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Speaker 1: Well, it is my great pleasure going to be joined

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on the podcast. This week they repeat guests and one

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Jesse Vaan Rodriguez. Jesse, you're the lineal and the WBC

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Junior band and Weight world champion, and I'll just let

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our listeners know what you've got coming up. You're going

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to be in a unification fight with from Lele Tofu,

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the WBO champion, looking to unify those titles at one

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hundred and fifteen pounds. It I'll headline the Matchroom boxing

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card on his own. It'll take place on July nineteenth

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and your home state at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas.

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So welcome to the show. I thank you very much

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for doing this. Yes for having anytime. Man, I know

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how much you've won it because you've spoken so much

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about it about wanting a unification fight in this weight class.

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You were able to do it in the flyweight division.

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But before I ask you about this fight, I just

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wanted to reflect a little bit on your big fight

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last year. You had two fights, but the big one,

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you know, in an excellent year, was a rather impressive destruction,

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if I must say so, against the future Hall of

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Famer and Jan Francisco Estrada, who was the champion at

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that time. You went and got back the BBC title

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that you had vacated to drop down to the flyweight

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division and then came back up to take it from

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him as well as his lineal title. And you know,

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it was a heck of a fight. You knocked him out,

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but he did have the right to a rematch, and

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in the ring he said he would probably go for it.

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Ultimately he decided against it. He came back in his

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first fight since that loss. Just recently he moved off

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to bandonmweight. I just wondered where you at all surprised

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he didn't press for the rematch, knowing the warrior that

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he is. Were you disappointed he didn't go for the rematch?

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Speaker 2: I was surprised, actually, I feel like it was a

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huge shock to me. I was already in training camp

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for the fight itself. I think it was still on

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the works, but mentally physically, I was already prepared for

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another fight against him. And then about the second week

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into training camp is when I found out that he

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had actually put out a bit. So it did shock

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me in a bit in a way, just because I

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know he's a warrior. I feel like he would have

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wanted to get revenge against me, but I mean he

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went his away and decided to move up. But I mean,

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it's it's really out of my control.

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Speaker 1: His career absolutely well. As I mentioned, one of the

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goals you had talked about wanting to do was have

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a fight for another one of the titles. You had

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done it a flyweight, like I said, and so now

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you're going to have the fight with Kafu. But I'm

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always curious about when guys go in to the to

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the efforts to get the unification. I sort of wonder

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is it a particular opponent that they're interested in, because

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there's obviously multiple belts, or is it just whoever's got

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a title. And in that at the time where this

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fight was being organized by match Room, you had Cafuho

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had won the WBO title. You had I think, I

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guess the more well known fighter Fernando Martinez, who had

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the w the IBF title or no, the WBA title.

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I guess yeah, And the IBF title was vacant and

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they had a title fight getting ready to go. For

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that point here is that if you run in a unification,

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it was either fight Martinez or a fight CAFU, whoever

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you can make a deal with. And so was it

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that you wanted him or that you just didn't care

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and you wanted a belt?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, honestly I didn't care. But before the CAFU presented itself,

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we were already in the works with Martinez for a

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unification fight against him, and then just one random day

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that fell through and I was stuck just waiting for

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a fight in itself, and then KAFU presented itself and

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they started working on that it would have get it done.

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So now we're here two weeks out from the fight,

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and I'm ready to go.

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Speaker 1: So he's not the most well known guy obviously, he's

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eleven in ZHO with three draws. He's only fought in

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South Africa other than when he won this title, when

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he fought over in Japan, So he doesn't have a

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big name, even if you look at the record of

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the opponents he fought in his home country. Because in

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no way what I suggest that there's not good fighters

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from South Africa. There's plenty of them, but they're not

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guys that anybody would really recognize. And so I know

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you're motivated to have another title, But what do you

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think about him just as a fighter, if you've looked

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at any of the videos of him or what you've seen,

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because he's not very experienced, and he hasn't I've saw

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a couple of videos, hasn't shown like incredible dynamics the

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way you've done or some of the other opponents that

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you have faced.

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Speaker 2: Honestly, coming into this fight, don't know much about him.

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I know he's coming off of that win against Tanaka

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that was a huge upset, just considering that it was

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over there in Japan in his home country, So I

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know mentally he's coming off of that win very motivated

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to come to first go and do the same against me.

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I know he's training one hundred percent to give me

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a great fight, but I feel like right now, I'm

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just I'm unbeatable.

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Speaker 1: Well, he got that win, as you mentioned against Tanaka.

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It was by a split decision, but he did so

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in the other man's home area, so you know, it's

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and I saw the fight. It was legitimate win. It

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was close, But a lot of people, like I said,

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they don't know him, and they figure here's you know,

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Jesse Van Rodriguez multiple division champion fought a lot of

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top fighters, been looking spectacular in any of those fights,

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and they figure that you're just going to roll right

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through a guy that a they never heard of and

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b if they check him out, hasn't really had any

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big wins other than that Tanaka win. How do you

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keep yourself from being over confident in a fight where

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a lot of people just figure, you know, you're gonna

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just walk through the guy.

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Speaker 2: I just know that he has a lot of power.

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He has eleven wins, eight of those have come by knockouts,

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so that says a lot about you know, how hard

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he punches. So just having that in the back of

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my mind as well as just I know there's bigger

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opportunities after this fight if I do get past Cafu.

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So just those two combined keeps me level headed, down

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to earth, and just keep training the way I have

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been since the beginning of my career.

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Speaker 1: One thing that it's interesting to me about this the fight.

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The fight dates, I guess July nineteenth. It's a huge

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day for boxing because besides your fight in a you know,

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a unification fight, you also have earlier in the day,

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you have the rematch between Alexander Usik and Daniel Dubad.

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They'll meet to unify the titles for the undistributed heavyweight Championship.

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That's obviously a huge deal. And around the same time

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that your fight is going to be taking place, that

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your card is going on in Texas. In Las Vegas,

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he'll have the legendary manupac Yo coming out of retirement

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after four years to take on Mario Barrios to fight

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for the WBC's welterweight title with a pretty loaded undercard. Normally,

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if dam Rodriguez is going to be in a unification fight,

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you're gonna get all the attention that week. You're gonna

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be the man that all the boxing fans and media

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are focused on this time. You know, with all due respect,

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it's probably not going to be the case because your

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opponent's not the most known guy. Yeah, and it's the

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heavyweight title and it's Manny pac Yo. So are you

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at all disappointed that you face that type of stiff

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competition that normally everyone will be focused on your event

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and probably because of the loaded schedule with lots of

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good fights, that won't be the case this year. And

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this is you know this coming up.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I actually don't mind it. I'm actually happy just

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to be a part of it, to headline my own

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card on the same day as those fights. Like you said,

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O Sig, my longtime friend Mario Borrows fighting Manny Pacyo

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so to share. Yeah, I'm getting a call.

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Speaker 1: Sorry, no problem. The technologically at Jesse vam Radriguez. What

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do you ca Yeah, happens to the best of.

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Speaker 2: Us, right, But yeah, I'll just restart that. Like I said,

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I'm just happy to be a part of the night

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highlighting my own card. You're Light nineteen with these great

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fighters USIG, my longtime frame Mario Barrios. To share a

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boxing night with them, just it's a It's an honor

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at the end of the day. Like you said, I

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won't be getting too much attention just because of the names.

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But I'm just happy to be in the ring myself.

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After a long layoff eight months, I'm just happy to

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get back in there and perform.

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Speaker 1: One of the things I always wonder also, is you

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know you're you're making good money for these fights. You're

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getting the fights you want in terms of unification fights,

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You're building your name up continuously because you're still a

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very young fighter. Relatively speaking. So I just wonder what

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is the main motivation? Is it the titles? Is it

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the money? Is it just a specific name? Is there

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something else? Like? What is it that when you get

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out of bed to go do that hard work to prepare,

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that's first and foremost on your mind as the reason

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why you're doing it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Honestly, my dream when I started professional boxing with

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to become world champion, and I already accomplished that back

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in twenty twenty two. So now being a father, knowing

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I have a daughter and a son on the way,

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it's just that's, honestly my motivation to just be able

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to win these fights, get bigger paydays, be able to

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provide for them in the long term, long long run.

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That is so for there is all the motivation I

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ever needed.

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Speaker 1: So if everything works out for you in this fight

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with CFU, there are the other champions, you'll have two

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of the titles if you're the winner. There is still

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Martinez out there. The IBF title was filled in a

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recent fight where Willibaldo Garcia that won that vacant title.

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I've talked to the Willibaldo Garcia team. They say he's

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going to be in Frisco to be ringside to check

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you out, and he wants to fight you if you win.

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So what is what is your game plan?

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Speaker 2: Like?

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Speaker 1: What would you want most? Is it still Martinez because

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you mentioned it before? Is it Wilebaldo, who's you know,

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will probably make a pretty big fight also for you,

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given that he's Mexican and you can fight in front

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of a big his crowd or have you not thought

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about it?

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Speaker 2: Honestly, ideally I would like the Martinez fight. I haven't

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put too much thought behind what's going to happen after

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this fight. I'm just one hundred percent focused on CAFU.

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So everything plays out well, we'll talk about it after that.

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Speaker 1: Well, one thing I know that you and I'm not

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talking about for the next fight, but every fighter dreams

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about what's in the long run. I don't know if

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you remember this, but when we were out in Los

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Angeles last summer in August at the Terrence Crawford Israel

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Majamav fight, we sat at that table in the hotel

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that was the fight hotel, and that little lounge there

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and we were just sort of, you know, talking about

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this and that, and you know, you were telling me

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that your dream would be eventually a huge mega fight

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against Noya in a way, who was the one hundred

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and twenty two pounds disputed champion. He's still in that

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weight class. You know, you'd obviously have to move up

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a couple of divisions over the course of however long.

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Is that still what you harbor as like the big

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one for Jesse Rodriguez?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure in a way, he's still dominating at

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the top of his game right now. So if we

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ever meet up in a fight, I would love that

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fight to happen in Japan, and I feel like that

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would be a huge fight for all the boxing. Honestly,

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I would I would say that that's my dream fight

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right now.

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Speaker 1: And so that means obviously by this, by saying that

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you would be willing to at some point either either

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skip over the Bandam white division or maybe fight at

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bandam weight, they'll go right to one twenty two. Well,

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how do you think that your frame and your size

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and all the things to go into it would would

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translate to the heavier weight class two weight classes in

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this case.

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Speaker 2: Honestly, if the fight presented itself right now, I would

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have you know, I wouldn't be able to say no

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to that opportunity. So if it ever presents itself from

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now into whatever, if it becomes a fishaw, I have

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no problem taking that fight.

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Speaker 1: Well, that would obviously be a big one. But I

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both you guys have a lot to do between now

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and then because you have this important fight with Kafu

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coming up. He's got his fight scheduled. He's got two

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fights I think coming up this year, one in September,

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another one in Saudi Raby at the end of the year,

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and who knows after that. I think they still look

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to do a knack Atani fight, but that would be

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I take a dream fight for boxing fans. Is there

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any other one out there that you have your eye

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on in the future.

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Speaker 2: Oh, honestly no, I'm just one hundre percent focused on

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what's going on right now, and that's uh Catfoo.

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Speaker 1: Do you know how to say his first name because

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it's tough. Yeah, I don't.

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Speaker 2: I don't know how to say it.

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Speaker 1: I believe it's humalle all right, all right, So I'm here.

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I'm here to help.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Jesse, thank you very much for your time. I really

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do appreciate it. I wish you nothing about us success

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in your fight.

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Speaker 2: Yes, sir, thank you.

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Speaker 1: He did