one hundred and fifty four
pounds title from Boachuk. Now, remember Boachuk and Majimov were
supposed to fight each other on the Fury and Usk undercart,
and then when that fight was made soon after it
was Magimov also signing to fight virgial Artis, and you
and I both and not just us, but basically everybody
with the brain was like, very no way, He's fighting
Boachuk and what everybody figures is a tough fight on
December twenty first, and then going to be back in
the ring on February twenty second against Virgil Ortiz. And
sure enough, whether by a design or it was legit,
whatever the case, may be they pulled him. Bat claimed
the had bronchitis and he couldn't go through, so he
did not fight in December, and Boachuk fought and defeated
another opponent, and the Ortiz fight is now happening, and
Majmov is in a bigger profile fight, and Majamov is
coming off not as exciting of a fight as what
Virgil Ortiz had done against a good opponent. But he
also lost his world title. But he gave Terrence Crawford,
arguably TJ the toughest fight that Crawford has had in
his career. That was the main event when they did
the read season. Folks put on the event in Los
Angeles back in August. He gave Crawford all he could handle.
Is a really close fight. I mean, it wasn't a
great fight, but it was a very competitive and I
can understand why there were supporters Imaginemub that thought maybe
he just did enough to win the fight. So he
comes off the loss, but by the loss, he raised
his stock because you know, he gave one of the
best fighters in boxing such a really tough and good fight.
And Ortiz, you know, we know what he's about, so
I think this fight style wise, stakes wise, where they
are in their careers, they're you know what they've brought
to the table in their last couple of bouts, Like
this is like a can't miss kind of fight.
Speaker 2: I love this matchup all right, so we're looking forward
to that one at one hundred and fifty four pounds.
By the way, good time for us to mention that
our friends at PPV dot com wants you to know
that if you want to see this re odd season
massive pay per views Saturday afternoon US time, adjust your
time zone accordingly. Is it breakfast? Is it bread? With
the Saudi pay per view? It may very well be
get it With PPV dot Com, No long term subscription required.
Utilize their service. It's a one off purchase and you
get excellent HD and even four K quality video right
from the riodd season pay per view that's being done.
So again, they're sponsors here of us, and we want
to let everybody know use PPV dot com for the
one off purchase. Dan Raypaiel what else.
Speaker 1: The price on this pay per view? I'm not trying
to like be a salesman, but I'm just being real.
We see so many pay per views fifty sixty, sixty five,
seventy seventy five, eighty eighty five dollars for some of
these events. And you know, you buy them if you
want whatever. That's cool, and I buy them all, no problem.
But here's the point, though, for this magnitude of a show,
for the amount of great fights that are on it,
they have a price point. You have to go back
basically to the advent of pay perview in like the
nineteen nineties to find something this cheap, especially with this quality.
You know what the price in at least in the
United States, and anyway, the suggested price for this event
is twenty five ninety nine.
Speaker 2: Uh huh.
Speaker 1: That is cheap that if you're if you are, if
you are going to steal it for that cheap, then
you should go fuck yourself. Like I don't steal pay
per view, but I get even though I don't approve
and I don't dig it, if it's an eighty dollars
pay per view, you're maybe stealing the signal, Like I
kind of get it because that to me sometimes is
a little bit too much what it should be at
twenty six dollars, be spending that on like a you know,
a pizza and a case of beer or whatever.
Speaker 2: Well, and keep in mind the Turkey al Chic has
done this before with a couple of the previous pay
per views last year in saying, I believe it was
the Joshua Dubois pay per view in September that especially
for the American audience, we're not going to make this
fifty nine ninety ninety nine because people aren't going to
buy it in the United States in the middle of
the afternoon.
Speaker 1: For so it's what I don't want to think on
their part by doing it at twenty six dollars, I
don't think they're making up for it in volume. It's
not because the card's not good, it's great. I just
think that American audiences are not used to purchasing a
pay per view that starts like the pre shows at
like ten thirty in the morning. The main event, you know,
the first fight's like eleven am. Main event probably around
you know, six o'clock or thereabouts. It's a long day
of fights. But the point is, if you are interested
in boxing, if you are a fan, you can't possibly
go wrong at twenty six dollars. And just again, I
wish they were paying me extra to say that. But
I'm just being real and leave me. If it was
a shitty card and it was, we would over price.
Speaker 2: We would say it, and we do say it. We
have said why. I mean, you can definitely question why
was Benavite's morell an eighty dollars pay per view? I
mean that that, I mean compared to this, Are you
kidding me?
Speaker 1: But what you're getting for.
Speaker 2: The money, what you're getting for the money.
Speaker 1: The eighty dollars Benavide' is morel pay per view based
on Benevite's name, based on the level of promotion that
PBC did in America comp air to what the Saudis do,
which is next to zero, and you combine it with
the normal start time that we're used to here in
North America, and even at eighty dollars the Benavidia's pay
per view, I guarantee you probably gonna probably did I note, well,
we don't know what the number is yet from the
fight on Saturday, but I can guarantee you when it's
all said and done, Benavidie's morrel will have done way
more in terms of buys than.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying. I'm not suggesting which one's gonna get
purchased more. I'm just saying for the boxing fan, you
get fatigued in the wallet and the economy is the
economy when you keep hearing eighty dollars eighty four dollars.
And by the way, the read card in Los Angeles,
wasn't that a ninety dollars pay per view with Terrence
Crawford in the main event? I believe it was like
eighty or ninety dollars, same kind of thing. So remember
this one. This one is more affordably priced and we
like it for that. And use our friends at PPV
dot com for the one off. You don't need any
long term subscription commitment from any other service, just use them.
They are proud sponsors of ours on the Big Fight
weekend in the Fight for Each to night podcast feed here.
We love that about them, beautiful stuff. I promise we're
getting to Lamont roach and just a Rayphiel again. You're
not going to be able to recap all of this, uh.
I don't think any in one podeline with all that
we have. All right, So we mentioned Jang and Caba Yell,
all right, So I'm intrigued with Cabby Yell against a
Jang that obviously pulverized Joe Joyce and demolished Deontay Wilder. Yes,
Joseph Parker beat him. Give me a little more on
the intrigue here, Jang Older, Bigger, South, Paul, give me
a little more on this. And it's a huge moment
for Cabby Yell to take it, to take the step
against a reputable fighter.
Speaker 1: Well big Bang. His whole career can be encapsulated in
his last what five fights, since he really stepped up,
because for most of his career he fought nothing but
drek and there was a lot of potential And I
remember talking to different people involved with his career telling
me how great the guy was, and my response was, okay, fine,
is he going to fight somebody that's got to, you know,
takes a breath or just going to keep fighting one
corpse after the other. So in twenty twenty two, he
fought Phillip Pergovic, who was undefeated on the rise, and
he lost the unanimous decision, but he did score a
knockdown in that fight against Hergovic, and it was a
very close fight and it was competitive. A lot of
people thought that Jang may have won, so okay, fine.
Now he comes back after that, and even if you
thought he lost and you're sort of not so sure,
what is all about. Remember at that time, Joe Joyce
was undefeated, was red hot pop contender, known for an
iron chin, known for a great power, his huge size,
his amateur background. And what happened. Joe Joyce knocked him
out not once but twice, and did so in fairly
dominating fashion. Took him out in the sixth round in
the first fight, knocked him out in the third round
in the second fight. That was his two fights in
the calendar year twenty twenty three. So with those two victories,
now he's on top of the world. Basically, you know,
very highly regarded guy, and he's got big things in
front of me. He had won the WBO's interim title
in the first fight against Joe Joyce, and then he
took a very close majority decision loss to Parker that
cast him that intern belt. But if there was a
silver lining, he scored two knockdowns against Joseph Parker, he
still lost the decision, and it was that kind of
fight where you could see Joe Parker getting off the
floor two times but still doing enough in the other
rounds to win the decision. And then he came back
off that loss and as you mentioned, pulverized in his
spectacular knockout and basically finished off Deontay Wilder spectacularly. That
was last June in the fifth round, and so this
will be his first fight since. Now Cabiel is undefeated,
your boy from Germany twenty five and oh was seventeen knockouts,
and he's a guy that has really made a career
in Riad thanks to read season cards, because his last
two fights have been the so called big fights he's had.
Before that, he was kind of doing his thing on
the smaller cards in Germany and winning, but not against
big names. And when he got the opportunity in Riat
in December of twenty twenty three, that was the day
of reck card, he knocked out then highly regarded favored
Arslan Beck Machmandov. Now Mackmandov has proven that he's not
that much since, but no one had ever done it
to him, and it was Agi Cabiol that took him
out in four rounds, very impressively, knocked him down three times,
took away his undefeated record, and that made people open
their eyes. Now he came back in May of twenty
twenty four in his second fight in Riad against another
undefeated fighter. But this guy a more legitimate than macmdou
at least in my opinion, A very good technical boxer
who could also punch big man Frank Sanchez, Cuban that
had also been winning his fights and sometimes frustrating his
opponents because he wasn't maybe the most exciting, but a
very very skillful boxer, but also with good power and agi.
Cabill never waivered, took the fight with no problem, knocked
him down twice in the seventh round, and stopped him
in the seventh round. That was a very big win
for Cabrio and now he goes in this fight with
the Zilly Zang would be his biggest win so far.
Whatever you think about Macmadu Vin Sanchez, I still think
a win even at this point. Again, Jang is a
bigger deal than those two fights. But that's a very
intriguing fight. You got Jang, a big guy, six foot six,
south pop, big bang with the big left hand and
uh and you know, and Cabiell is a much smaller guy.
He's not six foot six, he's like three four inches shorter.
He'll probably be outweighed, you know, by a good thirty
pounds maybe more. You know, Jang was like two eighty ish,
Cabiel goes around two forty five. Good matchup. And like
I said, I don't know why it's the case. For
whatever it's worth, they are fighting for the interim WBC title.
It's not necessary the champion Azusik, he just fought in December.
But that's the WBC doing their thing. But put that aside.
This fight and the winner is going to be in
a great position within this weight class.
Speaker 2: And and again Kydie Yelle has been a name that's
been mentioned a couple of times as a possible opponent
for Tyson Fury and for others. Big stage for him
here again, I one more and then I promise we're
getting to Lamont Roach getting ready to challenge Tank Day
and the Dan conversation with him. And that's Joshua Buazzi
and Callum Smith WBO interim light heavyweight title fight. Again,
the Brits care probably more than we do about this.
But in terms of the light heavyweights and the fact
that better BV and b BOL is now you know,
the full law and undisputed main event this has some
intrigue at the light heavyweight level obviously.
Speaker 1: I mean the winner is going to be the WBILL
mandatory for the winner of the main event, whether they
get that fight in the near future, or they have
the weight, or maybe it gets vacated, who knows, but
they're going to be in that position or be elevated
eventually if in fact the WBO title is vacated. But
in the UK, Josh Bazzi against Collen Smith would be
the main event any day of the week. There's not
even a shadow of a doubt. And unless they change
the order at the moment, this is the opening title
fight of these seven title fights on the cart. There's
a couple of prospect fights beforehand, but in terms of
the main twelve rounders.
Speaker 2: In America, if you're having brunch, bacon, eggs and buwatzi,
Callum Smith, Yes.
Speaker 1: So this is this is a good fight. I mean,
is an Olympian, he's nineteen and o, he's thirteen knockouts.
He's kind of coming into his own. He's been on
a nice run. He's sally getting a little more active
than he had been. He's coming off of a split decision.
But a good fun fight against Philly Hutchinson. That was
a fight that I think a lot of people have
thought could have been a toss up. That was back
in September. Before that, he had a great brawl that
he won against his good friend Dan Aziz that was,
you know, a big deal in the UK. Was for
the British and the Commonwealth title, and you know, and
he's also defeated guys like Krek Richards, who has been
a you know, a good contender for a long time.
And now he's taken on Callen Smith, who I still
would say his best opponent so far. Callum is a
reputable guy. I mean, the guy's thirty and two. He's
got two losses. One was a decision to Canelo Alvarez
in a super middleweight for two belts at super middleweight,
and the other loss was when he got knocked out
by Arthur Better BF back end January of twenty twenty four.
But other than beevil, who doesn't get knocked out? When
they faced Arthur Better VIV he had moved up from
super middleweight, he had won a couple of fights. He
was Arthur's mandatory. They did that fight, Arthur traveled to
Quebec City or rather coun Smith traveled to Quebec City,
which is you know, in the province of Quebec, which
is where better BM is now based and has lived
and trained his entire pro career. So he was the
big favorite. But cown Smith was fearless in that fight,
you know, despite getting knocked out in losing, It's not
like he fought a bad fight, like he was hanging
in the fight, even though he didn't win rounds. But
it wasn't like a completely one sided devastation until the
very end, obviously. So I still think that he's a
pretty good fighter. I don't know how much he's got left,
but Biwatzi's never fought anybody like him. He has won
one fight since then, scored a knockout on an undercard,
you know, against just a like a kind of get
well type opponent. But this is an intriguing matchup. I
feel like this is a this is definitely a fight
that most people are overlooking because you know, look, Glatzi
and Smith, Neither one of them are these huge personalities,
neither one of them has like a scintillating style. They're
just really good pros. They do their thing. They can
compete at the championship level, and it's the opener of
these seven world title fights, but in some ways it's
one of the most meaningful fights because of the fact
that the winner is in position to challenge the main
event winner at some point.
Speaker 2: Okay, so there we go on the preview part of this.
Shall we segue to next weekend and March first and
probably fights at that as long as to look at
your phone real quick. I'm being serious. You don't have
an alert that any other of the fighters' names have changed,
and we don't have a replacement fighter.
Speaker 1: Good. I think we're good.
Speaker 2: Can we go to bed on Thursday night believing that
we're good at least until Friday morning? Stay tuned. So
now we move forward to Lamont Roach and Tank Davis.
This is coming next weekend, March first, Brooklyn, New York.
You don't have to wait for fight week as Roach
gets ready to battle Tank Davis and the PBC Prime
pay per view. Here we go again with the pay
per views here from Lamont Roach right now, including about
the regional rivalry with Davis and this big opportunity has
hear from him right now?
Speaker 1: Well, it's my pleasure to be joined on our podcast.
This week by the WBA Junior Lightweight Champ of the World,
Lamont Road Junior. But Lamont, you have a big fight
coming up. You're not gonna be fighting in the junior
lightweight division. You are moving up to lightweight to challenge
the wo WBA champion in the lightweight division, Jervanta Tank Davis,
in a pay per view fight from PBC on Prime
Video also PPV dot Com, will take place on March
first at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, New York. And
welcome you to the show. And I'm good to talk
to you. What I'd like to know I from your
first Lamon is you know this fight's sort of been
There was a lot of rumors maybe what happened, maybe
it wouldn't. You were a name that was always sort
of like at the top of the Tank list of
what might be coming up for him. So could you
just recount to me what your initial thoughts were when
you actually got offered the fighting. Knew this was a possibility, so.
Speaker 3: When we actually as soon as we got the call,
it was like, hell, yeah, honestly, that's about it.
Speaker 4: Like Ruhig is in the car, I think it was
me and my dad's in the car on the.
Speaker 3: Way to the airport go back home, and it was
like he was just like, you know, changs changes called
and he was like, we wanted to fight, of course.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well you've never been a guy that's been turning
down fight. So that's something I know from having covered
your whole career. If you go back to twenty nineteen,
amount you had a chance to fight Jamelle Herring back
then for the WBO Junior Light White title, your first
opportunity or you know, a big prospect. You were undefeated.
I believe you were the mandatory challenger at that time
for his title, and you know you gave a good fight,
but you know, it came up a little bit short,
loss the decision, and I just wondered, you know, it
took you a little while to get back to the
position to fight for another world title. What do you
feel like you learned from that first loss? You know,
despite it being competitive, uh, the fact that they.
Speaker 3: Aren't going to give me anything, like like you said,
it was it was a good fight, It was a
good effort, but it just wasn't enough. I know, going
into things, especially as an underdog things, I'm gonna you
know what I'm saying going to be that they're probably
going to be stacked against me, so I just have
to I just had to take matters into my own
hands and make sure that I give no doubt that
I should win, you know, the rest of my bouts
going on throughout my career.
Speaker 1: Well you have done that because you have won six
fights in a row since that particular fight, and in
twenty twenty three, November of twenty twenty three, you got
the chance to fight for a title again against Hector
Luis Garcia in Las Vegas, and you outpointed him in
a close fight. You won the WBA title, and I wondered, Actually,
I was thinking, you know guys who you know, they
they don't get anything. Like you said, nothing handed to Lamont. Roach,
took your time, prospect you know, into main event fights eventually,
you know, really worked your way to get that opportunity.
Nearly ten years as a professional, from the time you started.
Tell WinGen you won the title. What did it feel
like to finally get it and know that all that
hard work, all that you know, that decade of preparing
for that moment, what did that mean to you?
Speaker 3: I mean everything to me, just like you said it
was a whole bunch of hard work, a lot of sacrifice,
a lot of a lot of faith and just trusting myself,
trusting my team and knowing that we'll be will be
exactly where we were supposed to be.
Speaker 1: You got a chance in June of last year, June
of twenty twenty four, to defend the title for the
first time. I know you had spoke about what it
would mean to you to have a homecoming fight, to
have a world championship fight in Washington, d C. Where
you know where you're from originally, and you made that
dream come true. You had a very good performance, a
knockout victory against the undefeated Fergla McCrory in front of
your fans in the district, had a good crowd there.
Knocked out in the eighth round, pretty dominating victory. And
I wonder, you know, I hear from people they talk
about making the dream come true. I talked recently with
Keishawn Davis about him and his brothers wanting to have
a homecoming fight and that was a dream for them.
They finally got to accomplish that, And I asked him
this question. I'm curious your response to it as well.
How did the reality of having the title fight at
home compared to the dream for all those years you had.
Speaker 4: I think it matched up to me. It matched up.
Speaker 3: It was something that I wanted to do, not only
for myself, but for everyone that's been fogging me since
I started my family, stretching my close family that that
aren't able to make it out to La Vegas, you
know what I'm saying, all.
Speaker 4: The other states that.
Speaker 3: I fought in Puerto Rico.
Speaker 4: Mexico, like out of the country and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: So it was it was very satisfying for me. It
was honestly just a dream come true. And you know,
getting a dance in front of my home crowd is
It's just it.
Speaker 4: Was just fun.
Speaker 1: It was a crazy atmosphere, I mean, that's for sure.
But the fight with you and Gervonte was discussed for
maybe being you know, at the end of last year,
that fight you just mentioned that you defended the title
was in June. It didn't happen. There was you know,
I didn't really there was issues over the venue. It
was gonna be in Houston, a lot of conversations. Ultimately
it did not happen, rescheduled, and now it's taking place
on March first, As I mentioned, was there any kind
of frustration of only having the one fight last year
and kind of having to put this off and waiting
and waiting and waiting to get it all locked in?
Speaker 3: Uh, just just a little bit, yeah, honestly, because it's
not like I'm signed the PBC or obviously not signed
the GTD either, So you know what I'm saying, Like,
it's not like I'm I'm.
Speaker 4: In the loop as soon as every decision is made.
So it is a little.
Speaker 3: Frustrating, But at the end of.
Speaker 4: The day, it is what it is. It's boxing, man.
Speaker 3: You never know what you're going to get, and you know,
it's just you just stay on board for the ride
for real.
Speaker 4: For real.
Speaker 3: I was always ready, no matter the case, no matter
whatever was going on with the venue. Honestly, I just
think he wasn't ready. I think they, you know, scheduled
it for when they think he'll be prepared for the match,
and you know, so we was just fine tuning that
all the way up until it was Tyn of Rock
and Road.
Speaker 1: One of the things a lot of folks have talked
about that is a certainly part of the storyline, if
you will of the fight between yourself and Tank is
that you fought as amateurs. You knew each other from
those days. You're about the same age, you know, separated,
but you're you're actually younger than him. You're twenty nine,
he is thirty. Can you give me your side of
the story, so to say, about the memories of what
occurred in the amateurs? How many times did you fight?
What happened and how do you remember those times?
Speaker 3: We thought twice they were very close, competitive fights. And
you know, the storyline that attests to how close they
were is the fact that we fought in the same
tournament before twice in the same tournament. You know that
doesn't happen. We fought in the regional championship and I
lost in Baltimore, and we sent the tape to USA
Boxing and they sent me an at large bid because
they was like, it was a little this this this
outcome is a little iffy, so to say.
Speaker 4: So they sent me to the nationals.
Speaker 3: As well with an at large bid and I was
on the other side of the bracket.
Speaker 4: He was on the other side of the bracket. We
met up in the championship and he beat me in
a close fight. So you know, it is what it is.
I think I want a second fight. I think the
second fight I did better than the first fight. So
it is what it is. And we do got the
tape too.
Speaker 3: I think we're probably the only we're probably the only
people who do have a tape only put it on
YouTube or something.
Speaker 1: I got a while. I'd love to watch that if
you did. What year was that, Alamont? What year do
you remember? So do you think? I mean, like you said,
if they whatever, whether you lost or not, you you
believe that they were close and competitive. I guess to
the extent that even USA boxing, you know, basically puts
you in to uh be on the road to a
possible rematch. And I've asked this the fighters when they
fought in amateur fights and then they meet up as professionals.
Some say it does, some say it doesn't. Do you
think there's any bearing at all because you have at
least a cursory knowledge of having been in the ring
with him. Yes you've evolved, Yes it's a while ago,
but you know you've been face to face with them
inside the boxing ring. That doesn't mean anything is to
go into the professional fight.
Speaker 3: Honestly, Hmmm, maybe not honestly if we honestly speaking, because
I'm a totally different fighter.
Speaker 4: Uh, I think he might be.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
Speaker 3: But when it comes down to like because it's personal,
Like the fight itself is not personal. When I'm talking
about the familiar, the familiarity with him is personal. Like
I know him fairly better than a lot of I mean,
damn there everybody he probably fought, so, uh, you know,
we actually have history, like outside of our fights.
Speaker 4: You know, we sparred a few times.
Speaker 3: I know, I just know how he operates from from
what I know from from the encounters we have. You know,
we've been in We've been in the same spaces since
we were about ten, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So that's a long time. And my dad coached him on.
Speaker 3: The on the National Golden Gloves team to a to
a national title, uh, to win the National Golden Gloves.
Speaker 4: So it's just it's it's it's a lot of factors there.
Speaker 1: I do get to feel out, I do you think
the feeling there's a lot. You know, you guys may
not be best friends, but like you said, you're familiar
that there's definitely a healthy respect for peing you guys.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, for sure. It's definitely healthy. Respect cool, Like you.
Speaker 3: Know what I'm saying outside of the outside of the boxing,
Like you know what I'm saying outside of the boxing
and the.
Speaker 4: Ek me I'm cool.
Speaker 3: I mean like, if you ask him, he'll be He'll
tell you that we folks like people.
Speaker 4: So it's cool, all right.
Speaker 1: I got to ask this though. You know you are
from Washington, d C. You had a great crowd at
your fight in June. He's from Baltimore, that's, you know,
just up the road I'm in. I live in that area,
so I know the rivalry. Uh you know that. So
it felt like this is a DMV fight Capitol One Arena.
He had a huge gate there when he fought the
guy you beat for the title in Hector Luis Garcia.
You had a great crowd for years. DC would be
absolutely going crazy Baltimore for this fight. So nothing against Brooklyn, York.
Wonderful venue, great fight city obviously, Barclay Center, first class
all the way, covered many many fights there. How in
the world is this fight not in the DMV Washington
d C.
Speaker 3: Tell me about it, I think So, you know, he's
a superstar, so I'm pretty sure. Like I'm thinking they're
thinking about how the crowd is normally for you know,
pro Jamonte and the crowd in DC would definitely be
at least fifty to fifty.
Speaker 4: And that's just at least so that might be a thing.
Probably didn't want me.
Speaker 3: To have a home field advantage or what.
Speaker 4: Application may be. But we could have did it anywhere
in the area. Honestly, you know what I'm saying, Like,
did you want it in the area? I would have.
Speaker 3: Preferred it, Yeah, But to me, he man, we could
fight in Africa for all I can.
Speaker 1: All right, so when you go into the ring, I mean,
we all know Gervonte Davis is a tremendous puncher. Doesn't
throw a lot of punches, but he's knocked out virtually
everybody and he's just been a dominating figure. You are
obviously more of a supreme boxer. You didn get a
knockout of your last fight, though, so I wonder how
do you plan to deal with that punching power?
Speaker 3: Should we bespawn bigger guys and uh we're gonnaspawn guys that.
Speaker 4: Are considered punchers.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, it's a totally different story once you
get in there than ay ounces and oh.
Speaker 4: But I've been punching him. I've been pushing the face.
Speaker 3: When I was Now you though, man, like you know
what I'm saying, Like if his better think a little more,
you know what I'm saying, they might sting a little more.
Speaker 4: They're gonna sting a little more.
Speaker 3: But trust me, I like to think I got a chin,
never been down an amateur or professional, never been hurt like
to like to the chin or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 4: So it is what it is. Like we ready.
Speaker 3: Then the thing is, we're gonna see how he.
Speaker 4: Reacts when he gets hit by my my punches.
Speaker 1: Anyway, Well, if you've been getting hits into or not,
I'll just say, better at you than me from that standpoint.
And I looked over his record just as I was
getting ready to talk to you, and I was sort
of thinking to myself, Okay, he fought an older, sort
of not near his best gamboa who was obviously a
great boxer, electrifying talent and a gold medal winner in
the Olympics, but he wasn't at his best if you
take him out of the equation. I was looking and like,
you're still a top press prime guy World champ. Uh.
I feel like looking at that record that Lamar Roach junr.
Is probably the best pure boxer he'll ever have faced
so far in his professional career. What is your what
is your take on that that maybe you've got the
skills to really cause him some trouble with the boxing
ability that you possess.
Speaker 3: That's a fact that everything you just said is definitely
a fact.
Speaker 4: It's a fact for sure.
Speaker 3: And they know that though I think they're going to
prepare they I think I know they're going to prepare
for you know, what I have to bring to the table,
Like they know that one hundred for a fact that
I'm the best all around like boxer that he's going.
Speaker 4: To be in a ring with.
Speaker 1: When they talk about who they want to see a
tank fight, I'll wrap up with this. Uh. They talk
about wanting to see a tank against of course Stevenson
a unification. They talk about a ta Fimo Lopez fight.
There's been a lot of conversation they tried to make
recently a Lomachenko fight. He elected to take some time off. Uh.
They don't mention Lamar Roach I've hurt people like kind
of poo pooh, the fight, say, you know, not much.
He's you know, they're upset about the fight. I'm like,
why this is a really good boxer against a really
good puncher. They got that rivalry from the home you know,
from the home region, And so when they don't mention
your name and they kind of overlook you and I'm
not just kissing your rand because we're doing the interview,
I kind of think it's unfair. But why do you
think that that is that they look at those other
names but they don't include Alamont Roach Junior in that
conversation of like a worthy opponent for Tank Davis.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: Mainly probably because I'm not known to a lot of
casual fans and people who don't really know or are
in tune with boxing and it's boxing it in its entirety,
you know what I'm saying, Like, some people really just
don't know, so that might be a factor. And like
I said, he's a megas, he's a megastar as a superstar,
and he has been knocking everybody out, so you know
what I'm saying, Like, so you know what I'm saying,
Like there's pieces that go together that would make people
say what they say about the fight or whatever the
case may be. I'm not a worthy opponent, but for real, real,
I got a lot of profanity for them.
Speaker 4: That's about it, all right.
Speaker 1: So then to the final question that what would a
victory mean to you, not only a world title, but
knocking off you know, like you said one of the
biggest stars in boxing.
Speaker 4: That it's gonna it's gonna mean so much to me.
Speaker 3: But it's definitely gonna uh, it's definitely just gonna be this,
that's gonna this is gonna be the start of my
my legacy, brun you know, like you know how some
people have a run like Roy Jones was champion and
so many way claus for teen years. Pak yall moved
up from one twelve all the way to fifty four
to knock everybody. Like you know what I'm saying, a
staple in it. This is my staple right here, because
trust me, after this, I'm gonna go banana.
Speaker 4: Trust me.
Speaker 1: All Right, Well, that's big words. I'll look forward to
seeing if you can back them up on March first
at Barclayson and Brooklyn Lamont. Thank you very much for
the time.
Speaker 4: I wish you the best luck in the fight, all right, No,
doubt appreciate you.
Speaker 2: All right, again that fight coming next weekend for March
one fight we coming up and again you got a
chance to see him. I'm still can we just say this,
I'm still puzzled how they couldn't make this happen at
least in the region, the Baltimore Washington region, find a
venue because that angle you kept talking about, that angle,
the fact that it's in Brooklyn, New York. You could
have put it in Las Vegas, you could put it
on the Moon. It's not the same as the regional
hatred there from Lamont and Broach in Tank Davis. That's
me saying that go ahead.
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, there's definitely not hatred between these
two guys. There's a healthy competition, no doubt about it.
They did fight twice as amateurs, as you heard Lamont
talk about. He did lose. What he said, we're two
closest fights and the amateurs, but he competed these guys.
They respect each other, I believe. I don't think there's hate. Uh,
they're not enemies, but they're competitors. They both want to win. Obviously.
I like I like Roach's confidence. I like the fact
that he talked about how he's never been really badly
hurt or knocked down or or or or you know
it rocked in any particular way. As a pro, He's
fought some good fighters. I know a lot of people
dumped on the fight when it was made. I've never
been one to think this was like a bad fight.
You know, if you said to me, is it the
number one fight that you wanted to see travant to
Davis take part in? I would be less than honest
if I said yes. But you know, I can't make
him fight certain guys. But if you're going for Lamont
roach a regional arrival, a world champion in his own right,
who's got the balls to do the fight against you,
and he's not afraid to do so, and and he's
a good boxer, you know, he's the best probably pure
boxer that Tank Davis will have face if you take
a look at Tank's resume, Like, I think it's an
interesting matchup. Uh, And I hope it's a good fight.
Speaker 2: Let's hope. So we'll talk more about it next week,
shall we rap with some nostalgia? And Uh, I always
when this comes around, I always look forward to talking
about just how massive the crowd was It was thirty
two years ago today, Dan Rayfield February twentieth, nineteen ninety
three that Julio Cesar, Chavez and Greg Haggins set the
all time outdoor record for the biggest.
Speaker 1: Boxing outdoor or indoor.
Speaker 2: Yes, from one hundred and well indoor obviously, Rayfaeld, Well, yeah,
the biggest one hundred and thirty two thousand people, and
as Texas died, I'm still blown away, even with seats
on the soccer pitch, on the soccer how did they
fit one hundred and thirty two thousand in Well, they
did last two hundred and forty seven one thirty Did
you do the official Ticke account? One thirty two to
forty seven, one hundred and thirty two thousand, two hundred
and forty seven people as Texas Stadium, Mexico City, people
on top of people, on top of people, and Chavez
beat the crap out of Greg Hagins. You did a
whole whole lot of crap talking, a whole lot of
baiting and boasting about what he was going to do,
and Chavez brutally beat him up.
Speaker 1: He made the mistake of saying that Java is that
all he had done was fight you want.
Speaker 2: To cab drivers?
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Java showed him that he was in that
same level. By the way, it's an outdoor stadium that's gigantic,
and when you put him on the field, you can
get even that much more people on it. It was
a spectacle of spectacles.
Speaker 2: You have to remember me comprehend aren't They just fought
in the Louisian I mean, I'm sorry, they just had
the Super Bowl in Louisiana. Super Dome right all right?
That building, because I've been in there so many different times,
has about seventy five thousand seats. Okay, So for the
Ali Speinks fight, they had somewhere in the neighborhood of
what sixty sixty five thousand putting seats. I can't fathom
fifty thousand more people in that super Dome, That's what
well I can put it like, that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: The biggest I've ever been in yes sports event ever.
I was at Wembley Stadium in twenty seventeen when Vladimir
Klitschko fought Anthony Joshua, right, and the attendance for that
fight was, like I think it was. They they got
it up to the maximum that the that London City
officials would allow. I believe it was eighty thousand. Now
later they actually expanded it. They gave them a variance
for one of the Tyson Fury fights and they got like, what.
Speaker 2: The dun fight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it wasn't ninety it was still in the eighties,
I believe. But the point is that and I just
picturing like being in Wembley, if you stuck in lut
of thirty thousand, you might not realize.
Speaker 2: Where would you put them? Exactly where would you put another.
Speaker 1: That many people as Texas Stadium is not a technological
you know, facility, so if you're watching there, aren't like
if you're in Cowboys Stadium, for example, where I've covered
many fights. No matter if you're in the last row,
you can still have an amazing view because you got
the gigantic you know, HD screens that are look like
they're sitting on your lap. In Mexico City, you're looking
at like little ants like you can't really see.
Speaker 2: But certain technology nineteen ninety three technology, you did not
have video boards all that you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1: Well not that big anyway, even had a video board,
not certainly, not like Cowboys stadium, which is indoors, so
they can have it hanging from the roof. There's no
roof on As Texas Stadium. But I'm making the point
here that Chavez was a legendary figure at this point
when he's fighting Greg Hagan, he's defending the WBC's junior
welterweight title. He is right in his prime. This is
the dead prime. This actually may have been his most
prime fight of his entire career against Greg Hougan. This
is still three fights before he fights Whitaker, when it
was number one versus number two for pound for pound supremacy,
but he had been This is like about ten or
so fights removed from his amazing victory against Meldrek Taylor.
He is in his fucking prime. Ye the great Chavez
at his greatest, and he absolutely destroyed and pummeled Greg Hougan,
who you know, played the villain role absolutely beautifully in
this fight. Made even even if you're you know, even
he didn't like Chobbs, you probably wanted to see and
beat the shed out of Greg Hougan by the time
this fight actually took place. And he did that in
five rounds and he just absolutely you know, he was
up on all three score cards by a shutout, forty
thirty five on two cards, forty thirty three on another
one of the cards, and he had been knocked down
in the fifth round, and when he got up, Chobb
has just landed a barrage of shots and the referee
finally stopped the fight. I mean, he gave him just
a vicious down home. What's the old saying from the
great line in HBO's Legendary Knights series when they were
doing the episode about Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, it
was about it was Tommy Brooks, who was a trainer
had worked with Tyson saying that was such a that
was such a beating. You know, even Grandma's lifestyle couldn't
clean him up. I mean, that's the kind of beating
that he gave to Greg Hougan that night.
Speaker 2: I do remember because it's Steve Albert, Bobby Chez and
the fight doctor Ferdy Pacheco on the showtime call, and
I think Chez is the one bringing it up. But
they're bringing up he's torturing him right now. He could
have maybe finished him off in the second or the
third round, but he's torturing him in a fourth round
and a fifth round vintage Chavez for sure. And I
know we talked recently on the pod about him suffering
the loss the following year to Frankie Randall. This is
after the controversial draw with Pernell Whitaker as well, But
on that night, in that setting, it's tough to argue
about him being the greatest Mexican champion ever. And for now,
for the I mean, I know the Canelo fans want
to talk about Canelo in the present day, but good lord,
one hundred and thirty two thousand people and the man
delivered and put the brutal beat down on the.
Speaker 1: American It's funny you say that he fights Hogen in
February of ninety three while we're talking about on the anniversary.
Then you mentioned the following year he had the upset
loss to Frankie Randall. Do you know that between the
Hagen fight and the Randall fight was the separated by
eleven months, So if it was today, it might have
been his next fight or two fights.
Speaker 2: Later, right, certainly a couple of fights.
Speaker 1: Right after he beat Hagen, he fought a non title
fight against Silvio Rojas in Mexico. He defended the title
against Terrence Ali, another great performance. Then he had the
draw against Pearnel Whittaker. Then he came back in a
non title fight in Mexico against Mike Powell. Then he
had another pay per view main event against Andy Holligan
in December of ninety three, and then he fought Frankie
Randall in January. He fought in nineteen ninety three. He
fought what one, two, three, four, five, one two, three, four,
Six times he fought in January. And this is Chavez
as such some prospect. He was like pound for pound
number one, fighting six times and in the in in
among those six fights, Hogan, Terrence Sali, Peonel Whittaker, Andy
Holligan all like legit fights. Holligan was undefeated. Obviously, Parnel
Whittaker was a mega fight, and Terrence Ali was a
good contender. So it's it's just a different it's a
different world from thirty years ago. Say, also, you know
when we talk about the big Don King pay per
views and a lot of there's been a lot of
discussion those because what's going on with the Riot card,
how stacked the loaded it is back in its day
when when Chavez was with King and he was putting
on these big fights with Chavez and also with Mike Tyson.
This was one of those cards that at the time
was like a big card. They called it the Grand
Slam of Boxing because besides a huge fight between Chavez
and Hagan in the one hundred and thirty some thousand
you know in attendance, they also had Terry Norris defending
the WBC one hundred and fifty four pound title against
Maurice Blocker, who had been a welterweight champion that was
on this undercard. The Great a Zuma Nelson was fighting
Gabriel Rouillis, which is another big deal fight in a
one hundred and thirty pound world title fight. And they
also had Michael Nunn, who at the time was a
super middleweight champion who was looked at as a potential
heir apparent on the pound for PALMSS. He was on
this card in the title defense, so that was considered
a big, big pay per view back in those days.
And King Giddo was on a regular basis, and obviously
Chavez was the event.
Speaker 2: How about that?
Speaker 1: And by the way, one hundred thirty two thousand, two
hundred and forty seven tickets I have one of those tickets,
and I posted my picture but on Twitter earlier today.
Speaker 2: What what's the I'm just curious, what's the section and
what's the row? And have you gone to Azteca Stadium
to see how high up that's the seat was for
a while, I would love that.
Speaker 1: I have been in Mexico on a number of occasions,
including the cover boxing, but never in Mexico City. I'm
looking at the picture right here, I'm in section A three,
row eight seed thirty one.
Speaker 2: A three might imply its lower level, maybe even on
the on the pitch.
Speaker 1: I don't know I was in the what's what's what's
the word dorata in Mexico mean?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I was in in the dorada zone? Whatever that means?
Speaker 2: What the dorata? I gotta I gotta look that up.
The dorada in English. I'm just looking real quick. Is
itch d u r A d A d o r
e d a d o r. So this is why
you gotta be careful with certain words and Spanish and
the different means golden our Spanish friends, dorata is golden, golden.
Speaker 1: So I was in the zone. I was probably a
good see I was in the gold zone.
Speaker 2: Look at that. All right, So you got the ticket,
You've got that up on your substack.
Speaker 1: Man, I got on my tweet on your tweet.
Speaker 2: Check it out Twitter x. So we have had a
preview with all these fights on the read card. Again,
God willing, no changes. We're going to handicap the top
four fights off this card on the bet Us Boxing
Show at one Eastern time. A reminder, get the pay
per view through our friends at PPV dot com. No
long term subscription needed, they are sponsors of ours again,
a very affordably priced pay per view one off purchase
is all you need. Get it through PPV dot com
to watch the better B b BL rematch and all
of the other title fights that are in and around
it for Saturday. With that, my friend, let's regroup for
tomorrow and if there are any changes, well any more changes,
we'll be talking about it on the bet Us Show
at one Easter time. Other than that, Dan Rayfield, I
think we're good, my friend, have a good weekend and
look forward to all of this.
Speaker 1: Should be a big weekend, looking forward to it.
Speaker 2: There is Dan Rayfield. I'm merely TJ Reeves. Follow her.
Subscribe on this podcast feed Apple Spreaker, Spotify. We preview
going into the weekend, will recap no matter what happens
off the weekend, Sunday Night and Monday with the Fight
Preaching Night recap. For now, we're good. Enjoy all the fights.
Thank you for being with us on the Big Fight
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