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Speaker 1: It is my pleasure to be joined on the podcast

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this week by Keith, one time Terman, the former unified

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welterweight champion of the world. But Keith, you are now

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fighting as if you're a bit away. First of all,

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welcome to the show. I know you're a little late.

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You're helping your daughter do some school stuff, so welcome,

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Thanks for doing this.

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Speaker 2: Happy to be here man, just grinding it out. We're

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weeks away from the big fight.

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Speaker 1: Exactly, so I'll tell everybody what you're going to be doing.

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You have a fight, a rescheduled fight that was supposed

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to originally take place last October. You will challenge the

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WBC Junior Middleweight world Champion, Sebastian Fondora for his title.

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Will take place on March twenty eighth, live on PBC

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on Prime Video pay per view from the MGM Grand

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Gardnera in Las Vegas, one of the great venues in

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the history of the world. And as I mentioned, Keith,

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the fight was supposed to take place last October, the

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fight was two weeks away. He suffered a hand injury,

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the fight was postponed. And that's really the same position

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you've been in on the other side. Where you were

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a guy that was a couple of you know, two

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weeks ten days away from a important fight, and you

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suffer an injury, fight gets canceled, and I just wonder.

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I've dealt with fights being postponed numerous times, but I'm

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not the fighter always curious how that impacts the guys

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that it does impact the two men that are supposed

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to get in the ring, where women for that matter.

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You always had a full camp and then suddenly one

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day there's no fight and no payday to go with it,

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and it's got to be very disappointing and kind of

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bums everybody out. So talk to me about what happened

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in October and sort of dealing with that situation.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, like you said, you know, I mean overall, I mean,

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it's just a bummer, you know, you know, because you

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had a fight schedule for October, and then my birthday

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month is November, and then of course holiday seasons December,

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so you know, we were hoping to get the fight

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and move into the.

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Speaker 2: Year this year, the new year of twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 3: As champion, right, and you know, it's been a long

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time since we got the ball rolling. I finally had

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after my setback and my injury when I had to

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pull out two weeks for the Tim Zoo fight, which

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led Fondora into the world championship status that he holds today.

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Speaker 4: You know, because he replaced you in that fight.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, he was the replacement, you know. So the thing

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about Fundora last year is he's the champ. You don't

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replace champions. You don't just call people champ.

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Speaker 2: We need another chimps come in two week notice, make

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a fight happen.

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Speaker 3: That doesn't happen, right, So I understood the scenario and

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the postponement, but that was just an unfortunate year once

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again where it's hard to get the ball rolling for

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killing Tom Thurman.

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Speaker 1: Since your two fights in twenty nineteen to win against

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Joses Seed Lopez and the loss of your title to

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Manny Pacyah, you know, it's been slow going. You had

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just a fight against Mario Barrios in twenty twenty two.

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You came back off of three and that was you know,

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you had a good win in that fight, came off

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a three year layoff, a lot of it injury related.

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You went to Australia look good, I thought, in a

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third round knockout against brock Jarvis on Enemy Territory, and

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I'm wondering just how how frustrating is with the layoffs

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and and and the injuries that we talked about just

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before about with fights being postponed because of your injury,

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the forced the Zoo fight off, and of course then

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Fundora's injury that delayed this fight.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, at the end of the day,

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last year was really it was it was fun, you know,

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because we opened up that brock Jarvis fight early in

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the year and it just felt good, right after three

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years once again, another from Mario Barrio's fight was a

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two and a half year comeback, then brock Jarvis was

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a three year comeback, right, So just all that inactivity,

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it was very unfortunate.

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Speaker 2: But I got to be, like you said on Enemy.

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Speaker 3: Territory, foreign land. But that's what I love about boxing.

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Boxing's taking me all over the world. Boxing's allowed me

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to see places in cities that my mother never took

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me up. Even in the amateur days.

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Speaker 2: We would just go to Fort Lauderdale for sparring, Fort

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Pierce for competitions.

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Speaker 3: I go all over the state of Florida. Then we

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go to regional events and national events, and I was going.

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I was always traveling. I got to fight in Canada

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as an amateur, got to fight in Canada as a pro,

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and so it just felt good because my roots in

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boxing is I'm not scared.

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Speaker 2: To travel and go places.

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Speaker 3: I've done it throughout my whole career, but obviously New York, Vegas,

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La Texas, Florida. We got plenty of action in the US,

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and so for the majority of my career I've been

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US bound. But it just felt good to get out

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there to meet the fans, because when you have world

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championship status, two time former world champion, you know you

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have fans from all over the world.

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Speaker 2: You see them pop up in your feed.

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Speaker 3: Oh love from the Philippines, love from the UK, love

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from Brazil, Like you know, we really have that status,

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world championship status. So it was a lot of fun

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to go to Sydney, have that comeback fight and interact

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with the fans that I haven't been able to interact

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with throughout my career. So that was really just a

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lovely experience. It was a blessing. It was kind of

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bucket list for me. I've always wanted to travel and

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make fights like that.

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Speaker 2: Happen.

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Speaker 3: So it was a beautiful experience. But we thought that

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we would get this ball roll in. I didn't get

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a summer fight, But.

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Speaker 1: I want to ask you about that was the big thing. Yeah,

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to Australia, you fought Jarvis, that was all predicated that

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you were going to be fighting Tim Zoo. He was

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ringside calling your fight. A few weeks later after your victory,

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he got his own victory, knocked out Joey Spencer, and

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it's like, okay, now we're going to see this, this

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fight that a lot of people were interested in. Keith

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one time terming against Tim Zoo and all of a

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sudden he's not in the fight. He ends up going

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and taking the rematch against Sebastian Fundora, who dominates him,

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stops him.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, what happened to the fight between you and Tim?

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Speaker 3: You know, I mean it's pretty obvious he had options.

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You can only fight one guy at a time. This

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is not wwe people. We will not be seeing mashups

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where everyone gets in the rig and throwing each other

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all around the place. You know, maybe one day Dana

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White will make something happen, who knows, you know, But

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for right now, that's not what world class boxing is about.

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So he must have had these options on the table,

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and his team chose to go for their strike at

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being champion of the world once again.

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Speaker 2: I think that was obviously the pool.

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Speaker 3: You know, we can say like, oh, you know, they

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saw my power, they saw I was how well my

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movement was.

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Speaker 2: Maybe they just.

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Speaker 3: Thought, you know, he's not old enough just yet, he's

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still a threat, and the reward is not there. If

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he's not champion, the reward is not there. I think

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that personally, they did see me as somewhat of a threat,

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and they saw Fandora, who had the title, a lesser

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of a threat. And why did they Why did they

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see him as a lesser of a threat because the

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first time they fought, Fondora won on the on the

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back end of his jab, and the only damage that

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tim Zu suffered was the damage he dealt to himself

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when he when he went into Fandora's elbow.

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Speaker 2: And he was cut and bleeding.

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Speaker 3: So in his mind, Fandora didn't beat him up right

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in his mind.

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Speaker 1: And you look, you look pretty friend. You looked like

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a guy off a three year layoff against Rock Jarvis,

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So you know.

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Speaker 2: So I think they their risk reward.

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Speaker 3: I thought, you know, hey, before we fight Thurman, let

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us become champions again. Little did they know that the

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reason why Fandora was so timid in that fight was

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two reasons. Reason Number one, he was coming off of

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a KO loss to Mendoza.

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Speaker 1: Now, yeah, Brian Mendoza, right, brember Tis the layup I

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thought was the guy that knocked him out. Well, it

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was for the it was for the IDF title.

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Speaker 4: Yeah that's Zoo. I got you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'm talking about Frondora.

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Speaker 4: I got you.

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Speaker 2: How Fandora got dropped? Right, So Fandora got dropped.

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Speaker 3: Now he's being a two week replacement against the undefeated

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Tim Zoo. That everybody I was an eight to one underdog,

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you know. So they were saying he was really scary.

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So I think a lot of that made fendor be

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very timid his loss and the two week notice, and

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they were trying to be very conservative. They took a

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very conservative approach, and they were able to be victorious.

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When the second fight came around, they realized like, hey,

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Tim Zuo wasn't really that scary. Maybe I can hold

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my ground more, Maybe I don't need to be so

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timid and we all, well, we all saw Tim Zoo

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get dropped. We all saw his downfall, and Fandora got

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his matchup earlier last year, right, I think like within

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weeks after my fight, ye, he had a fight and

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he had a great performance, and I think that was

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a big confidence booster, so that when they renegotiated, he

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stepped into that ring last summer with all that confidence,

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you know.

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Speaker 4: And I want to get to a few other things

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beause I know we're gonna run out of time, So.

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Speaker 3: Maybe I wanted to say that because of that, he's

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going to be stepping into March twenty eighth with more confidence.

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He's gonna be he believes in himself once again. It's

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not easy to be coming off of KO losses and

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re establish that valor of a true fighting champion. But

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I believe Sebastian Fandora is exactly right there in his

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mental game, physical game, and me versus him in a

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few weeks from now is going to be fireworks.

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Speaker 1: Well, he did look pretty good against him in the rematch,

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for sure. One thing I always have to ask Sebastian

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Fandora opponents is about the wild discrepancy in the height.

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You are a listed that five foot nine. He is

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listed at six foot five. He's a very tall man.

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I'm six foot I've stood next to him. I gotta

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look up. Uh, how do you deal with that? And

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how do you even try to simulate that in a sparring?

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Speaker 3: Gotta get my spar partner six foot six and six

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foot four.

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Speaker 4: Okay, I got.

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Speaker 2: I got good guys. You know.

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Speaker 3: One happens to be a heavyweight, which is it's a

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little annoying. I told myself, I said, we're not hiring

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no heavyweights. And then look what I ended up doing.

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Speaker 1: I who these guys are that you're that are in

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with that are so tall?

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Speaker 3: Uh? We got we got Michael Fox and then man

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my my other guys. My trainer Tony brought him in.

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They're really close from winter Haven, and I don't have

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his name off the top of my head right now.

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Speaker 4: Okay, but it's I know Michael Fox is obviously he's

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got the height for sure, so you're you.

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Speaker 2: He got the height.

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Speaker 3: Tim Zu used him and Brian Mendoza use them in camps.

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He's the go to guy for the Fundora fight. He's

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the go to sparing partner. He's got a really nice

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long jab and we.

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Speaker 2: Just we just get used to it.

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Speaker 3: I was already doing I was already working with these

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two individuals last year, and just so happens.

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Speaker 2: That we could Recordinate Camp all over again. I'm very fortunate.

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Speaker 3: I'm very grateful to my sparing partners because they're giving

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me the looks that I need to understand that, like

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you said, discrepancy and to cover that distance.

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Speaker 2: It's it's a game, you know, it's footwork.

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Speaker 3: It's in and out, and you might, you know, I

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might be swinging in and missing a little bit, and

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then I got to press a little harder, and you know,

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but eventually, you know, I'm I'm learning how to touch

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these guys. And that's given me confidence that you know,

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Fondora too, he will be touched.

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Speaker 1: So during the last few years, since you've been somewhat

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idle and now you're thirty seven, we've discussed the inactivity

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situation with your career. These twenty eight years old. He

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seems to be in his prime. He's certainly been more

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active than you. What is the case that you make

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while you beat him based on those factors.

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Speaker 3: Gill's face, the bills man, look at the resume, look

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at the resume from the amateurs to the pros. Keith

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Thurmans fought the best in the world my whole life,

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you know.

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Speaker 2: I was by the time I was sixteen years old.

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Speaker 3: My sparring partners were Winki right, Jeff Lacy and Twine Echos,

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Chad Dawson, Andre Burdo.

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Speaker 4: Okay, a lot of good guys.

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Speaker 3: I've I've been in I've just been in the ring.

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I've been in the ring with some of the best

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fighters that boxing can can give. You know, right before

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the Olympic Trials, I was sparring Anthony Drell Right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and one thing you just mentioned is all the

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top quality names that you will fought. It made me

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think bat the fact, and I don't on my social media.

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I like to post my memorabilia, my posters and programs

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and such. And I recently posted the posters from your

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your tremendous battle you had with Danny Garcia nine years

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ago this month. That was the fight and you were

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that was a big time fight. It was live on CBS,

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did millions of viewers. You're like on the verge. What

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I thought was big time start him at that point.

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You're on a tremendous run you had defended your welterweight title,

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beat Robert Carrero, beat Lewis Colazo by knockout, had a

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big win against Sean Porter, and then you beat Garcia

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and you're just you're cruising, you know what I mean,

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You're You're everything is going tremendous, and then you're out

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after that fight for like two years. Do you ever

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let yourself think or allow yourself to think about what

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might have been with your career had you not had

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the injuries and you were able to be more active.

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Speaker 2: You know, water under the bridge.

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Speaker 3: You know you can't you can't help, but you can't

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help in life. You know, I don't wish anybody to

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have Keith Thurman's story.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's just for me. It's my story, it's

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my comeback. You can't have a comeback like me.

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Speaker 3: Okay, it's just for me, all right, But no, Like honestly, man,

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I don't wish this upon any fighter, any athlete.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: After Danny Garcia, it was bone spur surgery, right yeah.

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And then after Manny pacyall it was bone fusion surgery,

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and then two weeks before the Tim Zoo fight, it

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was bicep tending surgery. Right, So at thirty seven years old,

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I'm three surgeries in and you know, and just still grinding.

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Speaker 2: It just is what it is.

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Speaker 3: I did my best to you know, obviously, when I

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came back in twenty nineteen, I made the fights and

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I made the pack y'all fight, and you know, we

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always made great action. And then really it was after

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that in twenty twenty in COVID there were some decisions

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I made that weren't good for my career. I chose

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not to fight when I got the phone call. I

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didn't know what the repercussions of that were gonna. Do

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you remember when Sean Porter was one of the first

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to come back for PBC in the Fox studio with

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no fans. Yes, So I got that phone call first down,

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and I turned it down because I.

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Speaker 4: But to fight somebody, to fight somebody, yeah, not to.

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Speaker 2: Fight, not a rematch with Sean, to fight somebody.

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Speaker 3: I was coming off of my first career loss against

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Mandy pacyall they just wanted to keep me in the limelight,

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which I should have meditated on more. But I gave

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a quick answer or quick reaction, which was this sounds

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boring because I just fought in the MGM Grand with

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a packed arena, you know, and little did I know

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the repercussions, little did we all know what COVID was

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bringing us, right, So there was that.

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Speaker 2: Then once Vegas opened up, there was a lot of fighters.

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Speaker 3: That didn't get to fight, and because I wasn't champion,

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I wasn't pushed to the frontline at that time. But

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eventually I got my contract to fight Mario Barrios, right,

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and so even after that political things hit.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't my choice this time.

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Speaker 3: It was more some networks, some politics happening, and because

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I fought, I beat Barrios. But Barrios was back in

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the ring before I was back in the ring, right, which.

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Speaker 4: I always find unusual when things like that happened.

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Speaker 2: So, you know, I don't want anybody to have my story.

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Speaker 3: But luckily, thirty years in the game, I've been living

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this dream since I was seven years old, and I

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still believe big things are coming. I finally got my

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opportunity seven years from twenty nineteen. It's a seven year

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comeback people, not approximately it would be seven years this summer.

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It's approximately a seven year comeback from twenty nineteen that

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your man won one time is finally getting a world

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title shot.

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Speaker 2: They only want me to fight a giant.

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Speaker 3: They only want me to fight the living, walking, breathing

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Mount everest of a man fun Dora. But I'm ready,

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I'm focused, I do. I have all the confidence in

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the world that we're gonna represent and do what we

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do best, and that's put everybody through the Keith Thurman test.

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Speaker 1: So I'll just wrap up with this then, because you

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just mentioned about that you're back, and it's not like

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you feel like you're going anywhere. You win this title.

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You're you're back in big time business. It'll be your

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second fight at one fifty four, but it's one of

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the best divisions in boxing, and your presence in it

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gives it another big name you've got besides yourself. In Fondora,

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there's a lot of conversation about you know what's gonna

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be if it's fight between Virgil Ortiz and Boots and

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this takes place, a very hot fight that a lot

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of people want to see. Sanders Aias is his unified champion.

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He just recently unified not that long ago. Josh Kelly

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just won a title where Tazalev is there. Tim Zu

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is still around, came back with the victory. If you

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get this win that, I know what you expect to

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do is what's the and I know you want to

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fight the biggest fights. What's the big fight you think

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for yourself after this?

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Speaker 3: You know that's interesting, you know, I really, I really

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don't know, you know, because this is completely a new division.

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Like you said, there's a list of hot names. But

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you know, I'm kind of at I feel like I'm

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ready to go in any direction.

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Speaker 4: Right. We'll hear the money.

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Speaker 3: I'll take fights from I might take fights from one

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forty seven up to one sixty eight.

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Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. I just want I want boxing,

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and just put Thorman back in the game.

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Speaker 3: Just let Thurman be in the mix, because there's no

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such thing as a bad Keith Darmant fighting as well.

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Speaker 1: You're back in You're back in the mix with an

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important fight, fight for the world title against Abastian Fandora.

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I wish you good luck, Keith. I thank you for

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your time in the I look forward to watching your

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fight on March twenty eight.

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Speaker 2: Don't blink, That's all I can say. Don't blame enjoy

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the show, Appreciate it.

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Speaker 4: Keith thank you sir, take care