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Speaker 1: The countdown is on to fight time.

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Speaker 2: This is Big Fight Weekend. Now here is your host.

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DJ leaves.

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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 2: We get ready for the final weekend in July, and

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it appears we get ready for the final top ranked

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boxing ESPN card. At least for now, it is headlined

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by Xander Zaiez. We're ready to talk about his main events.

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He goes for a world title on this card Saturday

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Night from New York. Also, Claressa Shields is in action

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defending the women's undisputed heavyweight title in Detroit on Saturday Night.

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We're ready to preview that. We've got some news and

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much more. It is the Big Fight Weekend preview pot

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I am He's somewhat capable host. He's back from Vegas,

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Ladies and gentlemen, our insider Dan Raphael. Fight Freaking Night

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is the substack of the newsletter. Glad that you're back

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off of what was a file weekend last weekend for sure,

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not just in Vegas, but in England and even Bam

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Rodriguez has winning Frisco, Texas. Good to be back with

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you as we head towards another weekend here, a little

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lighter weekend of action, but anyway, welcome in.

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Speaker 1: I wish they would have had all the fights that

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were last weekend between Manny Pack, Yao's return and the

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undisputed heavyweight title with U Sick and Dubai in their

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rematch and Bam. Also, maybe we could have spread them

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out over like three weeks because it's going to be

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Preleen and said they smashed everything together on the same night,

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which just drives me wild. When you have open weeks

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or weeks with not a lot of.

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Speaker 2: Stubtle, sure doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.

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Thank you for finding us, however you've done so on

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the podcast outlets Apple, Spreaker, Spotify. Make sure you're subscribing again,

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we're doing a good job. I say this of varying

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up that you get some of the content on the podcast. First,

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you get some stuff on our YouTube channel that you

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don't get on the podcast. So go to the Big

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Fight Weekend YouTube channel. Help us out. A lot of

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you been doing this. Subscribe, stay engaged there, hit the

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light button, comment on the videos. We love doing that,

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so thank you, thank you, thank you, and continue to

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five star rate us and review us on the pod.

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All right, so before we get into the fights that

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we're going to preview for this week. Just give me

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an after thought here off of the weekend of watching

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Manny Pacquiao's return in person and everything that went along

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with it, any follow up, anything else that we didn't

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cover off the weekend, anything else to put that to bed.

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Speaker 1: Well, I just thought that Many performed in a far

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better manner than I think anybody would have had the

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right to think. There was a reason he was an underdog.

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It is not normal for a fighter to come out

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of a four year retirement and excel, particularly when you're

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forty six years old. I can think of a couple

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so like when George Foreman ended a ten year retirement.

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He didn't go jump in with a world champion. I mean,

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you may not think much of Mario Barrios, but he's

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still a lot better than the stiffs that Foreman fought

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those first you know, fifteen or twenty fights of his comeback.

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He was tooking very slowly. Manny jumped in with a

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top you know, five or six welterweight in the world,

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and I was thinking to myself, if you didn't know

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that it was a many Pacio off a four year retirement,

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who hadn't fought in a while and been retired and

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was forty six, you'd have been like, maybe it's not

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the many Packyo of his prime, but I was a

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many packet, looked pretty good, quick, light on his feet,

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darting in and out, doing the things that we're used

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to seeing many do.

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Speaker 2: One thing, what about the argument that Barrios, especially in

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the middle of the fight, didn't fight an aggressive fight,

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didn't fight a smart fight, and that that made Pakia.

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I'm not saying that Pacio doesn't deserve credit, but that

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made Paqui, how in two ways, have an easier night

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in the middle of the fight and maybe empowered him

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a little bit because Barrios didn't get aggressive, didn't throw

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a lot of punches, in bunches, that kind of stuff

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in the middle of the fight. Especially he did more

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so in the last three rounds.

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Speaker 1: But that's why I was putting those rounds in the

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bank for Pakya, because he was doing a lot more.

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I mean, neither one were landing at a high rate.

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So if the if the landing is sort of like similar,

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but one guy's landing jabs, which was Barrios, one guy's

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landing power shots which is pacyaw and one guy seems

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to be more active and more uh more the guy

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that's making the fight in terms of what you know,

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controlling where it's taking place. And you know, what's the

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old saying being the effect of aggressor more so than

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the other guy, then I'm going to lean towards the

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other guy. I'm gonna lean towards Manny to give him

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those rounds. So that's why when it was all said

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and done, I had Manny winning very clearly. And I again,

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I've watched the fight back since I came home. I

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might tighten my scop a little bit, but still would

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have many Pakia winning that fight. And uh the upshot

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of it, though, is that the way that that the

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Barrios team acted. And you know, I have nothing but

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respect for Barrios, as well as Bob Santos, the trainer,

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their whole team. They're good guys over there. But they

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were real quiet, like they know, I feel like they

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were like, let's not make too much noise, let's get

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out of dodge with our title. Like they didn't make

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a big stink, like while we deserve to win. There

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was really none of that. They said it, but it

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wasn't with strong conviction was kind of half assed, like

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they I think they know deep in their heart that

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they kind of dodged a bullet. And I feel like

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Manny pack Down now three times in his career has

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been on the wrong end of a fight where I

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feel like he was the clear winner of both this fight,

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the Jeff Horn fight, and obviously the first fight that

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he had against Timothy Bradley.

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Speaker 2: Which agreed on that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, those justice in the history of boxing. But again,

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the upshot though here is the following. Not a lot

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of people are going to really care about what Barrios

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does next. But Manny Pacow had a big crowd there.

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They were all cheering for him, and from what he

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was saying and what his team was saying is there's

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a good strong Likelihod. We're going to see Manny Paco

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back in the ring probably November time frame. And the

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reason why I feel like that's a very logical thing

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to do, regardless of who he may end up fighting,

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is because PBC, if he's going to continue to work

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with them, they don't have a lot of fighters that

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they can put into a pay per view main event

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at this moment in time. For a lot of different

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reason as David Bennavidez is still with them, but off

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in Saudi Arabia at least for the next fight, which

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means he's not fighting here in America for the rest

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of this year. You have Tank Davis, who schedules completely

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up in the air between his legal problems and is

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just a general knucklehead where he is in his life.

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You never know what to expect with him, so they

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can't make real solid plans. Canelo Alvaz left and went

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with Turkey. The fight they were planning to do as

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a pay per view between Kayla Plant and Charlo that

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went down the toilet because of Caleb plants defeat. So

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I'm making the point here that there's not a lot

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to choose from in terms of who can headline a

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big pay per view card in Mannipaco with that name,

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with that star power, with that legend status, and an

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excellent performance, He's a guy that can do that. So

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he probably will headline in the fall on one of

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their cards, and hopefully they'll load up the under card,

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because I thought the undercard on Saturday was pretty, you know,

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was particularly excellent. A lot of good fights, a lot

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of good names, So that's where we're at with that?

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Speaker 2: All right? So that puts a rap on last weekend.

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Let's head to this weekend again. You did interview Xander Zaiaz.

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We have it immediately preceded this podcast on the pod feed.

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It's also on the YouTube video page where you talked

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with him. He is fighting Jorge Garcia, a Mexican veteran.

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Garcia pulled an upset with American Charles Conwell earlier this

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year to get into this slot to fight for the

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WBO Junior Middleweight vacant title. This is the belt that

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Sebastian Fondora vacated to go ahead and fight Tim zu Zius.

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Obviously undefeated, Zius heavily favored here in the preview mode.

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What do you make of this? Here coming at the

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Madison Square Garden Theater for Saturday night.

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Speaker 1: This is the moment that it all comes together for

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Zias if he's the winner. This is what they've planned

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ever since he turned professional. He turned pro in signing

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a contract with Top Rank at age sixteen. He didn't

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turn pro right away, He waited a while, but they

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had him under contract. He didn't turn pro until twenty nineteen,

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and he has been brought along slowly but surely. He's

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fought the right kinds of guys, guys to get him experience,

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big guy, small guys, you know, long guy, short guys, lefties. Right,

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he's I mean he's done with the matchmakers. What you

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want for the guy to to develop, which is you

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give him a look at all different kinds of styles,

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you assess him after each fight, and he has, you know, fought, uh,

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the right kind of guys. He's got a former world

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champion on the resume, he's got an on the he's

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got undefeeded guy on the resume, he's got vastly experienced

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guys on the resume. He's got the journeymen who are

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known to have, you know, been able to go in

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the in long fights in the distance with good opponents.

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So he's taken care of that. And well, not every

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fight has he looked great, but generally speaking, I feel

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like over the course of times Xander has improved.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 1: He has moved up from welterweight because that was what

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his body did. Obviously turn him pro at such a

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young age. He spent the first part of this career

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fighting at welterweight. Now he's been for the last several

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fights in the gerumidaweight division. He's been there since what's

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been since twenty twenty one, since he when he when

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he moved up in Wait and so he looks good

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at the you know, at the weight. He's matured. He

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really gets it. I mean he by all accounts, he

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lives the life. He's not a guy that's running around

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and doing other things. Reminded at one point by me

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in an interview about you know you're a young kid.

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You know you're not going to the prom, You're not

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going out with your friends, You're in the gym. He's like,

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once I become a champion and I start making that

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money and I'm done with things, then I can enjoy that.

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But right now, it's about working and fulfilling his dream.

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He takes great pride in the fact that this particular bout,

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his most important fight will be a classical Mexico versus

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Puerto Rico kind of fight because them being a Puerto

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Rican and his opponent Garcia being from Mexico. He understands

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what that means, especially taking place in a place like

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New York City where it's going to be a large

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Puerto Rican contingent. Yeah, he's so highly identified at the

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moment with the Madison Square Garden Theater. He's fought there

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his last four consecutive fights. He's fought in the garden

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something like eight times. Between the main arena and the theater.

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He's joked around. I think he joked around an hour

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interview that's on that previous episode of the podcast, joking

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around like when he shows up now with the theater,

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he doesn't have to show an ID because they just

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recognize him because he's been there so much time. So

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it's you know, he's comfortable there, but now he's got

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to do the job now, you know he obviously he's

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fighting a competent opponent. This is not like some nonsense

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walk over. There's a guy who's been in the ring

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many more times than he has. He's got a lot

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more fights in him. He's thirty three and four. What

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stands out to me about the four is that all

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of those four losses are all distance fights. He's never

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been stopped, and Xander, for all of his good attributes,

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is not known as a big puncher. He's filled with confidence.

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I am sure Garcia coming off the big victory that

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your reference against Charles Conwell, who was in the undefeated

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United States Olympian that was on his way to a

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title shot. Even before that, he beat you know, a

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very experienced longtime contender and ab du Kakarov that was earlier.

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That was at the end of twenty twenty four. He

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got the win in that fight. So he's experienced, He's

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fought some good guys and you know, made the best

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man win. I expect this to be a pretty good fight.

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I'm expecting Garcia to be the more of the aggressor

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and Xander to be more of the guy that's going

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to cat owner. But you know, the guy that wins

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is going to have that belt there.

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Speaker 2: He certainly surprised Conwell and was tough and out battled

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Conwell down the stretch to fight and won the decision

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because Conwell was in position to be the guy fighting

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Ziaz here.

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Speaker 1: So listen. After Fandora won the fight against Cordell Booker

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earlier in the year, Xander was ringside for the fight,

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got in the ring with him in a in a

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professional manner. They took photographs together, They talked about doing

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the fight. Their teams at Top Rank and PBC were

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negotiating and then after Zoo had won his interim bout.

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Apparently he was allowed to take an interim bout but

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had the right start to do a rematch, and that's

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what he opted to do. Obviously, he paid the price

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by getting beat by Fandora on the Paco card on

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the co feature. But the thing about Garcia is, and

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I thought this was amazing. Again, if you listened to

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the interview I had with Xander, he was talking about

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how a while ago, this is before he was positioned

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to fight for the title, and him and his father

258
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were just sort of looking at the rankings, and his

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father said, someday you're going to fight this guy Pez

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because they've they've been around each other in those ratings

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for the for the last while, and so now that

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they're doing it for the for the vacant title, you know,

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it shows the you know, if you take a look

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at rankings, you sometimes if you if you read the

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tea leaves and follow the bread crumbsy and kind of

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figure out what the matters are going to be if

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certain things happen in terms of guys vacating or moving

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up and wait or what have you. And so look,

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this is it. This, like I said, This is the

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culmination of all the hard work that the kid has done,

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what top rank has done. And Garcia, I'm not going

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to downplay. I'm sure he's done hard work. Also, he's

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won eight fights in a row, by the way, and

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he's never been stopped, and he's coming off the biggest

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win of his career. So you're getting two guys, at

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the very least, two guys who are on the upswing,

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two guys who are supremely confident, I believe, and two

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guys who have good records who have beaten good guys.

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And then a splintered sport where there's lots of belts

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and rankings are sometimes screwy. It feels like this is

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a reasonable fight for two guys to fight for a

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vacant world title, especially since Fondora is the one that

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vacated instead of fighting Xander Zayas. So I think this

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will be a good fun fight.

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Speaker 2: All right. So we have that for the main event.

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The co feature fight is Bruce Shoeshoe Carrington, the Brooklyn

287
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native who we've also seen fighting over and over again

288
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in the Madison Square Garden Theater. He will fight a Namibian.

289
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I don't know a lot about matteos Hata, if that's

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how you say it for the WBC's vacant interim featherweight championship,

291
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Clearly this is a moment for Shoeshoe Carrington to take

292
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a big step in the featherweight division.

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Speaker 1: No doubt about it. I mean, he's fighting in front

294
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of his people. He's from Brooklyn, he's fighting in New York.

295
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Similarly to Xander's eyes. He has fought numerous times in

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the Madison Square Guarden Theater. It's very comforting for him.

297
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It still irritates me that they have made this interim

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title fight. I scored a quasi get it because you

299
00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:51,320
have Steven Fulton Junior as the full champion. He is

300
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supposed to be moving up to one hundred and thirty

301
00:13:53,879 --> 00:13:57,279
pounds to challenge O'shaki Foster for the WBC title and

302
00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:59,799
that weight class. That fight was supposed to be the

303
00:14:00,039 --> 00:14:03,600
co feature on August sixteenth against on the undercard of

304
00:14:03,639 --> 00:14:06,240
Tank Davis in the rematch against Lamont Roach. But that

305
00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:09,240
fight is now not happening in August and it's up

306
00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:11,039
in the air it will happen at all, but they

307
00:14:11,039 --> 00:14:13,080
still have a deal for that fight. So in the meantime,

308
00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:17,440
the WBC has permitted the interim title to be contested

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00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:20,879
in this fight between Carrington, who is an outstanding young fighter.

310
00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:23,440
I mean, he's done nothing wrong in his career. He's

311
00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:25,200
had you know, he had the one close, real close,

312
00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:27,960
I guess, a very close call against Segawa a couple

313
00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:29,919
of fights ago, a majority decision. A lot of people

314
00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:32,159
thought that Sagawa could have been the winner in that fight.

315
00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,159
But he's won two fights dominant since then, a shutout

316
00:14:36,159 --> 00:14:39,600
on a Tyson Jake Call undercard, and then he's then

317
00:14:39,639 --> 00:14:42,320
he had a third round devastation against Enrique Vivas that

318
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was back in March, and so he's primed and ready

319
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,600
to go. One thing about Shushu Carrington is win or lose.

320
00:14:48,919 --> 00:14:52,200
You know, he's a fan friendly fighter. Uh he's got

321
00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:56,799
he's got a good disposition and a good personality, and

322
00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,240
he's a very likable guy both in terms of as

323
00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:01,440
just on a personal level as well as to watch

324
00:15:01,519 --> 00:15:02,960
him and the style he fights in the ring. So

325
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he's fighting in front of the home crowd and and

326
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you know, you got to give some props to the

327
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opponent and Mattheus. I guess it's Haitia I guess how

328
00:15:09,399 --> 00:15:12,240
they say he's undefeated fourteen and zero nine knockouts. He's

329
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not an old guy. He's twenty seven. He's actually a

330
00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:16,399
little younger than Carrington. Carrington has a little bit of

331
00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:18,519
a late start. He's already twenty eight. I mean, people

332
00:15:18,519 --> 00:15:20,559
think of him as a prospect, but he stayed amateur

333
00:15:20,639 --> 00:15:23,600
for a little longer than I think than people realize.

334
00:15:23,759 --> 00:15:26,519
And so he's coming over from Namibia and Africa, which

335
00:15:26,519 --> 00:15:28,559
has produced some good fighters through the years and has

336
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produced world champions. But he's making his American debut. It's

337
00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:33,559
the first time he's ever going to fight out of Namibia,

338
00:15:34,039 --> 00:15:38,000
and you know, we'll see what happens. But I'm intrigued

339
00:15:38,039 --> 00:15:41,480
by the matchup just from the standpoint to see Carrington

340
00:15:41,519 --> 00:15:43,799
in the ring with an undefeated guy who comes from

341
00:15:43,799 --> 00:15:47,639
a place that at least traditionally has produced very tough opponents,

342
00:15:47,639 --> 00:15:51,399
even if they haven't achieved huge success on the world stage,

343
00:15:51,399 --> 00:15:54,240
but again have had a few guys that have gone

344
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on to win world titles.

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Speaker 2: And again Carrington with the fast hands and a good talker.

346
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So there's a lot of potential there. Can you realize

347
00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:04,000
the potential?

348
00:16:04,039 --> 00:16:04,240
Speaker 1: Though?

349
00:16:04,279 --> 00:16:06,879
Speaker 2: Now you're going to step up to whatever extent this

350
00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:08,480
is a step up, and we'll see.

351
00:16:08,519 --> 00:16:10,679
Speaker 1: And I would say carr Carrington is not. I mean,

352
00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:14,240
I have nothing negative about Carrington to say, but his

353
00:16:14,399 --> 00:16:17,039
record really for a guy that's fighting for a title,

354
00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:20,440
And the same thing with Haitia is that neither one

355
00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,639
of them has fought really anybody. I mean Sagawa who

356
00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:25,559
was viewed as a journeyman ish kind of guy, he

357
00:16:25,679 --> 00:16:28,240
was like seventeen four and one when he fought him

358
00:16:28,279 --> 00:16:31,279
back in September of last year. That was probably the

359
00:16:31,279 --> 00:16:33,279
best guy that he fought, and he gave him life

360
00:16:33,279 --> 00:16:35,600
and death in that fight. Now, the thing is in

361
00:16:35,679 --> 00:16:38,320
terms of comparisons, and it's hard to look at them,

362
00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:41,120
at the Haitia opponents and really know much about him

363
00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:42,960
because there's a lot of guys that you never heard

364
00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,879
of who have, you know, very modest records. But in

365
00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,960
terms of their matching up head to head, Haitia's fourteen

366
00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:52,279
and oh with nine and Carrington is fifteen and oh

367
00:16:52,639 --> 00:16:56,480
with nine, So record wise they're essentially the same. They're

368
00:16:56,519 --> 00:16:58,519
only separated by less than a year. In terms of

369
00:16:58,519 --> 00:17:01,200
their age. One is twenty, you know, Bruce is twenty eight,

370
00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:05,079
Asia is twenty seven. Obviously, Carrington's got the advantage because

371
00:17:05,079 --> 00:17:08,480
he's fighting in the comfort of home where he's enjoyed

372
00:17:08,559 --> 00:17:10,519
a lot of success and a lot of fans support.

373
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But as a doubleheader, the main thing I like is if,

374
00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:17,240
especially if the two A sides, if you will win,

375
00:17:17,279 --> 00:17:20,000
if it's Xander's eyes and Bruce Carrington like they are

376
00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:23,880
the future of those divisions at the moment. Two younger guys,

377
00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:27,160
two undefeated guys, two guys who are fan friendly, two

378
00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:29,079
guys are good with the fans, good with the press,

379
00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:34,720
have climbed the ladder, have good backgrounds, and these are guys,

380
00:17:34,759 --> 00:17:37,480
if they can keep winning, that can become the next,

381
00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,119
you know, group of fighters that we'll see, you know,

382
00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:42,599
in bigger fights and perhaps some day on a pound

383
00:17:42,599 --> 00:17:43,519
for pound type of list.

384
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Speaker 2: All right, we'll handicap both of those fights. By the way,

385
00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:49,240
I first mentioned here on our bet US Boxing show

386
00:17:49,319 --> 00:17:51,960
live at one Eastern time on the bet us platforms,

387
00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:54,640
on their YouTube and their social media. For those two

388
00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:58,920
headlining shows on the top ranked card, also on the undercard,

389
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:03,039
it'll have a Million Vargas, Rojan Polanco, who I know

390
00:18:03,039 --> 00:18:06,119
you're high on, and the big heavyweight Jalla loof. So

391
00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:08,240
take me through what we're looking for out of any

392
00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:10,720
of those three fighters and fights real quick on the car.

393
00:18:10,799 --> 00:18:13,880
Speaker 1: We're just we're just looking for improvements for taking that

394
00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:17,519
next st up. They're they're not matched with terrible opponents.

395
00:18:17,839 --> 00:18:19,920
I mean, Joe Love, it's hard to know because he's

396
00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,079
he's a hard guy to match. You know, he really

397
00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:26,599
should be in my opinion, fighting better guys. Uh, he's

398
00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,920
really He's really perplexed me. For a while, he's stayed amateur.

399
00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:32,359
I get it. He turned pro, then he had a

400
00:18:32,359 --> 00:18:34,039
bunch of fights. He went back to fight in the

401
00:18:34,079 --> 00:18:37,640
Olympics last summer he won a second gold medal, and

402
00:18:37,799 --> 00:18:39,720
if I'm not mistaken, he's only had like one fight

403
00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,440
since then, I think since the Olympics, and I just

404
00:18:42,519 --> 00:18:44,359
don't know what they're doing with you know, and it's

405
00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:45,920
not even top break. I think it's just him and

406
00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:47,799
his team. Like, I'm just not sure what they're doing.

407
00:18:47,799 --> 00:18:50,559
This is a guy that should be fighting top ten

408
00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:52,960
type heavyweights right now. He's thirty years old. He's not

409
00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,240
getting any younger. He's got massive size, He's a southpaw,

410
00:18:56,319 --> 00:18:58,920
he's a big giant puncher. Like, what are we doing here.

411
00:18:58,960 --> 00:18:59,880
I get it's frush.

412
00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:00,519
Speaker 2: I love it.

413
00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:02,759
Speaker 1: He could be moving a lot.

414
00:19:03,039 --> 00:19:05,799
Speaker 2: Is part of it that some of the lesser fighters

415
00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,279
don't want to fight him, and he's had trouble matchmaking

416
00:19:08,319 --> 00:19:09,759
for that reason because he is so.

417
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,039
Speaker 1: I don't buy that. I mean, there's if you're willing

418
00:19:13,079 --> 00:19:15,319
to step in, Uh, there'll be money there if you're

419
00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:18,319
a real guy to fight him. So I feel like,

420
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:18,920
right now, I'm not.

421
00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:21,440
Speaker 2: Talking about real guys. I'm talking about whatever level of

422
00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:24,160
competition that he maybe wanted to fight. I'm not making

423
00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,599
excuses looks at him being so massive and says no,

424
00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:28,720
not for that money?

425
00:19:29,839 --> 00:19:32,480
Speaker 1: You got what? The truth there's I just feel like

426
00:19:32,559 --> 00:19:34,799
his career I'm not saying it's not going to turn

427
00:19:34,799 --> 00:19:36,319
out to be where he might be a heavyweight champion.

428
00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:38,319
But let's get the funk on with it already. You

429
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:39,920
know what I'm saying, What are we waiting for?

430
00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:44,240
Speaker 2: Vargas intrigues you in the junior welterweight eight rounder?

431
00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:47,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, really really good prospect has grown on me to

432
00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:49,880
some degree, Like when he first when I first saw him,

433
00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:53,039
you know, and he was fighting the complete dregs. You're like, Okay,

434
00:19:53,039 --> 00:19:55,359
they're they're making it out. You know, he's the he's

435
00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:58,039
going to live off the father's name, and it's a

436
00:19:58,079 --> 00:20:00,279
matter of can you I put it to like this,

437
00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:03,000
There's plenty of fighters that have turned pro in recent years,

438
00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:07,440
Shane Mosley Junior, Fernando Vargas, Campbell, haddn't plenty of others

439
00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:09,799
who are the sons of guys that were Hall of

440
00:20:09,839 --> 00:20:13,480
Fame level guys or world champions or popular figures. And

441
00:20:13,519 --> 00:20:16,480
my thing is, yeah, you can get the opportunity because

442
00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:18,599
he got that great name. The question is can you

443
00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:23,480
do anything to separate yourself. Shane Mosley has developed into

444
00:20:23,519 --> 00:20:26,640
like a decent contender, ish type fighter. I actually saw

445
00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:28,920
Shane Mosley Junior when I was in Vegas. I had

446
00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,160
a nice chat with him. Nice kid, and I wish

447
00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:35,119
him the best. Hasn't yet gotten to that level, and

448
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:38,480
it's gonna be hard to reach the father's level. Campbell hadten,

449
00:20:38,519 --> 00:20:42,000
for example, has just retired. I mean, yeah, he couldn't

450
00:20:42,039 --> 00:20:44,519
get to the next level, and so I'm not looking

451
00:20:44,519 --> 00:20:46,559
down on him. He went like what fourteen and two,

452
00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,440
gave it his efforts and he wasn't going to be

453
00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:52,920
able to match what his father did. Emiliano Vargas. He's young,

454
00:20:53,559 --> 00:20:56,200
he's strong, he's got a lot of good knockouts. They're

455
00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:58,519
moving him along quickly. Noah, I shouldn't say they're moving

456
00:20:58,599 --> 00:21:02,519
that quickly. They're moving him a long at the proper

457
00:21:02,559 --> 00:21:05,119
pace that they should be moving him. And so this

458
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,440
is that next step. But of the of the of

459
00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:11,920
the recent fathers who had sons to become professionals, he

460
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:13,960
looks like a guy that might be able to develop

461
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,680
into something bigger. Now, I'm not gonna say he's gonna

462
00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:19,839
ever be bigger than Fernando Vargas. He was a huge star.

463
00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:23,599
He was involved in some humongous fights. He won multiple

464
00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,920
world titles, and so that's a tall order. But he

465
00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:29,720
looks like a promising young fighter. But I'm very high,

466
00:21:29,759 --> 00:21:33,559
as you know, on Polanco, the Dominican olympian, whose look

467
00:21:33,599 --> 00:21:37,920
absolutely spectacular, strong as a bull, had been fighting at

468
00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:41,440
one has recently made himself into a welterweight. He just

469
00:21:41,519 --> 00:21:44,240
kind of outgrew that weight class. And you know, he's

470
00:21:44,279 --> 00:21:46,599
taken on a solid a veteran in Quintin Randall in

471
00:21:46,599 --> 00:21:50,200
this particular fight, and I think that he's a dynamite fighter.

472
00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:53,440
He's very heavy handed, very crowd pleasing, seems like he

473
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,160
takes a good shot, comes in good condition. And I've

474
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,319
been watching him pretty much since he turned professional on

475
00:21:58,599 --> 00:22:00,359
I can't say there's been a single fight of his

476
00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:02,359
i've seen. I think I've seen all of them because

477
00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:04,279
Top Rank has shown all of those bouts on plus

478
00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:06,960
that I've been like, oh, you know that, you look

479
00:22:07,039 --> 00:22:08,720
like he didn't have a good night. Like he's done

480
00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,480
the job pretty much every time out. So if you're

481
00:22:12,519 --> 00:22:14,799
into seeing the prospect besides what it seems like a

482
00:22:14,839 --> 00:22:17,039
good main card, you know, you got some good names

483
00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:19,559
like we just mentioned with and then there's others also

484
00:22:19,599 --> 00:22:22,160
on the undercard, other kinds of prospects as well. But

485
00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:23,799
those are the three main guys you want to take

486
00:22:23,799 --> 00:22:26,319
a look at, and that's John Love, Polanco and Vargas.

487
00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:30,920
Speaker 2: All right, And one more thing before we move on here. Obviously,

488
00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,039
as I said at the top, and this is well known,

489
00:22:33,079 --> 00:22:34,680
this is out there if you're a fight fan. This

490
00:22:34,799 --> 00:22:39,119
is the last scheduled fight on the multi year deal

491
00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:43,319
that ESPN and Top Rank have together, and so now

492
00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:47,000
an uncertain future for Top Rank on where they land

493
00:22:47,319 --> 00:22:51,759
with broadcast partners. It's fascinating if ESPN's not going to

494
00:22:51,799 --> 00:22:54,160
be involved with boxing because going all the way back

495
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:56,680
to the beginning, you and I are nostalgic for this stuff.

496
00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:58,400
Going all the way back to the beginning of ESPN,

497
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,519
they were televising fights almost from the jump in nineteen

498
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:04,480
probably eighty, about six months after they were on the air,

499
00:23:04,519 --> 00:23:07,559
they were showing boxing of some kind to brank boxing whatever.

500
00:23:07,799 --> 00:23:10,559
Speaker 1: So for most of their existence it was top rank boxing.

501
00:23:10,599 --> 00:23:13,000
I mean from the nineteen from like nineteen eighty one,

502
00:23:13,039 --> 00:23:16,359
I want to say, until like them, like nineteen ninety

503
00:23:16,519 --> 00:23:19,279
seven ish or nineteen ninety eight, it was top rank boxing.

504
00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,680
And then they didn't do top rank boxing for a

505
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:23,559
while and they went and did other things. They had

506
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,359
a time where they were doing stuff with Sugar Ray Leonard.

507
00:23:26,519 --> 00:23:28,359
Then it was wide open and anybody, you know, they

508
00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:30,480
were you know, basically they had a person that was

509
00:23:30,559 --> 00:23:32,880
responsible to deal with all promoters and it was what

510
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:34,640
you call an open shop. So they did a small

511
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:36,680
deal with Sugar Ray Leonards company. But they had on

512
00:23:37,039 --> 00:23:39,720
you know, Russell Pelts had fights and banner promotions and

513
00:23:39,799 --> 00:23:41,960
main events, and there was a series with Golden Boy.

514
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:43,720
They had Tuesday night fights, they had Wednesday night fights.

515
00:23:43,759 --> 00:23:46,519
They had Friday night fights and it was an open, open,

516
00:23:47,079 --> 00:23:50,920
open thing. And then they ended up in twenty seventeen

517
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,960
when they canceled Friday Night or they had canceled Friday

518
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:55,839
Night fights, but they went and they did a long

519
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:58,480
term deal with Top Rank that brought them from mostly

520
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:01,599
HBO to give them their tire vertical of the prospects,

521
00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,720
the contenders, the champions, the top fights, the shoulder programs,

522
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:06,640
you name it. They kicked it off with a Manny

523
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:09,480
Pacio Jeff Warren fight that did you know, four million

524
00:24:09,559 --> 00:24:12,279
or five million viewers, a live many Paco fight on

525
00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:14,920
Basic cable that was not a pay per view, and

526
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,200
when Manny was still a you know, even a bigger

527
00:24:17,279 --> 00:24:19,559
name than he was this past weekend when he fought

528
00:24:19,599 --> 00:24:25,440
against sat Mario Barrios. And for different reasons, it apparently

529
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:29,559
has not worked out to the best for ESPN. It

530
00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:31,680
is my opinion. And I remember I was still working

531
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:33,640
at ESPN when the deal was consummated, so I have

532
00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:35,960
a lot of knowledge about the way, you know, some

533
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:37,799
of the business side of things that went down with that.

534
00:24:39,039 --> 00:24:43,079
I'll say this and I'll die on the hill. They

535
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:45,119
basically made the deal with Top Rank, and it's kind

536
00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:47,359
of like you're a kid. You get a Christmas toy,

537
00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:48,839
you play with it for ten minutes, and then you

538
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:50,799
forget about it. That was sort of the way that

539
00:24:50,799 --> 00:24:54,640
I feel like Top Rank got treated by ESPN, especially

540
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,960
once Top Rank was there, and then not that long

541
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,519
after ESPN made it a long term deal with UFC.

542
00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,960
When that was done, I feel like they basically turned

543
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,319
Toppering into the red headed stepchild. They didn't give it

544
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:09,839
to promotional support that they had promised. They didn't do

545
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:12,240
a good job of helping market the shows and the

546
00:25:12,279 --> 00:25:15,440
activities and the events and the fighters. The idea was,

547
00:25:15,519 --> 00:25:17,559
and I've talked to people from Top Rank a thousand

548
00:25:17,599 --> 00:25:20,480
times about this when they made the deal, the idea

549
00:25:20,519 --> 00:25:23,200
was not like they're gonna overdo it and it's not

550
00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:26,160
gonna usurped NFL coverage or NBA coverage or anything like that.

551
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:28,319
We get that, but it was going to become part

552
00:25:28,319 --> 00:25:32,079
of the conversation of your daily sports menu. So in

553
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,160
not every single fight, but when you're doing like Lomachenko,

554
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,160
or your got like an Oscar Valdez against Navarette or

555
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,440
something interesting, or you know, obviously, when they were doing

556
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,319
Tyson Fury. It's going to become part of the of

557
00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:45,720
the of the of the fabric of what you're talking about.

558
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:48,160
The same ie you might talk about the big baseball game,

559
00:25:48,279 --> 00:25:50,960
or the big college football game, or the big you know,

560
00:25:51,079 --> 00:25:53,480
whatever was going on in the sports world, you're gonna

561
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:55,799
have something about boxing, whether it's on the bottom Line,

562
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,400
or it's on the radio program, or it's on First Take,

563
00:25:58,559 --> 00:26:01,200
or it's on whatever sports center with an interview. And

564
00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:03,559
they just never really followed through in that in my mind,

565
00:26:03,839 --> 00:26:07,640
and and that that cost him. And the viewership was

566
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:10,039
pretty steady for the most part. I mean, you know,

567
00:26:10,039 --> 00:26:12,079
when you had bigger fights, they did bigger numbers, and

568
00:26:12,079 --> 00:26:13,960
they had lesser fights, they did lesser numbers. That's just

569
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,599
par for the course. But I feel like the Top

570
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:18,960
Rank and I mean some people may disagree, and yeah,

571
00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:22,200
where there's some terrible fights, you know, that happens with anybody.

572
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,440
But I feel like, in general terms, Top Ranked did

573
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:27,720
an excellent job with the program. I'm gonna say one thing.

574
00:26:27,759 --> 00:26:30,880
I think I've mentioned this before where my critique comes

575
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:32,799
in where they made a mistake, and this was both

576
00:26:32,839 --> 00:26:35,599
the Top Rank as a company as well as ESPN

577
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,640
as a network when they were doing a biggish fight,

578
00:26:38,799 --> 00:26:42,079
they're doing t Female against Josh Taylor. They're doing something

579
00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:45,920
that was significant. They're doing Devin Haney for the undisputed

580
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,119
title in Australia against George Kimbosa, something that was bigger

581
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:52,759
than your average fight. And then on the comeback, they're

582
00:26:52,759 --> 00:26:56,960
doing like, you know, Jared Anderson in Toledo against Charles Martin.

583
00:26:57,079 --> 00:26:59,000
Not like a bad matchup or a terrible fight or

584
00:26:59,039 --> 00:27:01,079
anything like that, but you can't put that in the

585
00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:05,680
same basket as the Mega Mega Championship fight. And it

586
00:27:05,799 --> 00:27:08,720
is my view that they never explained to the fan

587
00:27:08,799 --> 00:27:11,640
base or to the media. Frankly, I understood it, but

588
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,440
a lot of guys didn't that we have different levels

589
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,839
of events, but they treated everything the same. So when

590
00:27:17,839 --> 00:27:24,440
they're doing Lomachenko against Tiafimo, or they're doing Navarete against

591
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,640
Valdez or whatever that Shookhorse Stevenson against Valdez in a

592
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:30,440
unification fight, or there's some of their bigger guys and

593
00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,440
they're giving it the full coverage, they're doing the same

594
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:37,279
thing when they're doing like Edo Vanello against Faa Jagba,

595
00:27:37,319 --> 00:27:39,400
and they're just not the same product, right, you can't

596
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:41,319
treat them the same. You have to make a delineation

597
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:45,480
showtime at showtime Championship Boxing and showbox you know, Top

598
00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:49,079
HBO ad Boxing, ever for Dark and World Championship Boxing.

599
00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:52,119
They were able to understand that not every show was

600
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:55,640
created equal. When you're spending five six million dollars for

601
00:27:55,759 --> 00:27:58,160
one event and another event you might be spending a

602
00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:00,759
million and a half on, there's a huge difference. And

603
00:28:00,839 --> 00:28:03,799
the network and the promotion never did a good job

604
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:06,519
explaining it. So they'd see a big time event and

605
00:28:06,559 --> 00:28:08,720
be like, wow, that's a great fucking show, and then

606
00:28:08,759 --> 00:28:10,720
the next week or number two, three weeks later, the

607
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:13,000
next event would come on and it was the type

608
00:28:13,039 --> 00:28:16,400
of you know, Jose Padraza against Richard Comey or whatever,

609
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:18,759
but not again, not a bad fight, but not on

610
00:28:18,799 --> 00:28:20,559
the same level of course, And they didn't do a

611
00:28:20,559 --> 00:28:22,799
good job explaining what they were doing.

612
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,559
Speaker 2: All right, So we will see what happens with Top

613
00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:31,119
rank down the road and where they land next. I

614
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:34,119
will just say this is this is an interesting time

615
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,039
and they are I mean, obviously out of side, out

616
00:28:37,039 --> 00:28:38,680
of mine is not a good thing. They've got to

617
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:42,200
get on somewhere and get on somewhere regularly. Just for example,

618
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,240
you were mentioning this with PBC and then we're gonna

619
00:28:44,279 --> 00:28:46,240
move on. But we're talking about the industry. You and

620
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:47,720
I have both been in the industry for a long time.

621
00:28:48,359 --> 00:28:52,319
Premiere Boxing Champions talked a good game about I still

622
00:28:52,319 --> 00:28:54,359
remember you uttered the phrase fifty seven times that they

623
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:56,000
were saying to you, we're gonna be fine, We're gonna

624
00:28:56,039 --> 00:28:58,480
be fine, and we're gonna watch what happens, watch what

625
00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:01,319
we're gonna have when the show Time deal ended in particular,

626
00:29:01,799 --> 00:29:05,440
and they're not fine. They're far from fine on regularly

627
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:09,559
having fights and regularly establishing themselves with the audience. Most

628
00:29:09,559 --> 00:29:13,160
of their fighters are fighting on other cards elsewhere for Turkey, Alis,

629
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,799
Chic and whatever, because they can't regularly produce and have shows.

630
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,640
Speaker 1: So that's another example. By the way, when they announced

631
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:21,279
the deal, they were supposed to have far more.

632
00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:23,279
Speaker 2: Non and they haven't done it. And part of that

633
00:29:23,359 --> 00:29:25,400
is because they've had to pay for it. That's another

634
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,079
thing too, and they haven't been able to figure it out.

635
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:30,559
So we'll see, we'll see what happens with Top Rank,

636
00:29:30,599 --> 00:29:34,279
But for now, I continue to say it seems if

637
00:29:34,319 --> 00:29:36,799
Top Rank wants to produce it and pay for it,

638
00:29:37,039 --> 00:29:40,119
ESPN Plus is a logical place to be in there

639
00:29:40,119 --> 00:29:42,880
and have ESPN still get behind it to an extent

640
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,000
because they would still maybe talk about it on some

641
00:29:45,039 --> 00:29:46,079
of the shows.

642
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:48,119
Speaker 1: But they never did that when they had a contract.

643
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,440
Speaker 2: But if you're paying, it might be different in that deal.

644
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:53,000
So I don't know. I don't know, but they got

645
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:54,880
to have an outlet.

646
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,880
Speaker 1: When the Saturday Night Card with Xander Ziaz concludes and

647
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:01,279
the contract comes to and a couple of days later,

648
00:30:01,279 --> 00:30:04,200
on August first or July thirty first, it will be

649
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,640
the first time, at least the way I've looked at it,

650
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:09,599
I went back and kind of looked things up and

651
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:14,319
study this a little bit. When TV became accessible to

652
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:16,799
the masses in the United States of America, when it

653
00:30:16,839 --> 00:30:19,599
was invented, we're talking about in like the early nineteen forties.

654
00:30:20,319 --> 00:30:23,839
Boxing basically has had a presence on linear television ever

655
00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,759
since it was on the networks with the big Friday

656
00:30:26,839 --> 00:30:29,200
night shows, and networks are looting it exists anymore. Then.

657
00:30:29,279 --> 00:30:31,920
Obviously it came along, you know, all those big events

658
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,319
that they did in the nineteen seventies, ABC was.

659
00:30:34,319 --> 00:30:36,680
Speaker 2: Showing it on network TV sixties seventies.

660
00:30:36,839 --> 00:30:40,759
Speaker 1: Yes, ABC, NBCCBS showed all through the eighties into the nineties.

661
00:30:41,279 --> 00:30:43,960
Then you had Fox, FS one, USA Network, a lot

662
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:48,480
of the Spanish language channels that invested heavily, various Univision properties,

663
00:30:48,519 --> 00:30:51,559
and Telemundo and you name it. All of these places

664
00:30:51,599 --> 00:30:55,400
had boxing at one time or another. And we're invested. ESPN.

665
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,240
When they're done on Saturday Night will be the first

666
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:02,799
time since since the advent of accessible television in the

667
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:06,000
nineteen forties that there will be no boxing on linear

668
00:31:06,039 --> 00:31:10,519
television in the United States of America, almost eighty fucking years. Yeah,

669
00:31:10,519 --> 00:31:13,480
and it's the powers that be that fucked this up

670
00:31:13,599 --> 00:31:16,079
because they served up a lot of garbage. They took

671
00:31:16,079 --> 00:31:18,640
a lot of money, they didn't give the fans. Therefore

672
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:22,559
their broadcast partners bang for the buck more often than not.

673
00:31:22,279 --> 00:31:26,160
I'm not holding one particular promoter to account for this.

674
00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:28,720
Like I said, I feel like Top Rank, given what

675
00:31:28,759 --> 00:31:31,240
they were dealing with, did actually a very good job

676
00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:35,559
with this particular contract. But just in recent years, we've

677
00:31:35,599 --> 00:31:40,599
seen ESPN go out apparently certainly we saw Foxy, Showtime

678
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,640
and HBO and FS one. You know to an extent,

679
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:46,559
because they did a lot of the PBC material also,

680
00:31:47,039 --> 00:31:49,559
so you know, you can look at see, well, we're

681
00:31:49,559 --> 00:31:51,319
still getting these big fights, and they still had many

682
00:31:51,319 --> 00:31:52,759
pack in a big pay per view, and we still

683
00:31:52,799 --> 00:31:55,920
had some amazing events that have taken place, like Duboi

684
00:31:56,039 --> 00:31:58,599
Nusick and some of the mega cards that Turkey al

685
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:00,680
Chic has done with Riad Season the Ring Magazine, and

686
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:03,519
that's all good. I'm happy about that, but it does

687
00:32:03,559 --> 00:32:06,720
not replace regular activity that can go to the masses.

688
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:09,720
And the reality is the masses do not get the zone.

689
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:12,799
The zone is in a handful of hundred thousands, a

690
00:32:12,839 --> 00:32:16,920
few hundred thousand subscribers in the United States, and while

691
00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:18,519
they've put on a lot of good fights, a lot

692
00:32:18,559 --> 00:32:19,559
of them have been on pay per view.

693
00:32:19,599 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 2: On top of this, you certainly aren't cracking the mainstream

694
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:23,759
sports fan.

695
00:32:23,759 --> 00:32:26,119
Speaker 1: Which is I came home from Vegas and maybe I

696
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:28,799
missed it, but I mean, because I'm an old motherfucker,

697
00:32:28,839 --> 00:32:31,519
I still get the hard newspaper delivered to my house.

698
00:32:31,799 --> 00:32:33,759
I still get the USA today in the Washington Post,

699
00:32:33,799 --> 00:32:35,799
and I went through the sports sections and I don't

700
00:32:35,839 --> 00:32:37,640
know if I saw a single word about the Usik

701
00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,759
Dubuil fight. That's the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.

702
00:32:40,839 --> 00:32:42,680
And if I if it wasn't the paper, it means

703
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:44,839
I missed it because it was probably like two paragraphs

704
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,000
in like a round up, and I didn't see one

705
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:49,160
word about the manupaca If and it actually surprised me,

706
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:51,119
and maybe I missed this, you know. If I did,

707
00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:54,240
I apologize. They usually have something like when Gary Russell fights,

708
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:56,400
because he's a DC guy. I fought on that card,

709
00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:58,440
so maybe they had something on Gary. But the point

710
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:00,880
I'm making is, you know, even in a big newspaper

711
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,400
like USA Titty or the Washington Post, I mean, barely

712
00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:06,279
a word of anything on two significant events in the sport.

713
00:33:08,079 --> 00:33:10,200
Speaker 2: All right, So we'll see what the future is. Top

714
00:33:10,279 --> 00:33:12,000
Rank is not going out of business. It's just a

715
00:33:12,039 --> 00:33:13,799
matter of where do they land, what are they going

716
00:33:13,839 --> 00:33:16,759
to be doing? Stay tuned, it's unknown for right now.

717
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:19,680
One other fight card, and again we'll bring it up

718
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:23,480
because Claressa Shields is one of the premier female fighters

719
00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:26,119
in the world. Although we've well discussed this the last

720
00:33:26,119 --> 00:33:30,079
couple of goal rounds, this whole undisputed heavyweight title thing

721
00:33:30,119 --> 00:33:33,200
that they're pushing in this. Lannie Daniels is the opponent

722
00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:34,960
that no one knows anything about, all right, So she's

723
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:40,799
headlining for Salita Promotions in Detroit for this fight card

724
00:33:42,359 --> 00:33:46,079
coming on Saturday night. Tony Harrison, a former brief world

725
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:49,200
champion at junior middleweight as well, will be in the

726
00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:50,599
co feature. So give me a little more in the

727
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:52,039
preview mode about all of that.

728
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,319
Speaker 1: Well, Lannie Daniels is coming over from New Zealand, where

729
00:33:55,319 --> 00:33:57,759
she's from. She's eleven two and two and she is

730
00:33:57,799 --> 00:34:00,519
the holder of the IBF's light heavyweight title, and she

731
00:34:00,599 --> 00:34:04,319
is challenging Claressa essentially in Clarisa's hometown. The fight's taking

732
00:34:04,319 --> 00:34:07,039
place in Detroit. She is from Flint, Michigan, so it

733
00:34:07,039 --> 00:34:10,119
would obviously be a huge Claressa crowd. That's where she

734
00:34:10,119 --> 00:34:12,719
She does do a pretty good job drawing fans to

735
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:16,199
her events there. And I think Claressa is the best

736
00:34:16,199 --> 00:34:20,599
female boxer of all time. She is tremendously skilled. She

737
00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,280
barely loses rounds. She doesn't have a lot of punching power,

738
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:26,480
but she dominates and wins easily every single time out.

739
00:34:27,039 --> 00:34:29,400
She had one loss as an amateur she avenged that

740
00:34:29,519 --> 00:34:32,079
as a professional, which she defeated Savannah Marshall. So I

741
00:34:32,079 --> 00:34:35,920
have nothing bad to say about Claressa. She is a

742
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:37,960
tremendous fighter. She will be a first bout Hall of Famer.

743
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,719
She is obviously the pound for pound number one. The

744
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:42,920
problem is as she has moved up in weight and now,

745
00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,760
as you said, she's now fighting in the heavyweight division

746
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,639
where and it's a little confusing because within the way

747
00:34:48,639 --> 00:34:51,760
the sanctioning bodies operates, some of them have a limit

748
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:54,639
as far as like two hundred or over one seventy

749
00:34:54,639 --> 00:34:56,559
five or whatever they call them different things, but it's

750
00:34:56,559 --> 00:34:59,920
the heaviest weight class among the women. There's no competition.

751
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,920
Like when she was fighting at one fifty four, one sixty,

752
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,039
one sixty. It was hard enough to find competition in

753
00:35:07,079 --> 00:35:08,920
those weight classes. But at least there was a few

754
00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:11,039
girls around that could, you know, get in the ring

755
00:35:11,079 --> 00:35:13,079
with her, whether it was Savannah Marshall or there was

756
00:35:13,119 --> 00:35:15,400
a lot of hype when she fought Franchion Cruise Desern

757
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:18,639
in her pro debut. Uh, you know, there was some

758
00:35:18,639 --> 00:35:22,079
some reputable opposition, uh, when she fought some of the

759
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:25,039
women that she faced from overseas, TJ BEFO. I knew

760
00:35:25,039 --> 00:35:26,519
we're gonna talk about it, so I actually went on

761
00:35:26,559 --> 00:35:31,079
the four organizational websites, the WBA, the WBO, the WBC,

762
00:35:31,119 --> 00:35:33,079
and the IBF, and I looked this up just to

763
00:35:33,119 --> 00:35:36,400
be clear. In the WBA heavyweight women's division, in the

764
00:35:36,559 --> 00:35:39,800
entire fucking planet Earth, they ranked four women.

765
00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:43,039
Speaker 2: I know you mentioned this before, I'm going through.

766
00:35:43,039 --> 00:35:46,360
Speaker 1: This is up to date. Yeah, in the WBO. Now

767
00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:48,800
keep in mind, so in organizations they overlapped, so there

768
00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:51,159
might be a you know, men's boxing and win's boxing

769
00:35:51,159 --> 00:35:53,079
where the organizations.

770
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:54,559
Speaker 2: Might be in the top ten and two or three

771
00:35:54,559 --> 00:35:54,840
of them.

772
00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:56,719
Speaker 1: Of course, I mean like we've touched us, like Williams

773
00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:59,119
of Hata was across the board number one a lightweight.

774
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:02,079
But specifically for the WBA, on the entire planet Earth,

775
00:36:02,119 --> 00:36:05,119
they ranked four females in the heavyweight rankings. In the WBO,

776
00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:08,239
they ranked four women in the heavyweight rankings. In the

777
00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:12,199
WBC they actually ranked ten, but they typically go much deeper.

778
00:36:12,199 --> 00:36:14,519
For the men, they go maybe twenty thirty deep, and

779
00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:17,559
the other you know, in the other gender and in

780
00:36:17,639 --> 00:36:20,679
the IDEAF. On their website they don't even have a

781
00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:23,519
heavyweight division. Their highest division that they list is the

782
00:36:23,599 --> 00:36:26,800
light heavyweight division, but they they they did a title

783
00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:29,639
for Claressa what she fought, so she was that champion. Also,

784
00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:33,519
they literally have in the whole planet Earth billions of people,

785
00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:38,559
about half of them who are a female, eighteen ranked females,

786
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:41,840
some of which are overlapping because they're the same person

787
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:44,920
ranked by the different organizations. So again, I don't want

788
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:47,360
to downplay the achievements. Okay, so this is not a

789
00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:50,960
knock on Clarissa. She is the champion. She's okay, the thing,

790
00:36:51,159 --> 00:36:52,519
but there's nobody to fucking fight.

791
00:36:52,599 --> 00:36:57,480
Speaker 2: Understanding Daniels, why doesn't she go back to one sixty

792
00:36:57,519 --> 00:37:00,400
eight and make that weight that she made because she

793
00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:03,599
moved up to weight classes and see who else is there?

794
00:37:03,679 --> 00:37:07,480
If the heavyweight division in particular is so devoid, because

795
00:37:07,519 --> 00:37:11,719
the bigger picture is no one cares about this. So

796
00:37:12,559 --> 00:37:15,280
you're having these fights and no one cares, you might

797
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:17,559
as well try to move back down. I'm just saying

798
00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:21,239
where someone might care, because you know who she's fighting.

799
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,119
Speaker 1: So there's a handful of people obviously who are gonna

800
00:37:24,119 --> 00:37:27,000
turn out because they're her fans from the Detroit and

801
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:29,079
Flint area that are gonna be happy to go see

802
00:37:29,079 --> 00:37:31,760
a professional boxing card in a first class arena like

803
00:37:32,199 --> 00:37:35,320
Little Caesars Arena in Detroit and watching undercard with some

804
00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:38,000
local fighters and see a former world champ like Tony

805
00:37:38,039 --> 00:37:41,880
Harrison or wherever compete on the show. And she's still

806
00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:44,280
gonna make a good amount of money. And she feels like,

807
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:47,000
I've already been the undisputed champion at the middleweight. I've

808
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,559
already been the undisputed champion. I guess I forget juor

809
00:37:50,599 --> 00:37:53,800
middleweight or super middleweight. She's won unified titles in the

810
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:56,119
other weight class, I forget which order it was. Point

811
00:37:56,199 --> 00:37:59,119
is like she may not have that motivation to drop

812
00:37:59,159 --> 00:38:01,119
the weight or the find the right opponent. I mean,

813
00:38:01,159 --> 00:38:03,440
if there's one opponent out there that she hasn't fought

814
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:06,800
that would at least be quasi interesting, and that's Shadejah Green,

815
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,599
who won the fight that took place on the recent

816
00:38:09,639 --> 00:38:12,360
all women's card that Jake Paul and MVP put on

817
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:14,679
that was the main event that night, was h Serrano

818
00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:18,599
against against Katie Taylor in their third fight. But there's

819
00:38:18,639 --> 00:38:22,320
so few people for her to fight, regardless of it,

820
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:25,360
she's at heavyweight, light heavyweight, super mid Away and so

821
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:27,840
on and so forth, that it just it's said when

822
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:31,239
you look at the opponent's site that that Katie Taylor

823
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:34,079
or Serrano or Bomb Gardner or some of the women

824
00:38:34,119 --> 00:38:36,400
in the smaller weight divisions, even a Mikhayla may Or

825
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:40,480
at welterweight, there's other people for them to fight. She

826
00:38:40,679 --> 00:38:42,440
just has nobody. So when you got a match up

827
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:44,920
with Landing Daniels, and I'm not knocking Landy Gangiles, but

828
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:47,440
she's just a regular type fighter. It seems to me,

829
00:38:47,519 --> 00:38:49,519
based on her record and that kind of thing like

830
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:51,480
this should be like a no hitter. The way I

831
00:38:51,519 --> 00:38:53,159
look at this is a tend to nothing kind of

832
00:38:53,159 --> 00:38:56,719
fight for claressa bigger and there.

833
00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:59,440
Speaker 2: In lies the problem because you can't even get the

834
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:01,840
hardcore boxing fan to be interested. If we believe this

835
00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:03,960
is gonna be a shutout, an easy night, why watch

836
00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:06,960
much lesser. You're gonna get the casual fan, the casual

837
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:08,400
boxing fan interesting.

838
00:39:08,599 --> 00:39:12,159
Speaker 1: This will this will probably overlap with the top rank card.

839
00:39:12,559 --> 00:39:16,239
In no way I'm turning off to SHOs Xander Zias

840
00:39:16,239 --> 00:39:18,760
and even the younger guys on the undercard that we mentioned,

841
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:21,800
like the Emeliano Vargas and people like that. I'm not

842
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:24,400
gonna do that to watch, to watch Claressa in a

843
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:27,159
fight that I don't think is worthwhile. Again, I'll say

844
00:39:27,199 --> 00:39:29,599
this again, this is not anything against Claressa. Shild's all

845
00:39:29,599 --> 00:39:31,000
she can do is fight the women they put in

846
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,559
front of her. But I just have no interest in

847
00:39:33,599 --> 00:39:37,199
watching her win one hundred and ninety against a girl

848
00:39:37,199 --> 00:39:38,599
that doesn't even belong in the ring with her.

849
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:42,760
Speaker 2: All Right, So that fight card again on Saturday night

850
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,400
in Detroit. Let's get to some news you mentioned earlier.

851
00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:49,239
Being in Vegas. We're also Sebastian Fondora was victorious. We

852
00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:52,119
mentioned this with the win over tim Zo and what

853
00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:54,880
might be next if if Zias wins, could there be

854
00:39:55,000 --> 00:40:00,880
unification with Fundora. Tim Zu got roughed up, was in

855
00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:04,639
this fight. That's three losses in four fights for him,

856
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:07,480
two bad knockouts in the last two. But Zoo did

857
00:40:07,519 --> 00:40:10,760
put out a social media post saying I'm not done here.

858
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:12,079
Elaborate follow up.

859
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, he you know, he made up a video that

860
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:17,840
he put up on his Instagram, and you know he

861
00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:20,119
wasn't wearing sunglasses or anything like that, so you could

862
00:40:20,159 --> 00:40:22,840
see the cut that was still there on his eye

863
00:40:23,519 --> 00:40:25,519
and just you know, some bruising and you know, just

864
00:40:25,639 --> 00:40:27,800
this is obviously within a day or so after the fight,

865
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:30,599
and he basically was like, look, I'm you know, because

866
00:40:30,599 --> 00:40:32,559
there was a lot of conversation like after that fight happened,

867
00:40:32,559 --> 00:40:35,239
like especially because he basically quit in the fight, that

868
00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:37,159
that he might not ever fight again. I mean, he

869
00:40:37,199 --> 00:40:38,960
got so roughed up in that fight. As you mentioned,

870
00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:43,239
he had, he had gotten destroyed by Martazeleev. He had

871
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:45,280
come back in a in a no count kind of fight,

872
00:40:45,679 --> 00:40:48,079
get well fight against Joey Spencer, who he just used

873
00:40:48,079 --> 00:40:51,000
as cannon fodder, and then he stepped in against fandor

874
00:40:51,039 --> 00:40:52,440
in the rematch. And the reason why I was so

875
00:40:52,599 --> 00:40:54,960
stark is because at least in the first fight with

876
00:40:55,199 --> 00:40:58,960
fandora A he had the terrible gash, combined with the

877
00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:00,559
fact that they had switched a ponent. It's on a feud,

878
00:41:00,599 --> 00:41:02,559
you know, in a week and a half notice to

879
00:41:02,599 --> 00:41:05,480
go from fighting a normal right handed fighter that was

880
00:41:05,519 --> 00:41:07,719
around your same height and now you're fighting a six

881
00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:10,079
foot six guy who's a southpaw. So all credit to

882
00:41:10,159 --> 00:41:13,559
him for having the stones to make the switch. So

883
00:41:13,679 --> 00:41:15,079
even when he lost the fight, and it was a

884
00:41:15,079 --> 00:41:17,599
split decision that was highly competitive. You're like, all right,

885
00:41:17,599 --> 00:41:20,039
you know that was a weird circumstance, so you can

886
00:41:20,119 --> 00:41:22,880
kind of ignore that loss. I mean, you know it happened,

887
00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:26,000
but there was a lot of extenuating circumstances. But then

888
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,519
to go in there and get absolutely pummeled by Bachram,

889
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:30,440
then you take care of the win you're supposed to

890
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:32,719
take care of back home in Australia, and then you

891
00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:35,119
don't even compete really very well with Fundor you land

892
00:41:35,119 --> 00:41:37,519
some shots you might have won around, but you basically

893
00:41:37,519 --> 00:41:39,280
got your ass kicked and then you quit on the stool.

894
00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:41,840
It called into question, like, Okay, as much as we

895
00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,679
loved Tim Zoo and admire the bravery and admire the

896
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:46,639
fact that he's willing to fight anybody and he's hungry

897
00:41:46,639 --> 00:41:48,039
to do this, I mean, I'm talking about the guy

898
00:41:48,079 --> 00:41:50,039
that fought after he got did by the dog, remember that,

899
00:41:50,079 --> 00:41:52,320
And and they were like people saying, well, maybe you

900
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:54,800
should not fight because of the injury, and he fought anyway.

901
00:41:55,039 --> 00:41:57,760
So again nothing but respect for him, But what he

902
00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:00,639
said was he is he's going to fight on that.

903
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:02,840
It didn't go the way he wanted, you know, that

904
00:42:03,079 --> 00:42:06,039
when he when he started out boxing, the idea was

905
00:42:06,039 --> 00:42:07,760
to get to the very top and if he had

906
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:09,519
to crash and burn along the way to do it,

907
00:42:10,119 --> 00:42:11,800
he would be willing to do it. And so he

908
00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:13,679
admitted he goes, I did crash and burn. This is

909
00:42:13,719 --> 00:42:15,960
all on his video. But we're still going to move forward.

910
00:42:16,039 --> 00:42:18,039
And you know, some things go your way and some

911
00:42:18,079 --> 00:42:21,880
things don't, and you know, what happened on Saturday didn't

912
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:23,360
go his way. But he's still going to move forward.

913
00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:25,440
And so he's planning to fight again. Now where he

914
00:42:25,519 --> 00:42:27,920
goes from here and what type of level of opponent

915
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:30,159
he wants to fight or when he comes back, or

916
00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:32,480
if the fans will still have a huge amount of interest.

917
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:34,719
I assume that the Australian fans will at least have

918
00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:37,480
some interest because he's still a beloved figure there. But

919
00:42:39,199 --> 00:42:43,280
I don't think it's unfair to think that his time

920
00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:45,719
as a legitimate guy at the very top of this

921
00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:49,239
division might very well be over. Now, you never say never.

922
00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:51,440
You know, guys have shown resiliency and they've been able

923
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:53,159
to come back, so I would not write him off.

924
00:42:53,159 --> 00:42:55,119
It's not like he's old. He's only thirty years old

925
00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:57,599
and I hope that he can get back because he's

926
00:42:57,639 --> 00:42:58,320
so good for the game.

927
00:42:58,639 --> 00:43:00,519
Speaker 2: I'm gonna keep so good for the game. I was

928
00:43:00,639 --> 00:43:04,239
higher on this guy maybe than some watching him in

929
00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:07,719
Australia and tracking his career and him coming over here.

930
00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:12,480
But at this point with Fondora beating him, you know,

931
00:43:12,519 --> 00:43:14,679
the gash on the head obviously was a factor, but

932
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:18,119
Fondora won the fight, and then with what martaz Elaiev

933
00:43:18,119 --> 00:43:21,559
has done and Fondora in the rematch, I think it

934
00:43:21,639 --> 00:43:25,039
is fair to say that he was overvalued to some

935
00:43:25,119 --> 00:43:28,280
degree with the competition that he was facing in Australia

936
00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:32,039
and that once he has stepped up into better competition.

937
00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:34,719
I mean, we mentioned Tony Harrison briefly a few moments ago.

938
00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:38,280
He did beat Tony Harrison. He got the WBO title

939
00:43:38,599 --> 00:43:41,039
because it was vacant, right, I believe in winning that fight.

940
00:43:41,199 --> 00:43:42,840
But Tony Harris had already been beaten and had been

941
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:45,039
knocked out a couple of times before that.

942
00:43:45,519 --> 00:43:47,559
Speaker 1: Right, But Tony also had to win against Charlotte like that.

943
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, but Tony had been used up to a degree.

944
00:43:50,039 --> 00:43:52,519
But when when he's now come over here into the

945
00:43:52,599 --> 00:43:54,519
United States and had these fights and lost three of

946
00:43:54,599 --> 00:43:56,880
the four of them. I think it is more than

947
00:43:56,920 --> 00:44:00,480
fair to say he was overvalued for beating people in

948
00:44:00,519 --> 00:44:05,000
Australia that that maybe weren't top notch and weren't even.

949
00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:07,480
Speaker 1: He also here and he defeated like a quality guy

950
00:44:07,519 --> 00:44:08,719
like to who.

951
00:44:08,599 --> 00:44:11,199
Speaker 2: Was to Shane knocking down in the first round of that,

952
00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:13,440
but he won every other round in he did, he

953
00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:15,239
did win, but that and then and then.

954
00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:18,039
Speaker 1: I don't agree that he was overvalued, but the reality

955
00:44:18,079 --> 00:44:20,079
is he you are what your record says you are.

956
00:44:20,079 --> 00:44:22,079
And so right now he's a guy that's lost three

957
00:44:22,079 --> 00:44:24,360
of his last four fights, two by knockout. Then and

958
00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:26,000
now you gotta you gotta figure things out.

959
00:44:26,119 --> 00:44:29,960
Speaker 2: Let me just say that we talked constantly about the

960
00:44:30,079 --> 00:44:32,519
rise of Tim Zoo and the son of the Hall

961
00:44:32,559 --> 00:44:35,639
of Famer and can he be a great fighter and

962
00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:39,159
all of that, and it unraveled faster than you can speak,

963
00:44:39,559 --> 00:44:41,800
is Bill Zoo? It did so.

964
00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:44,840
Speaker 1: Listen, It's hard to think of a guy that was

965
00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:47,280
at a certain level that that a lot of people

966
00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:50,199
considered number one in the division for that matter, to

967
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:52,239
have such a fall in sixteen months, in just a

968
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:54,199
few fights. Yes, I totally agree with you about that,

969
00:44:54,719 --> 00:44:58,159
but I hope he can come back. I'll put a

970
00:44:58,199 --> 00:45:01,119
thing like that. But if he does come back, number one,

971
00:45:01,159 --> 00:45:04,079
he's got to do something about the defense. And number two,

972
00:45:04,119 --> 00:45:05,880
Quite frankly, I think he needs a change in terms

973
00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:07,840
of his corner, not because the trainers are no good,

974
00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:09,320
but I think he might need a new voice in

975
00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:11,199
the year to like point him in the right direction,

976
00:45:11,320 --> 00:45:13,719
because clearly what's going on there is not working at

977
00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:16,880
the moment. So it's gonna have to make some hard decisions.

978
00:45:16,639 --> 00:45:22,079
Speaker 2: All right. Speaking of retiring Josh Taylor, this was not unexpected.

979
00:45:22,159 --> 00:45:24,519
Josh Taylor hasn't been that active and now he has

980
00:45:24,559 --> 00:45:28,519
announced this week, the former undisputed junior welterweight champion briefly

981
00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:32,559
has announced that he will retire. Do we believe he's

982
00:45:32,599 --> 00:45:34,880
retired for good? He certainly did not look good in

983
00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:39,159
the fight earlier this summer where he was shockingly beaten

984
00:45:39,159 --> 00:45:43,079
in Glasgow at you know, in home in Scotland. All right,

985
00:45:43,119 --> 00:45:44,559
So what about Josh Taylor here?

986
00:45:44,599 --> 00:45:47,679
Speaker 1: Well, the reason he first of all, this was not expected.

987
00:45:47,679 --> 00:45:50,159
He hit every intention of fighting again after he lost

988
00:45:50,159 --> 00:45:52,679
the fight you were just mentioned against Echo Essimon that

989
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:54,840
was back on May twenty fourth. It was his third

990
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:57,800
loss in a row. He had, well, if you back

991
00:45:57,880 --> 00:45:59,400
up to when he became you know, the night of

992
00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:03,039
his life where he basically reached the Apex and the

993
00:46:03,119 --> 00:46:06,000
Promised Land, if you will, and the ultimate which was

994
00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:09,000
when he defeated Jose Ramirez in Las Vegas. This is

995
00:46:09,039 --> 00:46:11,480
in May of twenty twenty one. He had two of

996
00:46:11,519 --> 00:46:13,800
the titles. Ramirez had two of the titles. He scored

997
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:16,039
two knockdowns. He won the fight one fourteen to one

998
00:46:16,079 --> 00:46:18,280
to twelve across the board, so the knockdowns were the

999
00:46:18,280 --> 00:46:20,599
difference in a draw, and that on that night he

1000
00:46:20,639 --> 00:46:23,639
became the undisputed four belt junior welter at world champion.

1001
00:46:23,639 --> 00:46:26,960
It was a very big deal. He became the first

1002
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:30,280
ever British fighter to be a four belt world champion.

1003
00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:32,159
He's still the only British fighter to be a four

1004
00:46:32,199 --> 00:46:35,639
belt world champion. He was you know, did so with

1005
00:46:35,719 --> 00:46:38,840
the Legend of Scotland in Ken Buchanan, you know, was

1006
00:46:38,880 --> 00:46:41,480
in the same conversation with him. It was a huge,

1007
00:46:41,559 --> 00:46:44,119
huge deal for him in his country. And then he had,

1008
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:49,039
you know, ten months later or so, the massively controversial

1009
00:46:49,119 --> 00:46:52,480
split decision victory over Catarell where he retained the title,

1010
00:46:52,559 --> 00:46:55,800
but it basically in the UK was a scandal because

1011
00:46:55,840 --> 00:46:57,519
of the way that that was scored. There was attempts

1012
00:46:57,519 --> 00:46:59,920
to make a rematch, different things happened. He was off

1013
00:46:59,920 --> 00:47:02,639
for a while, came back a year four months later

1014
00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:05,000
so came to New York City and got beat by

1015
00:47:05,039 --> 00:47:07,679
t Fimo Lopez. By that time, because the time that

1016
00:47:07,719 --> 00:47:11,239
had elapsed and mandatories and strippings and vacatings, et cetera,

1017
00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:14,280
he only had the WBO belt and the lineal title left,

1018
00:47:14,280 --> 00:47:16,679
but Ta Fimo took that from him and that started

1019
00:47:16,679 --> 00:47:19,199
the real downward spiral. He finally got the rematch going

1020
00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:22,119
with Catall that was in May of twenty four. He

1021
00:47:22,159 --> 00:47:24,800
lost that fight pretty handily. There was no it was

1022
00:47:24,840 --> 00:47:27,519
not a controversial decision. He lost, you know, pretty clearly

1023
00:47:27,559 --> 00:47:30,199
in terms of an unanimous decision in that fight, and

1024
00:47:30,199 --> 00:47:32,760
then was off another year until this past man came

1025
00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:35,159
back and fought Estimon and was that was a huge

1026
00:47:35,239 --> 00:47:37,880
upset in like you mentioned in Scotland, where it was

1027
00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:41,400
his people. But he had every intention to continue to fight,

1028
00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:43,920
so this was not an expected retirement. The reason he

1029
00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:46,199
announced his retirement he posted this on his social media

1030
00:47:46,599 --> 00:47:48,760
was because he has had a recurring eye injury and

1031
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:50,639
it has been recommended to him by the doctors that

1032
00:47:50,679 --> 00:47:52,960
because of the injury to the eye that he should retire.

1033
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:57,239
He's going to risk his eyesight, and in his goodbye

1034
00:47:57,280 --> 00:47:59,840
post is thank you to everybody posts, he basically said,

1035
00:48:00,039 --> 00:48:02,599
you know, I got to preserve my vision and therefore

1036
00:48:02,639 --> 00:48:05,000
I'm hanging up the gloves. So he never liked to

1037
00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:06,760
see a guy have to be forced out because of

1038
00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:09,599
that type of situation. But I think in the long run,

1039
00:48:09,599 --> 00:48:11,360
it probably is the best for Taylor because things were

1040
00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:12,719
not going to get better when you lose the way

1041
00:48:12,719 --> 00:48:15,239
he has lost. You know, even even you know, he

1042
00:48:15,239 --> 00:48:17,679
couldn't couldn't get over the hump once he got beat

1043
00:48:17,679 --> 00:48:20,840
at junior welterweight, the essimum fight he fought at welterweight.

1044
00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:23,400
So if you're losing to like a lower level type

1045
00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:25,880
of guy in the in the welterweight division, I'm not

1046
00:48:25,880 --> 00:48:27,480
sure how you're gonna fare if you're going to step

1047
00:48:27,559 --> 00:48:30,360
up and fight the bigger names. So he you know, look,

1048
00:48:30,360 --> 00:48:32,320
he had a good career. For a short period of time,

1049
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:34,119
he was the best junior welterweight in the world. This

1050
00:48:34,199 --> 00:48:37,960
guy was an Olympian at one point in twenty twelve,

1051
00:48:38,159 --> 00:48:40,360
he had some very good victories and you can never

1052
00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:42,519
take away that brief period of time where he was,

1053
00:48:43,199 --> 00:48:44,880
you know, a number one. I mean when he joined

1054
00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:47,719
the World Boxing Super Series, which was a tremendous tournament.

1055
00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:51,119
He went into that he had beaten Victor Postal. This

1056
00:48:51,159 --> 00:48:52,840
is in twenty eighteen. Now, at the time he fought

1057
00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:55,440
Victor Postal, Victor post I was twenty nine and one.

1058
00:48:55,480 --> 00:48:58,280
His only loss going into that fight post a loss

1059
00:48:58,280 --> 00:49:01,400
of decision in a unification fight against Terrence Crawford. That

1060
00:49:01,519 --> 00:49:03,519
was a very good win for for Taylor. Then he

1061
00:49:03,599 --> 00:49:06,119
joined the tournament, scored up easy knockout against Ryan Martin,

1062
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:08,480
who was undefeated at the time. Then he won a

1063
00:49:08,519 --> 00:49:11,480
title against Ivan Branchick, who was undefeated. That that was

1064
00:49:11,519 --> 00:49:13,239
a very good win for him. Then he went in

1065
00:49:13,320 --> 00:49:16,039
the finals of the tournament. He went into the tournament.

1066
00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:20,119
The final was a unification fight against Regis Program, who

1067
00:49:20,199 --> 00:49:22,679
at that time was also undefeated. They were the two

1068
00:49:22,719 --> 00:49:25,079
best guys. Who was a great fight. He pulled out

1069
00:49:25,079 --> 00:49:27,880
a close decision. He became the unified champion. He made

1070
00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:31,440
a mandatory during COVID where he just blitzed a complete

1071
00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:33,480
shmear in one round and then he had the big

1072
00:49:33,519 --> 00:49:36,639
win against Ramirez. So that that stretch from the from

1073
00:49:36,719 --> 00:49:40,679
the post All fight in twenty eighteen until he had

1074
00:49:40,679 --> 00:49:44,039
the fight against Ramirez in twenty twenty one, he was

1075
00:49:44,199 --> 00:49:46,320
he was dominating his you know, or at least even

1076
00:49:46,320 --> 00:49:51,639
against the top guys like a like a progres wins absolutely,

1077
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:54,679
so you know, I'm not going to downplay what he did.

1078
00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:57,480
The fact is the prime was a little short, but

1079
00:49:57,559 --> 00:50:00,320
it was pretty spectacular and then of course, you know,

1080
00:50:01,039 --> 00:50:02,760
he went off a cliff. I mean, in many ways

1081
00:50:02,800 --> 00:50:05,800
it's sort of Tim's dudn't achieve what Josh Taylor achieved.

1082
00:50:05,920 --> 00:50:09,400
But in terms of the rapidity of the fall from grace,

1083
00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:14,320
if you will, was pretty stark. And unfortunately Josh has

1084
00:50:14,360 --> 00:50:16,800
to retire because of the injury. But like I said,

1085
00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:18,440
that might be the best thing, because I don't feel

1086
00:50:18,440 --> 00:50:20,239
like things are gonna get better. But you know, would

1087
00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:21,880
never want to see a guy have to retire because

1088
00:50:21,880 --> 00:50:24,480
of that situation, So hopefully he can come to grips

1089
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:26,199
with that, come to terms of that. But he'll go

1090
00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:29,320
down as one of the greats from Scotland. I don't

1091
00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:32,199
think he's probably he's probably not done enough to become

1092
00:50:32,239 --> 00:50:35,559
a Hall of Famer, But again, that doesn't mean he

1093
00:50:35,679 --> 00:50:37,039
was not a heck of a fighter for a while.

1094
00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:39,880
I wish him the best of luck. He was very

1095
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:41,519
classy in the way he made his announcement, and he

1096
00:50:41,559 --> 00:50:44,280
thanked all of his different promoters and trainers and family

1097
00:50:44,320 --> 00:50:46,039
and all the things that had helped him get to

1098
00:50:46,119 --> 00:50:48,239
the point where he got the fans who are super supportive.

1099
00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:50,239
So I just say good luck to Josh Taylor.

1100
00:50:51,119 --> 00:50:54,440
Speaker 2: A couple more here. Well, we have found out one

1101
00:50:54,440 --> 00:50:57,880
of the reasons that Gilberto Zerto Ramirez may not have

1102
00:50:57,960 --> 00:51:01,519
been as effective in that Cruise Away title fight the

1103
00:51:01,599 --> 00:51:04,159
uh the unified Cruise Away title fight on the Jake

1104
00:51:04,199 --> 00:51:07,239
Paul undercard in Anaheim, California. I was there at ringside,

1105
00:51:07,280 --> 00:51:10,079
is a shoulder injury and he has now undergone shoulder

1106
00:51:10,159 --> 00:51:13,679
surgery that will keep him out basically the remainder of

1107
00:51:13,840 --> 00:51:20,119
this year from fighting. So elaborate on how how much

1108
00:51:20,519 --> 00:51:22,800
I mean you you do a great job of fairting

1109
00:51:22,840 --> 00:51:25,079
this stuff out. How much was this a factor before

1110
00:51:25,119 --> 00:51:28,039
the fight as opposed to he really damaged it during

1111
00:51:28,039 --> 00:51:30,440
the fight with Dordiakos. What do we know if anything

1112
00:51:30,519 --> 00:51:32,119
on that for the show for the shoulder surgery.

1113
00:51:32,199 --> 00:51:35,480
Speaker 1: In Zerdo's statement when Golden Boy announced that he was

1114
00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:38,639
that he had had surgery this past Saturday, he said

1115
00:51:38,679 --> 00:51:40,960
in his comments that he's been dealing with this since

1116
00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:43,719
the since the fight with Dordikos, So it didn't really

1117
00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:45,719
make it clear whether it was some type of injury

1118
00:51:45,920 --> 00:51:47,719
they had going into that fight he sucked it up

1119
00:51:47,719 --> 00:51:49,840
and got through the fight, or that maybe happened during

1120
00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:52,280
the fight, but either way, it happened, and he he

1121
00:51:52,320 --> 00:51:55,480
said he had three different medical opinions made the point like,

1122
00:51:55,559 --> 00:51:58,239
obviously most people would do that. It's never good, especially

1123
00:51:58,320 --> 00:52:00,719
if you're a professional athlete that to have the surgery,

1124
00:52:00,719 --> 00:52:03,559
but he felt like after hearing the varying opinions that

1125
00:52:03,679 --> 00:52:05,519
the best course of action was to have the surgery

1126
00:52:05,559 --> 00:52:07,440
and just do the reab and get it taken care of,

1127
00:52:07,559 --> 00:52:09,360
because that he needed to get it done because he

1128
00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:12,000
didn't want it to hamper him in his future fight

1129
00:52:12,239 --> 00:52:15,400
or future fights, especially with the Opa tie fight on

1130
00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:17,400
the table as a likely next fight in the fall.

1131
00:52:17,880 --> 00:52:20,599
Now the open tie camp, I hope they don't run

1132
00:52:20,599 --> 00:52:23,079
around claiming that he's ducking him or anything like that,

1133
00:52:23,119 --> 00:52:25,800
because obviously you're having surgery, you're not looking to get

1134
00:52:25,840 --> 00:52:28,480
out of a fight. But the main thing is now

1135
00:52:28,519 --> 00:52:30,119
when Golden Boy again, when they put the statement out,

1136
00:52:30,199 --> 00:52:32,480
never in the statement didn't mention what the timeframe was.

1137
00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:35,039
So I called up some folks there and I said, okay, guys,

1138
00:52:35,079 --> 00:52:38,719
what's the story like, is this a minor scope? Is

1139
00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:40,480
it a month? Is that six months? Is it a year?

1140
00:52:40,719 --> 00:52:42,440
And it was described to me as that he's probably

1141
00:52:42,519 --> 00:52:45,159
on the shelf before it can train with the shoulder

1142
00:52:45,239 --> 00:52:48,119
four to six months. So if you do the math,

1143
00:52:49,039 --> 00:52:52,159
the most likely case scenario is he probably doesn't fight

1144
00:52:52,199 --> 00:52:54,440
again this year, and that if he did fight again

1145
00:52:54,480 --> 00:52:56,519
this year, I'd be a little surprised if coming off

1146
00:52:56,519 --> 00:52:58,719
this type of surgery, he's going to jump into the

1147
00:52:58,719 --> 00:53:01,800
open tie fight right off the bat. So unfortunately, he

1148
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:03,800
probably won't fight the rest of the year. I would

1149
00:53:03,800 --> 00:53:06,239
imagine that they'd want to get him a fight to

1150
00:53:06,239 --> 00:53:08,559
see how things are before they go into the big one,

1151
00:53:08,679 --> 00:53:11,639
unless he's very confident and things are okay. But the

1152
00:53:11,639 --> 00:53:15,199
point is that Opatai fight feels a little far away now,

1153
00:53:15,199 --> 00:53:17,800
even though I know from speaking of both sides that

1154
00:53:17,880 --> 00:53:19,639
they were discussing it, they were trying to make it.

1155
00:53:19,719 --> 00:53:22,159
Certainly Turkey had and that very publicly said he wanted

1156
00:53:22,159 --> 00:53:24,599
to fight. It was a fight that he definitely can

1157
00:53:25,360 --> 00:53:27,199
could have put on. He has the money to do so.

1158
00:53:27,440 --> 00:53:30,199
He has featured zero on a card in Saudi Arabia

1159
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:33,920
last fall. Opatai has fought his last other than the

1160
00:53:33,920 --> 00:53:36,400
fight he just had back home in Australia, he had

1161
00:53:36,440 --> 00:53:39,159
fought what two or three of his recent fights in

1162
00:53:39,239 --> 00:53:44,000
a fairly active schedule in Saudi Arabia. So there's two

1163
00:53:44,159 --> 00:53:46,760
two things here. One he hoped Zerdo is okay and

1164
00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:49,440
everything heals up good. And two he hoped that when

1165
00:53:49,480 --> 00:53:51,400
that's good to go, that they still can make the

1166
00:53:51,440 --> 00:53:53,320
match with opa Ti, that they that they're both still

1167
00:53:53,320 --> 00:53:55,159
there with their titles in that way, And.

1168
00:53:55,159 --> 00:53:56,840
Speaker 2: There's some believe that Opataia is going to move up

1169
00:53:56,840 --> 00:53:59,559
to heavyweight too, and so, but I'm not sure he's

1170
00:53:59,559 --> 00:54:02,000
gonna do the wow. I don't know, Yeah, but he might,

1171
00:54:02,039 --> 00:54:02,280
you know, he.

1172
00:54:02,320 --> 00:54:04,639
Speaker 1: Might sticker in there. Look, Opatai is not an old fighter.

1173
00:54:05,119 --> 00:54:09,440
There's doesn't seem to me like it would be unreasonable

1174
00:54:09,440 --> 00:54:11,079
for him the stick around in the division for another

1175
00:54:11,159 --> 00:54:14,960
year and get get an opportunity to unify further. Uh

1176
00:54:15,079 --> 00:54:17,480
the heavyweight division is a different ballgame for these guys.

1177
00:54:17,559 --> 00:54:19,559
It's he's gonna be a lot smaller than those fighters,

1178
00:54:20,079 --> 00:54:21,840
not to say he won't necessarily be able to handle it,

1179
00:54:21,880 --> 00:54:24,760
but uh, I still think it's a very lucrative situation

1180
00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:27,360
with stick around a cruise weight and get the Zerto fight.

1181
00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:29,440
I mean, if you go to heavyweight, you're not getting

1182
00:54:29,480 --> 00:54:32,480
a title shot probably right away, some kind of some

1183
00:54:32,599 --> 00:54:35,280
kind of tough opponent. Uh So maybe the better course

1184
00:54:35,320 --> 00:54:37,519
of action will be to stick around in the cruiserweight

1185
00:54:37,559 --> 00:54:40,920
division where there's still other competent and reasonable opposition to fight.

1186
00:54:41,280 --> 00:54:43,199
There's still another belt out there that he doesn't have,

1187
00:54:43,239 --> 00:54:46,199
which is the bad Dude Jack WBC belt. So you

1188
00:54:46,239 --> 00:54:47,719
know that all remains to be seen. But the main

1189
00:54:47,760 --> 00:54:49,960
thing is I hope Zero, uh you know, gets better

1190
00:54:50,000 --> 00:54:53,679
because he has. He has been a guy who was

1191
00:54:53,719 --> 00:54:56,239
at supermit ofweight, never really fought the top guys. Not

1192
00:54:56,320 --> 00:54:59,039
for his own fault. Head light heavyweight, he did very well,

1193
00:54:59,079 --> 00:55:01,719
but when he got the big opportunity, he looked terrible

1194
00:55:01,719 --> 00:55:03,599
and lost every round with the people. But since he

1195
00:55:03,639 --> 00:55:05,599
went the cruiserweight and was able to put the weight on.

1196
00:55:05,960 --> 00:55:08,519
He's looked really good like even though he won. Maybe

1197
00:55:08,519 --> 00:55:11,360
it looked spectacular against Dorda Ghost, but it wasn't like

1198
00:55:11,400 --> 00:55:13,079
there was a question who was the winner, and that

1199
00:55:13,199 --> 00:55:15,280
was a good quality opponent the ay to beat. So

1200
00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:18,159
Hill up and let's get the big one going after that.

1201
00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:22,039
Speaker 2: You mentioned Regis Progray earlier will rap with he is

1202
00:55:22,119 --> 00:55:24,639
going to be back coming here, not this weekend but

1203
00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:28,840
August the second next weekend on the undercurt of the

1204
00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:32,960
Oscar Duarte Kenneth Simms main event. What's the latest uh

1205
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:36,920
with Regis here and who he's fighting on that card?

1206
00:55:37,519 --> 00:55:40,199
Speaker 1: Well, the Duarte Kenneth Simms matchup. Ever since it was made,

1207
00:55:40,199 --> 00:55:42,159
I've said this is a very kind of below the

1208
00:55:42,199 --> 00:55:44,360
radar kind of fight. It may not have the big

1209
00:55:44,440 --> 00:55:46,719
name recognition, it might not have a lot of sexiness

1210
00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:49,119
to it, but that's a damn good matchup in my mind.

1211
00:55:49,280 --> 00:55:51,679
It's in the junior Wealthy right division. Regis program is

1212
00:55:51,679 --> 00:55:54,079
the junior weal to right also, So it seems to

1213
00:55:54,119 --> 00:55:56,440
me that Golden Boy might be looking to, you know,

1214
00:55:57,360 --> 00:56:00,320
feature this weight class and perhaps the winner, you know,

1215
00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:04,000
fights the winner, if that makes sense. So they're taking Regis,

1216
00:56:04,039 --> 00:56:08,840
who's clearly in decline but still a great personality and

1217
00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:11,920
still has the desire. He's been holed up in Vegas

1218
00:56:11,920 --> 00:56:13,719
doing his camp. He left home. He's now training with

1219
00:56:13,800 --> 00:56:17,920
Ky Caroma out in Las Vegas, and they've matched him

1220
00:56:17,920 --> 00:56:21,159
with a longtime Golden Boy fighter, Joseph Diaz Junior, who

1221
00:56:21,239 --> 00:56:23,320
was a former title holder at junior lightweight but has

1222
00:56:23,360 --> 00:56:25,840
been fighting. You know, he's miss waited a few times

1223
00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:28,599
and so was into the junior walterweight division. Actually made

1224
00:56:28,760 --> 00:56:30,880
one hundred and thirty five pounds for his most recent fight,

1225
00:56:30,920 --> 00:56:34,679
which took place back in June. But now apparently he's

1226
00:56:34,679 --> 00:56:36,320
going to be fighting at one forty for the fight

1227
00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:39,360
against against Regis. Program. But no matter how bad Regis

1228
00:56:39,440 --> 00:56:41,119
looked in his last two fights, and he looked bad.

1229
00:56:41,440 --> 00:56:43,239
You know, he got shut out and knocked down by

1230
00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:46,800
Devin Haney when he lost his WBC belt, and then

1231
00:56:46,800 --> 00:56:49,039
in the next fight. You know, he didn't look very

1232
00:56:49,039 --> 00:56:51,440
good against Jack Catroll either when he went overseas to

1233
00:56:51,440 --> 00:56:51,840
fight him.

1234
00:56:51,920 --> 00:56:54,039
Speaker 2: And really you go back to the Zoria fight in

1235
00:56:54,079 --> 00:56:57,159
New Orleans where he did nothing. Yep, there are real

1236
00:56:57,239 --> 00:56:59,880
question marks about whether this guy has anything left.

1237
00:57:00,119 --> 00:57:04,159
Speaker 1: But big butt or regis Progray half dead should still

1238
00:57:04,159 --> 00:57:06,760
be able to be Joseph Diaz, who has not done

1239
00:57:06,840 --> 00:57:09,559
anything for years, who is now two wins and six

1240
00:57:09,639 --> 00:57:12,719
losses in his last eight fights and has fought very poorly,

1241
00:57:13,199 --> 00:57:15,000
has had a lot of outside the ring issues. I'm

1242
00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:17,679
sure that has been part of it, but even the

1243
00:57:17,719 --> 00:57:19,400
wins that he had in that period of time were

1244
00:57:19,440 --> 00:57:21,960
not against anybody to write home about. So it feels

1245
00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:24,880
like these are two names guys who are former champions.

1246
00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:29,840
But Pro Gray is the natural forty pounder. He's a

1247
00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:33,400
guy that has been in the bigger fights. If he

1248
00:57:33,440 --> 00:57:35,840
can't beat Joseph Diaz, I mean he really should be retired.

1249
00:57:35,880 --> 00:57:38,480
So yeah, But if he can beat Joseph Diaz, I'm

1250
00:57:38,519 --> 00:57:40,400
not saying that's some kind of earth shattering victory, but

1251
00:57:40,440 --> 00:57:42,519
at least puts you back in the win column, and

1252
00:57:42,559 --> 00:57:44,519
with the fact that the main event between Duwartte and

1253
00:57:44,519 --> 00:57:46,559
Simms is in the same way class, at least it

1254
00:57:46,559 --> 00:57:49,280
gives you some sort of opportunity maybe to be compared

1255
00:57:49,320 --> 00:57:51,519
to those guys or perhaps land to fight against the winner.

1256
00:57:52,280 --> 00:57:54,079
And so that's what's happening. Again. I can't make this

1257
00:57:54,119 --> 00:57:56,679
out to be some kind of spectacular matchup, but it's

1258
00:57:56,760 --> 00:57:58,679
good to see the guys get back in action, and

1259
00:57:58,880 --> 00:58:01,079
if Regis was going to continue to fight, at least

1260
00:58:01,079 --> 00:58:03,199
get the opportunity to be seen by folks in the

1261
00:58:03,239 --> 00:58:05,199
co feature of what I feel like is a really

1262
00:58:05,199 --> 00:58:07,800
good main event, even if it doesn't have the big profile.

1263
00:58:07,880 --> 00:58:09,960
And that's the bottom line. They made a match for

1264
00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:12,119
the guy, and I don't know if he necessarily signed

1265
00:58:12,159 --> 00:58:14,320
the contract with Golden Boy. I don't know if they're

1266
00:58:14,360 --> 00:58:15,960
going to go signing a Regius program to a long

1267
00:58:16,000 --> 00:58:17,400
term go. I'm sure they have an option if he's

1268
00:58:17,440 --> 00:58:20,800
a winner. Anyway, Regis back in action. He's out in

1269
00:58:20,840 --> 00:58:21,960
Vegas trending his ass off.

1270
00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:26,119
Speaker 2: All right, So we gave you a bunch. Why don't

1271
00:58:26,159 --> 00:58:29,719
you and I reconvene again on the bet Us Boxing

1272
00:58:29,760 --> 00:58:33,320
Show coming up Friday, one Eastern time, and we will

1273
00:58:33,360 --> 00:58:37,079
handicap the top rank show at the Madison Square Garden Theater,

1274
00:58:37,239 --> 00:58:40,320
Xander Zaiyez going for the WBO Junior Middleweight title, Bruce

1275
00:58:40,400 --> 00:58:44,000
Shoeshoe Carrington in the co feature. Will handicap those fights

1276
00:58:44,199 --> 00:58:47,599
live on their platforms one Eastern time, bet Us YouTube

1277
00:58:47,639 --> 00:58:50,920
and social media, and whatever happens you and I will

1278
00:58:50,960 --> 00:58:54,039
recap things coming off of the weekend here on the

1279
00:58:54,079 --> 00:58:57,079
podcast feed. Make sure you're following subscribing you get the

1280
00:58:57,119 --> 00:59:01,280
automatic notifications and reminders. There is a new pod when

1281
00:59:01,360 --> 00:59:04,199
it's up. You can obviously go to our YouTube page

1282
00:59:04,280 --> 00:59:08,760
see Dan interviewing Xander Zaiyez before this fight Saturday night.

1283
00:59:08,800 --> 00:59:10,559
You can also hear it on this podcast feed, but

1284
00:59:10,639 --> 00:59:14,519
see it great nostalgia that's there on the feed. Recently

1285
00:59:14,559 --> 00:59:18,159
we put up the Salvador Sanchez final fight before his

1286
00:59:18,280 --> 00:59:20,840
tragic death in a car accident back in nineteen eighty two.

1287
00:59:20,880 --> 00:59:23,639
I know it's a long time ago. You kids, YouTube

1288
00:59:23,639 --> 00:59:26,440
it up. Go look up Salvador Sanchez and go watch

1289
00:59:26,519 --> 00:59:28,800
us talking about his final fight with a Zuma Nelson

1290
00:59:28,800 --> 00:59:32,280
at Madison Square Garden. But the Mike McCallum knockout of

1291
00:59:32,360 --> 00:59:35,159
Donald Curry had an anniversary, the late body snatcher Mike

1292
00:59:35,239 --> 00:59:38,960
McCallum that just recently passed away, his fantastic knockout. We

1293
00:59:38,960 --> 00:59:40,760
analyze that. Go to the YouTube page. You can see

1294
00:59:40,800 --> 00:59:44,679
all about that. I think I'm done promoting. Shall shall

1295
00:59:44,719 --> 00:59:47,039
we reconvene on Friday one Eastern time? Are we good?

1296
00:59:47,280 --> 00:59:47,880
Speaker 1: It's for show?

1297
00:59:48,280 --> 00:59:50,719
Speaker 2: I think so all right, Big Dan, thank you, We

1298
00:59:50,840 --> 00:59:53,400
thank you for listening and for being with us as

1299
00:59:53,440 --> 00:59:56,079
you have been in here on the Big Fight Weekend

1300
00:59:56,400 --> 01:00:00,400
preview podcast, What the