Speaker 1: Well off and rolling off of a weekend that well
didn't have a lot of action worldwide.
Speaker 2: We will recap the Golden.
Speaker 1: Boy main event, even though that was a mess, and
then we got to talk about the bigger mess like
Times ten with Virgil Ortiz and Oscar.
Speaker 2: D la Hoyat. That's upcoming.
Speaker 1: We got news about Canelo, We got news about ji
Opataiah making a very intriguing promotional decision. Coming up. It
is the Fight Freaks Unit recap. I am the somewhat
capable host, TJ Reeves. He's back. He's back, and I'm
glad that he's back because we were going to try
to do a preview pod into the weekend. But Brother
Raphael has been battling the cold and the cough, and
the mute button can only be abused so much. The
Looten's cough drops, you're the under over is now you're
up over, like seventy six of them. I think to
try to help the cold and the cough as we
do the pod. So we weren't able to do a
preview pod. But we're here on the recap pod and
we have confirmation. Here's Big Dan Ray feel of the
Fight Freaks to night Substack and newsletter. I am here
and you're inserting a lowten's cough drop as we speak
to help the program.
Speaker 3: This is true. I have my voice mostly back but
still scratchy.
Speaker 2: And you want to confirm to the audience.
Speaker 1: The bigger problem when we're doing obviously a pod like
this is incessant coughing is what derailed us from the
other night.
Speaker 2: So you're gonna do your best to hang in there.
Speaker 3: I will. We've got so much to go old.
Speaker 2: We couldn't miss this. We couldn't miss this.
Speaker 1: We got too much to go Thank you for finding
us on the podfeed, Apple, Spreaker, Spotify. We're underway in
twenty twenty six. Generally speaking, we try to be here
with a preview pod going into the weekend and a
recap pod coming off. Spread the word. Give us a
five star review. Also, find the Big Fight Weekend YouTube
page and make sure that you're subscribed up there hitting
the light button, because there's different content on that page
besides the podfeed here with fighter interviews, nostalgia live shows,
Big Fight Weekend YouTube page. All right, As I mentioned
at the top, the most prominent card was to have
been like that phraseology was to have been the rematch
between Alexis Rocha and Raoul Curriel the Golden Boy main
event at Welterway. However, because it's boxing, we didn't get
to have that, and you're going to pick up the
reasons why here, and so we ended up having a
fight with Curiel and another fighter on the card, who,
let's be honest, is a level or two down probably
from being a main event fighter. But anyway, there is
a main event to talk about. We'll do the obligation
here because we had a fight this weekend that was
the Golden Boy main event.
Speaker 3: Go ahead, well and TJ more importantly, if he did watch,
it turned out to be a good fight. I mean,
it was interesting, it was fun to watch. It wasn't
particularly all that meaningful, if you will. And I do
think that Jordan Panton, who was the fighter that replaced
Alexis Rocha, did himself a service in that by taking
that fight on short notice, because he he announced himself
to the world in some manner and he you know,
I hung in there and he did a good job.
Even though he didn't win. I wouldn't mind seeing him
again in a more competitive opponent, let's say. But just
to get back to what happened. So if you go
all the way back to December of twenty twenty four,
Roach and Carroll put on a great fight in a
his own Golden Boy card and they fought to a draw,
great battle. Roach had not fought since Kiel has had
one win since then, about six months ago. So this
was the rematch, not not the hugest fight in the
world book, good exciting matchup. I thought could be early
type of fight of the year type fight. It didn't
happen because on Wednesday you had Alexis roach I having
a lot of problems with the weight. You know, this
is not the first time this has happened, unfortunately, but
he passed out and had to go to the hospital,
and obviously once that happens, you're not fighting. And so
when he was out, now it's a matter of how
do we save the show. So Panton was on the
undercard in a ten rounder in a middle You know,
he's a middleweight eleven and one going into the fight,
reputation as a really good powerful left hook, but known
to be a good sparring partner at spart with the
guys like Zerdo Ramirez and you know, other top pros,
and so they went to Kurrio, who was a career welterweight,
has spot a few fights you know above that wait
a little bit, you know, would he take that fight?
Would Panton take the fight? So the way I unerstand,
Panton was like, I'll take the fight. He got one
hundred thousand dollars. That's the biggest personal ever probably seen
his life. He was happy to do it. He was
the bigger guy. I spoke to Frank Espinoza, who was
the manager for Raoul Krill when this happened, and he
was like, look, we had a great camp. We spoke
with Raoul, meaning he and Robert Garcia, who was the trainer,
and they made all the decision that you know what,
we're going to take the gamble. We're going to move
up to two weight classes. They didn't contract it quite
at one sixty. He was contracted at one fifty eight,
and they wanted a fight. They took the fight. You know,
they saved the show and in the end they put
on a good fight. Now, Carrie All started slowly, you know.
He he lost the first two rounds on two score cards.
He lost the first round on the third score card.
So he's lost, you know, the first two rounds pretty
much across the board, and then he picked it up
and he got into the groove. He was able to
gauge the power of the distance and get himself together
and from there, you know, he pretty much went to
work and although there were competitive rounds, he was the
clear winner. But it was a good fight to watch.
Krrye All landed like you know, you know, if you
live in CompuBox world, if you're landing over forty percent
of your punches, you're landing a shiload of punches.
Speaker 2: Yeah, land was there to be head. There's no doubt
he was there to be hit exactly.
Speaker 3: So he landed forty two percent, and it's just a
Curiall doesn't have the kind of power as a as
a wealthweight.
Speaker 1: So I found this intriguing though too, because Curiel had
to make the one forty seven way to be close
to it and was doing the weight cut. And so
Panton was ready to fight a Was he ready to
fight a junior middleweight fight on the under card or
a middleweight fight.
Speaker 2: I was not clear on which it was on the
under card.
Speaker 3: Oh, I don't know what the weight division, what the
actual weight limit was.
Speaker 1: Because he's he's fought some at junior middleweight and I
wasn't clear, but Panton was was apparently like one fifty seven.
And that's when they made the compromise on Okay, we're
gonna let Curio rehydrate here, but he can't be over
one hundred and fifty eight pounds the stuff that I read.
Speaker 2: So that was the condition.
Speaker 3: He just made the contract weigh one fifty eight for Cury,
all knowing ahead of time.
Speaker 2: But they problem.
Speaker 1: But they said to I guess to be fair or whatever,
they said to Curiol, you can't come in at one
sixty because Panton had already weighed one fifty seven or whatever.
Speaker 3: Right I had weigh he had weighed in for his undercart.
That's right.
Speaker 1: So I found all of that to be interesting. Now
here's the other thing. I know, we're doing the obligation here.
This doesn't mean anything at welterweight. And isn't Curiell going
to continue to fight at welterweight where his standing is
and try to make that weight and be a contender
at that weight?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: That is?
Speaker 3: That is true. But number one, he got to fight,
so he got to get in the ring. Show the fans.
It turned out the folks like myself and others who
are watching on his own, that he's still here. Don't
forget about me. He put on a good perform Runts
and you know what, he made a payday, which at
the end of the day, you're trying to support your
your family and your life and you can't argue with that.
So they were able to keep the show alive. He's
now seventeen oh to one. This is a guy who
makes good fights if you listen to his interview, extremely
likable guy, really humble, cool dude, good amateur background. This
was a twenty sixteen olympian from Mexico, got a little
bit of a of a late start in his career,
hasn't been the most active. But you know what, I'll
tell you this, the wealthy right divisions we have discussed
in the last few months is pretty much wide open
right now. I mean, four different champions, some newer names
in there. The best known of the title holders is
probably Devin Haney, who just won the belt that he
has just a few you know, back in November, if
one of those champions tapped Ronald Curry on and said,
I'll give you a title shot. I don't have a
problem with that. I think this is a guy. Yeah,
I'm not saying he deserves it based on the win
over Panton, fine, but I'm not opposed to an undefeated
guy that makes good fights. It seems like a very
nice guy that comes to fight, that's got an amateur
background that's significant, and you know, has done his part
put on some tremendous fights, the battle with Rochab being
one of them, even though it was a draw, you know,
as an optional defense. I think ral Kiroll made a
good case, you know what, somebody give me a chance.
Speaker 2: I would have no problem with that, all right, So
there you go off of that.
Speaker 1: And and by the way, the drama in and around
the Virgil Ortiz situation and Oscar de la Joya making
comments on the broadcast and before the broadcast on social
media and after the fights on Friday night and into
the weekend. We'll get to all of that in a
few moments in the in the news, et cetera. Let's begin, though,
with Canelo Alvarez and the and the news late last
week from Turkey, al chic in a video with Canelo
standing there that Canelo will be back and we'll be
back in September in Saudi Arabia, so pick that up.
Speaker 2: I know it's eight months.
Speaker 1: From now, so it's a little tough to get ultra excited,
but we at least get word for now that Canelo
is back, and we got to wait a little bit
for it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, not at all surprise, because after the Crawford lost
in September of you know, this past year. It was
soon after he had the elbow surgery. Eddie Renoso was
manager and trainer, had done some interviews in Mexico. I
believe one of them was on TVs TCHA, one of
the big broadcasters in Exo that shows boxing on a
regular basis, and said, I think what we all sort
of figured that even though under the original agreement he
had with Turkey again things are written in light pencil
often in boxing, that he would be back in February,
even if he had beaten Terrence Crawford. I would have
been slightly surprised he'd been back in February, but okay,
he lost, plus he had surgery, so you knew that
wasn't happening. And Eddie said, this is going back, probably
a good month ago, that he'll be back to fight
in September. You know, his normal dates that he always
likes to fight under the two big Mexican holiday weekends,
Cinco de Mayo in May and that's second and weekend
up September, which is the Mexican Independence Day weekend. So
the fact that they made the announcement is coming back
in September is not a surprise. I mean, I didn't
necessarily think it was going to be the announcement would
be taking place, you know, a few days ago, but
that does not surprise me. Turkey when he made the
deal with Canelo in the first place, starting with the
Skull fight, second fight being the Terrence Crawford fight, it
was you know from what they said at four fight agreement.
So this would be the third fight of that deal.
It will take place in Saudi Arabia, which is what
was stated at the outset that he would have the
fights in Saudi Arabia, but you know, the big one
with Crawford would be here in the United States. So
that's what they're going to do, would be back on
the Mexican Independence Day weekend. So to me, the only
sort of drama of it. You know, he filmed the
interview or not the interview, but rather like that thirty
second video that they posted to their various social media
it was Turkey, it was Canelo, it was Turkey's rather
Turkey's right hand man, doctor Rakhan from uh Sela in
Saudi Arabia, and also Canelo's advisor Richard Schaefer, who he
do was for a long long time, who was the
promoter at Golden Boy, was with them. So it's not
so much these backs September twelfth, t J. It's really okay,
your backs at there are twelfth? Who are you going
to fight? So that leads itself to speculation, and you know,
I hear rumblings. Don't there's to my knowledge, there's no
deal done or anything like that. Guys will fight between
now and then. But you're looking at guys like, you know,
maybe a Christian and Billy somebody along those lines. If
he's gonna want to fight for a title, it won't
be a problem. If he cares about having another title belt.
He is ranked number one in three of the organizations.
He's ranked number three in the fourth organization. Any of
those guys with the belts would love to get a
shot at Canelo because he's still gonna bring a lot
of money to them, so we'll see him, most likely
in some type of title fight against one of those
top guys.
Speaker 1: I have a theory, it's conjecture. I don't report things.
I leave that to you and you do a phenomenal
job of it.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Does it make a lot of sense that he fights
Dmitri bevol again with a lot of belts and bevol
is fought now twice for Turkey al chic in Saudier.
If Beebol wins this comeback fight that he's gonna have
soon and has three of the light heavyweight titles, does
that make too much sense for boxing?
Speaker 2: Can't we have good things?
Speaker 1: That makes a lot more sense on a grander scale
to have that fight.
Speaker 2: What do you think?
Speaker 3: Not a terrible idea. I wouldn't be a post of
that at all. I just don't think that's reality. For
the main reason that Canelo has not expressed in any way,
shape or form the desire to fight as a light
heavyweight again. He's done it twice in his career. Obviously,
had the big knockout win against Sergey Kovlev that you know,
he won the WBO title that night, and then he
had the loss against Biebo. I don't think he's interested
to go back. He's not a big even at super midway,
he's not a big guy. He's smallish for that weight class. Again,
if that was something that he wanted to do and
avenged a loss, fine, but I just don't see that happening.
Speaker 1: I see the way that on January the eighteenth, to
begin this year, I'm putting it out there that idea
that one would be interesting, because again, the money is
the money. What's the historical significance of fighting, And I'm
not saying you're saying it, what's the historical significance of
fighting Christian Mobili or the winner of Diego Pacheco and
Hams of Shiraz for a single title something like that.
Speaker 2: If it comes to that versus.
Speaker 1: If you could move up to light heavyweight and beat
a guy with three of the belts that beat you before,
that was undefeated in his career, I'm just saying I
have no insight.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying I don't disagree with you, but I
do think that with where Canello is in his career,
he's won all the titles you can win basically, that
it would be nice. I guess for him to win
another title, maybe another light avyweight title, but he's playing
out the string. It's about the money. It's always going
to be about the money, and he's gonna make a
lot of money whether he fights. That's a really hard
fight against Beople. Well I'm not saying that a monbillion
or these other fights are easy, but when you compare
the two, it's easier. So we'll see what he does,
all right. Either way I have I think I'll be
against a good, reputable opponent.
Speaker 1: We have eight months now to figure that out for September,
all right, so let's move on. This was interesting that
suddenly appearing on Friday night on social media, one Ji Opataiah,
the IBF Cruiserway Champ, says, hey, guys, I'm with Zufa
Boxing now. Yes, the Zufa boxing that we have discussed
a couple of times, even recently on the podcast.
Speaker 2: It's about to have its first fight card this.
Speaker 1: TKO Promotions, Dana White of USC Turkey al Chic and
the others that are behind it. So this is interesting
on a couple of levels. And you brought up the
point I read my Dan Rayphael Substack. You brought up
the point, what is he talking about about unification fight
er undisputed at light heavyweight when when the ZUFA people
have clearly talked about we're not dealing with the organizations.
We're going to do our own thing, the ring title.
All right, what do you make of this announcement that
kind of came out of the blue.
Speaker 3: Here, it did come out of the blue, I'm not
I mean, I guess I was a little surprised by it.
But the and it is perplexing Beca because Dana White
just recently, and not just recently, but I mean all
along he's been talking about how ZUFA, this, ZUFA that
with their own belts. That's why they're moving to try
to get an amendment to the Muhammad ali Ak so
they can have their own titles and operate as their
own organization. However, if you're going to make the play
to sign top talent, you know, sometimes you're gonna have
to make some Just because a boxing promoter says something
doesn't mean it's true. But that's right, I learned that
a lot.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned, stay tuned in the next conversation that we're
going to have about Uh.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly so. But yeah, So with relation to what
Dana was saying, you know, he went on and just
in the most recent time frame where he's done some
of these interviews, uh, in the last couple of weeks,
as they gear up for their first event on Friday night,
he literally said, I'm going to put the sanction bodies
out of business. He said that in the interview with
Stephen A. Smith. He has said from when I when
they first announced this whole ZUFA Boxing thing, however many
months ago, I didn't interview and we had him on
the podcast.
Speaker 2: M H and he said pretty much the same thing.
Speaker 3: He said he's not gonna deal with the organizations. It
wasn't like I was the only and when he said
that too, he's been saying, you know all along anyway,
but if you want to sign a fighter at the
caliber of a Giopatia, who is an established world champion
and clearly the number one fighter in the world in
the division, has the ring title, which they do like
to have with I'm sure if you want to win
the ring title now, unless Opataia loses or gives it up,
you got to come to ZUFA Boxing to get that shot.
So if they can somehow procure ring champions to their stable,
they'll have a lockdown on that title in some respect.
But Opataia still wants to unify, so he wants to
go after other organizational belts. But like any fighter, while
that's probably his hopes and dreams, I think that the
money is going to be a bigger part of it.
And I mean, you know the whole thing about ZUFAZ,
are they going to really open up the purse strings
and pay people. We'll find out, But right now, if
you're Giopataia and you want to get in front of
a bigger audience outside of Australia and nobody else is
bidding on your fights. Remember he had been a co
promotion between Tasman Fighters, which is his Australian promoter and Mattroom.
Mattrooms deal came to an end. They were not involved
in the last fight that took place in December when
he had that monster knockout against Sinkara. He is still
promote co promoted by Tasmin Fighters. When this announcement occurred,
I was text messaging with the Tasman people about it
and they are working with ZUFA on this, which is
another thing that Dana said he didn't want to do,
which is he didn't want to work with any other promoters. Well,
apparently he's working in with Tasmin fighters, Okay, which is
good though, I mean, so clear there's on If there's
a little bit of an opening for them to do
with an organizational fighter work with another promoter, that's a
good thing.
Speaker 1: Clear this up, because you do a great job of
rooting this stuff out. The second time I've complimented you.
Maybe I'm sympathetic because you're coughing and hitting the mute
button a bunch during this Podhi, which we love. Is
this you would have to believe this is a multi
fight deal. What they can't have at Zoom Questions is
these one offs. They can't have a one off or
even a two off and have it work. Maybe or
that again, maybe it's worth it to them in the
short term to do a one off or a two
off to establish themselves. So I didn't know if you
found out is it a multi fight deal? And if
it is, then that would dictate to me. They already
have some kind of discussion going with one of the
other champs, and I'm gonna cut right to it. Is
it maybe Noel McLean, the guy that just beat Badu
Jack and listen to me playing amateur matchmaker again. Maybe
that's the fight somewhere down the road. We don't call
it necessarily the IBFWBC Cruiserway title. We call it for
the ring belt on ZUFA. What do you make of
that amateur matchmaking.
Speaker 3: Not out of the realm of possibility. First of all,
I am told it is absolutely a multi fight deal.
I'd be shocked as ZUFA went for a one off,
you know.
Speaker 2: I don't think it'd be a one off, but maybe
only a couple of fights. Let's say, I think it.
Speaker 3: Seems like it they're locked in from I mean, well,
the proof will be in the pudding, I guess. But
I'm told it's a it's it's not just like, you know,
let's get to know each other. They're going to be
with each other for a while. As far as Noah
McCallion goes, it is logical. H McKellan, I guess. You
know he has been for the last few years with
Don King. That has had its shared issues, which is
why he was put in recess and all the other
nonsense that went on. My understanding is that, for example,
when he fought at Due Jack. They basically agree they're
paying King on fights, and King is gonna just stand down.
I mean, King is like ninety four years old. He
doesn't maybe have that same you know, vigor that he
once did. And if he can just get paid, you know,
so be it. And so I think that's not out
of the realm mckelllean doesn't have. If King is the
promoter but really is just along for the ride, then
probably the people that work with McKellan can handle his
career how they see fit. So again, I've not heard
that as a something that's in the works or anything
like that, but it certainly man.
Speaker 2: The man is saying bring on.
Speaker 1: He said it in the video, Bring on unification, Bring
on undisputed.
Speaker 3: Right and the unification. By the way, if you're going
to be in the in the cruiserweight division, he's got
his belt. McKellan has the WBZ belt and the other
two belts are hel by Zerdo Ramirez, who was already
scheduled to fight David Benavite's in May. So obviously his
next fight is not going to be for those other
two belts. But that's not to say that that the
unification has to be the next fight. The idea here
is to get him known a bit more in America
and have him step up a little bit in the
level of competition, because the two guys that he's fought
in the last two fights were wholly unknown. Between Sinkara
and Skuaou, these are not, you know, top level guys.
So it was very interesting that they did this. Yeah,
it certainly created a little bit of hubble, is that
they go into their first fight.
Speaker 2: Week, I'll go step higher.
Speaker 1: It's shocking that they have gotten a name like this
to come on board, and it only says to me
a couple of things.
Speaker 2: One, he's making significant.
Speaker 1: Money, yeah, to come and do this all right, So
that that automatically is going to make you wonder, how
how are they going to do this, you know, from
a pay standpoint to all these different levels of fighters.
Speaker 3: Nobody says it has to be even. I mean, they.
Speaker 2: Necessarily have to be even.
Speaker 1: But if some of the guys are making five or
ten times more than some of the other guys, that's
like against what the UFC model is.
Speaker 3: Well, but they're not going to be able to follow
the UFC model in its exactly agree with you, because
boxing is already established with a certain pain of this,
and these are smart people, they understand that. But here's
here's the key. By the way, you're not going to
put a giopetite an established, undefeated world champion who's beaten
quality opponents and has a home area where you can
fight and make money. Also, how do you compare that
to a kid that's on the rise or a guy
that's maybe you know that they sign who's kind of
been on the scrap people a little bit that hasn't
been around Like it's not you know, the Yankees pay
Aaron Judge thirty some million dollars a year, which is
a lot more than they pay the guy that's to
back up, you know, second basement. That's just the way
of the world.
Speaker 1: I get you on those metrics, all right. So, but
the other point that I was going to make too,
this is an interesting test on how long a deal
did he sign and what happens if he gets unhappy
coming up with who the fighters are or what the
money is.
Speaker 2: We don't know, We don't know. All of that is unknown.
But this is.
Speaker 1: Definitely an intriguing name, and let's see what comes of it.
Is we're in steps and again. They'll have their first
fight card on Friday night coming up this Friday night
in Las Vegas, the Zuopa Boxing fight card that we've
been talking about.
Speaker 3: We'll have more some other cards also. They're doing a
few right off the bat, like another one later in
a taither I forget if it's February first or January thirtieth,
And then they got another one February fourteenth. I reported.
One of that fights coming up supposed to be the
main event on February fourteenth is a heavyweight fight between
Faa Jagua and the former IBF title holder, Charles Martin.
So they're signing not great fighters, but guys that at
least within boxing have some names of Jagua still considered
like a pretty decent contender, even if Martin is, you know,
almost forty years old and hasn't really done much for
a while. But those are the types of fights are
starting out with. But the the signing of Opataiah is aggressive,
and Dana said in the in many interviews, and I
take him at his word. When guys become available, we're
gonna look at them and they are going to create
another avenue for these assign with Now there's going to
be saying maybe some different rules of the road with
the way those contracts are worded. But I think it's
in one way it's good because it creates competition. And
you know, current promoters, in my opinion, have sometimes gotten
a little bit lazy, and if this puts a little
bit of a fire up their ass to get doing,
get going, that's not a bad thing.
Speaker 2: Don't disagree. All right?
Speaker 1: Did you say like a fighter fire under a promoter's ass.
I think you said that just a second ago. Okay,
there's not only smoke, there's fire. There's an inferno going
on figuratively metaphorically any other alieh with Virgil Ortiz and
Oscar de la Hoya. So you and I have not
done a pod since all the legal stuff has gone on.
We were talking about whether or not the Virgil Ortiz
Juron in his fight could happen on March twenty eighth.
You said a week ago, at this time, I don't
think it's going to happen on March the twenty eighth.
And there are real problems here, and you've explained why,
and you've explained it why on your substack. Well, now
let's ratchet it up about five notches because Virgil has
filed suit and this is important and you're gonna get
into it more. Has filed suit in Nevada Federal Court saying,
not only do I want the Giron Innis fight, but
I don't have an agreement anymore with Oscar de la
Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions. In fact, his lawyers sent
them a letter to that effect saying, there's not a
promotional agreement anymore for you and Virgil Ortiz per the
clauses of this contract. Oscar de la Hoya is disputing that.
All right, pick it up from there on the latest
with we're back in the courts with Oscar and a contract,
not unlike the Canelo situation back five years ago.
Speaker 3: Look, the main thing is tarn Ennis and Eddie Hearn
their side of this is done. They've said time and
again they want this fight. We can quibble with what
happened in the past with Ennis where he didn't take
the fight and he stayed at well to right and
all the bullshit that went on with the original discussions
between the two. That's the past. Current moment they're in.
They say they've signed, they've done with his own all
that the issue has and I've said this thousand times
even before this lawsuit came out. The issue has been
entirely related to the virgil Ortis camp and Golden Boy
being able to come to an agreement. They have not
been able to do so, they have not been able
to move on the money, and now with the rubbers
hitting the road. Basically, I read the lawsuit. I will
sent a copy of the lawsuit. Attached to the lawsuit
as Exhibit A, is an entire copy of virginal ortis
Is unredacted promotional agreement with Golden Boy. It's probably like
I don't know, it's numerous pages and it's quoted in
the lawsuit, but if you want more context, it's good
to read what's in and around emotional agreement. So they
make the point, I believe that they want to fight,
but obviously they want the money that goes with it.
They contend, well, first of all, what they want the
court to do is to uphold that he has the
right to terminate the agreement based on the language and
the promotional agreement. Now, as a college graduate who has
spent my life with words, writing and reading, if you
understand basic English and basic comprehension to me, and I'm
not a lawyer, and I don't have a dog in
the fight. This is like to me, it seems as
slam dunk as possible. Yes, in terms of the breaches
that they accuse Golden Boy of making.
Speaker 1: Now, by the way, and I energeck, if you have
basic fundamental understanding of contract agreements and contract laws, this
appears to be as black and white as there could be.
Speaker 3: It appends to it's written and not written in. Those
clauses are not written in like legal leese. It's pretty
standard stuff. So just as an example that, Okay, back
up for a second. The thing that the that the
Ortiz camp is mad about besides, you know, they they
claim they have a certain amount of money that they
want for the fight. They claim that Oscar's behavior with
his Instagram videos and his insults of ZUFA Boxing and
in a white and Canelo, has reflected on Turkey to
some degree because he's with Canelo, he's a partner in
Zufo Boxing, that he's alienating Turkey al chic and that group,
meaning the money that those guys have to pay for
fights is no longer available to Virgil, not because they
don't like Virgil because they're not going to do Oscar
any favors. So they're accusing Golden Boy or Oscar specifically,
of of hurting and injuring the economic availability to make
a Virgil ortise, but at the biggest level, because there
was a time where Turkey offered premium money for that
fight and Virgil accepted it and it was Ennison didn't
take it, and now they're back with the same fight
and they're being offered like half the amount, and he's like,
what are we doing here? So then I understand that
where Rick Marigian, who is the manager, Yeah, I mean,
I mean rather for Ortiz, is saying you're causing this problem,
so we have no choice but to fight. You want
it now? If you read to the weeds of what
the breaches are, it's it's literally clear as day. It's
like two sentences or one sentence. The first thing that
they can tend is that contractually Golden Boy Promotions is
obligated to offer them at least three opponents to pick
from for the next fight within sixty days of the event.
Nobody is disputing that they've never been offered anything other
than Ennis. That's a breach if you've only been offered
one guy, right, they claim, and I don't have proof
of this. They say that they were told, and this
is quoted in the suit, if you don't fight Ennis,
we're gonna quote unquote bench you.
Speaker 2: So they're going you won't fight anybody, right, Well, that
would be.
Speaker 3: That would be a breach. Also, where you're saying to
your guy, we're not gonna follow our contract offer you
three opponents. But not only that, if you don't take
the one guy we offered, you're gonna sit out and
we're not gonna we're not gonna put you in a fight.
But on pause, that injures them also.
Speaker 2: Right, right, but let me put it on pause for
just a second.
Speaker 1: You're gonna hear as Dan recites this repeatedly, this is
why you have contracts. This is why we have laws.
This is why you have judges. So that when the attorneys,
et cetera come forward and say this is being breached,
this is not being followed, it's very easy for a
judge to keep track of that, to keep track of
the clauses and understand what does it say in black
and white. You want the contract to be as clear
as possible, and they are citing multiple and we're going
to get to the biggest one again, which is what
I said at the beginning. They're saying, we don't have
a deal anymore with Oscar de la Hoya as Orchids's side,
and we've notified them of that. So continue on the
lawsuit and the lines of the breaches real quick, as
this is interesting.
Speaker 3: Go okay, So that's that those breaches I just mentioned
about benching you and not offering you the number of opponents,
and and and they're.
Speaker 1: Backing out of the fight within us on your behalf,
which he did, right.
Speaker 3: And their contention that oscars videos that he posts on
his Instagram where he's gone after Turkey's business partners, have
you know, harmed them in terms of getting the top
dollar that they can get for fights. The more specific
thing that's again very very clear the way I read it,
it's so blakant, so black and white. If it's it's
if the Golden Boy contract with the Zone expires. The
Zone is mentioned specifically, if it's terminated or they no
longer have a contract with them on the broadcaster, that
triggers his ability. Think about it like a baseball player contract,
then you can opt out of your deal, right or
an NFL player or whatever and go on the free
agent market. The triggering event, which is legally, as I guess,
is that the Golden Boy di Zone agreement expired officially
on December thirty. First, you and I was talking about
it like cloture, that they were out of contract, that
the that the fight on Friday night with a carry
out was a one off while they're negotiating to go
forward with another deal. In the in the lawsuit, they
talk about how Golden Boy and Dezone are talking about
a two year contract extension for calendar your twenty twenty six,
calendar your twenty twenty seven, but at the moment they
have nothing. There is a deal, so that that was
the triggering event. Once that happened and they became aware
of that, they had every right, according to the way
that it read in the promotional agreement, to terminate the
promotional agreement and become a free agent. Now, Golden Boy
contends that were negotiating a deal whatever, right, that's fine.
Speaker 1: But guess what negotiating a deal and having a deal
with two different things? What the current and most importantly,
but most importantly, they notified Golden Boy in writing, and
it's in the lawsuit, and Golden Boy has acknowledged receiving
it and answering back. We are a promotional free agent
per this contract. They notified him on January the eighth
in a letter.
Speaker 3: The one caveat to that was that they couldn't declare
their free agency if Golden Boy had quote a deal
in principle with another broadcaster, meaning not his own, You
had a deal with Paramount or you know, ESPN or
you know five or whoever, then we don't have the
right to opt out, even if it's not signed, right,
a deal in principle, it's not a dealing principle with
his owne that they're talking about, which they claim they
may have for these two year extension they're talking about,
But they do not have a deal in principle with
any other produ But again, that is the triggering event
that allows him, based on way that it reads, to
opt out of the contract. So we'll see what a
judge says. I mean, I'm not again, I'm not a lawyer,
but I know how to read I Like I said,
I'll say it the thousands. I have no dog in
this fight. I'm not rooting one way or the other
other than the fact that I would like to.
Speaker 2: See let me tell you. Let me tell you, having
done this enough. You and I have done this a
long time.
Speaker 1: I've done this nationally covered lawsuits, covered contract disputes, covered whatever.
In this case, they're trying to get exactly what Kenella
Lvarez got a judge to agree with them let him
out of his deal because the contract has been breached,
it has been violated, and in their case, they've already
sent a letter that's been received saying, we believe this
deal is over. We're believing. I think we believe we're
free to do it, and I believe what they're going
to do stand by. I believe what they're going to
do is they're going to ask the judge for injunctive relief.
They're going to say to the judge for us from
this contract, we want to do this deal with Jaron Ennis,
most importantly before Ennis goes and fights somebody else, but
with Dyeah.
Speaker 3: I think that's so bizarre is that they've been saying
for the last two months or however long it's been,
that this is the fight they wont Let's just make
a deal on the money and Golden Boy, had they
been able to deliver the fight promptly, even if they
had to take a little out of their own pocket
to give Virgil in his team what they wanted, probably
would have been done with the Dizone deal and they
would have their their next two years secured. So it
feels like Oscar is.
Speaker 2: Like almost in totally botched.
Speaker 3: You're not making exaccusations, but from the outside looking in
us like Oscar, you're like almost like sabotaging your own company.
Speaker 1: If you've watched it, you've watched it, and okay, and
so it's important Again, this lawyer is Canello's lawyer, Gregory.
Speaker 3: Let me get into that. Let me go. So Oscar
went on his interview or not his interview, He did
a a uh you. He did an Instagram thing where
he talked about it after the situation occurred, and he says,
two months ago, you were saying a ring magazine, the
Virgil of Artist. He's talking about how happy you were
with Golden Boy. What happened, Well, Hey, what happened was
you didn't get him the fight with Nis under the
terms that they could agree on. That that's a big
thing that happened and then he went on to talk
about how he went out and got this new lawyer.
Knew he used the word new lawyer. He didn't mention
Greg Smith by name, but new lawyer who happened to
also be Canelo's lawyer who sued us on the same
stuff and got him out of his contract with Golden Boy.
So don't you think there's something fishy? Now? All due
respect to my man, Oscar, I'm not. I got no
problem with Oscar. I mean, we've had our ups and
downs like whatever, but I'm cool with Oscar. Oscar, my friend.
You're the CEO of the company, you are the founder
of the company. You know who you deal with when
it comes to your top fighters. Virgil Ortiz is one
of their top two or three fighters in the company.
Greg Smith has been representing Virginal Ortiz for the last
few years. Number one. He's the guy that you dealt
with on the papering of the promotional agreement. He's not new.
He's been working on Virtual's behalf for literally years. You
know exactly who he is. You know exactly the work
he has done. The promotional contract that has Exhibit A
in the lawsuit against you is the contract that your
team and and the and the Ortis team negotiated, of
which Greg Smith was one of the people involved in
papering that agreement. So for you to say he's a
new lawyer and something is fishy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oscar, what is the run is the right?
Speaker 3: Either you're literally stupid or you're you're you're just ball
face lying.
Speaker 1: Yes, which and the other? The other most important part
is how quickly can they're.
Speaker 3: Gonna a game you worked up? In my voice, I'm
with you.
Speaker 1: Get that Lowton's cough drop going again. They should sponsor
the pod. Here's the thing, how quickly can they extricate
themselves now that they've sent the letter and get the
judge to say not unlike Canelo, you're free to do
what you want to do, so that they can go
make the fight with n Us I say for the
second time, because if they don't hurry up and do that,
Innis may elect to fight someone else coming up. So
that's the real crux of the timeline here. And if
we were having to choose sides and wager on what's
gonna happen here, Virgil Ortiz is going to be free
to make that fight. And there's there's not anything Oscar
can do about it.
Speaker 3: Nothing against Virgil Ortiz, but he's not as big of
a star or name as Canelo Alvarez. And all the
posturing that Oscar did when the whole Canelo thing was
blowing up in front of them, he was saying the
exact same stuff. And what happened, Yes, Cano Alveras not
only became a free agent, but he left the company entirely.
That's right, left his zone and then came back to
the zone. You know, he came.
Speaker 2: Back to his own with Eddie Hearn briefly and then
came back again a later time. Yeah.
Speaker 3: To me, this is like the exist is the same thing.
And again I'm not trying to dump on Oscar. I
got nothing but love for Oscar, but he's created a
problem for himself. He's alienated Canelo, who is the biggest
superstar in the sport. He's obviously having the same issues
over the last few years with Ryan Garcia. Yes, are
maybe not as talented or a champion the way Canelo was. Uh,
doesn't have the resume like a virtual artise does. And
now you're down to your next biggest star and it's
the same shit. It's like, yeah, what's the definition. The
definition of it insanityj is continuing to do the same
thing expecting a different result. Yes, the same shit.
Speaker 1: So all right, so stay tuned on how quickly this
moves this week or soon with the judge. They want
the judge to agree with them. That's why there's a lawsuit,
or at least that they may have a mediator at
some point. That's kind of what it came to with Canelo,
where the mediators looking at the Golden Boys side of
the aisle and at Oscar and Oscar's lawyer and saying, guys,
it's black and white in the And by the way,
one more important point back to the Zufa Boxing thing,
the Muhammad Ali Act. This is why it is vital
that the promoter is not also the manager of the
fighter and solely in charge of the contract dealings and
the money and what gets made. The reason why Virgil
is able in this part to have a different voice
is because the Ali Act exists and the promoter can't
just be the manager too and decide what's best for
the fighter only.
Speaker 3: And by the way, yeah, you don't think that if
Zufa Boxing just went out there and signed Jai Opataia
when he became a free agent, that if Virgil Ortiz
has also ruled a free agent in terms of the
end of his contract with Golden Boy, that they wouldn't
have some interest. And may I remind you, by the way,
that one of the fighters that they have that's going
to be on one of their upcoming cards, he's actually
on the undercart of Friday's fight, is a Mexican Olympic
name undefeated, Missiel Rodriguez, Missy L. Rodriguez's manager is rich
and who is the same?
Speaker 1: Oh, really, connect the dots, maybe that something could be happening.
So look for the next step. Again, you and I
are not lawyers. This is in Nevada court. But I
look for them to get it, to get some kind
of injunctive relief or some kind of ruling quickly here
that we don't have a deal anymore with Oscar de
la Hoya. We've spelled out why we've sent them the letter.
Bang the gavel is the phrase that we love to use.
Bang the gavel for us, and let us go do
a deal with Matchroom and his own and fight Jeron Ennis.
Do the deal that we had and the deal with Yeah.
Speaker 3: They wanted. Apparently can't speak to what's in their heart,
but everything I've heard from them is they wanted to
stay with Oscar, get the fight done and move on.
The contract would still be in effect for the next
you know, another at least another year, I guess, because
it was a three year extension where he did it
in twenty twenty four and it's been handled like a
hand grenade.
Speaker 1: Yep, botched and he watched it with Canelo. And stay
tuned on what the next steps are. All right, a
few moments left. As we've been here a little bit.
Oh hey, I don't know the update. I'm legitimately asking
Sunday night into Monday. Have the authorities not been able
to find Jervonte Davis. This is the whole situation that
stems from an alleged domestic violence incident that cost him
the exhibition fight with Jake Paul. So the authorities, including
the US Marshals, have been looking for Javonte Davis, and
as it stands right now, they haven't been able to
find him as of yet, as far as we know right.
Speaker 3: Or as I know, I mean, when the situation occurred
in the first place that caused him to be dropped
from the Jake Paul fight. It was based on the
civil lawsuit that the woman, a former girlfriend of his, filed,
and a lot of people were like, well, she must
just be a gold digger. All she did was file
a civil suit. Where's the police report? Well, it wasn't
why I reported it, but a lot of people else
didn't report it. In addition to the lawsuit which was filed,
like the day before the lawsuit was filed. There maybe
two days before the lawsuit was foiled, she did go
to the police. That just wasn't as widely reported. I guess.
So she did both. She filed the civil suit and
the criminals, you know, went to the cops to form
you know, formally make a complaint.
Speaker 1: And by the way, there is believed to be at
least two different videos of what went on, because I've
read up on this, because he did it at the
the Gentleman's Club, the strip club where she worked as
a cocktail waitress. There's a there's apparently video of him
grabbing her choking her like in a stairwell. That's on video,
and there's a criminal investigation. But where is Tank Davis?
So been able to find him?
Speaker 3: So he was supposed to turn himself in at whatever
appointed time, did not do that apparently, so the police
department in Miami Gardens held the news conference to announce
that they had a warrant out for his arrest and
that they have some type of working relationship with the
US Marshals in these particular cases that happened, and they're
out there looking for him and if anybody knows where
he is, let us know. And they ran through the
different allegations and look, Tank has got pretty good defense
in the ring, and apparently he's using pretty good defense
to stay away from the cops outside that.
Speaker 1: He's been elusive, and the marshals are also looking for
him too, and they they tend to find their person.
Speaker 3: It's really it's such a shame too, because Tank is
gonna he's got a chance to maybe redeem himself. I
suppose he's not an old fighter at thirty one, I
guess now, But what a waste of talent and time.
I mean, the guy has got a popularity. The guy
obviously can fight. He's disappointed some people with the level
of opponent he has chosen over the years. When he
finally had opponent that came back and a lot of
people thought he won in Lamont roach, and he said
I'll take the rematch and exercise his right and then delled.
You know, people got down on that, But okay, most
people can understand because you're gonna get paid a crazy
amount of money to fight, not even a real fight
against J Paul. But the underlying problem. This is not
just one instance. I am so sick and fucking tired
of writing stories about the legalities of Johnathan Davis's I mean,
can't have to do it, but.
Speaker 1: Can't stay out of trouble, repeatedly, cannot stay out of trouble, dude.
Speaker 3: I literally was having a conversation the other day with
somebody in boxing also, I was like, I forgot how
many times I've written the stories. I can't remember how
many times I've written not just about one specific case,
but multiple domestic abuse allegations, at least three or four.
A bar fight, the hit and hit and run in Baltimore,
there's gotta be about I still remember this assaulted a
guy in a mall at an atm in Virginia that
was house. Literally beat the guy up at the mall.
So the guy just can't keep his fucking he can
keep his hands off everybody, excel in my roach, and
and and and his women friends.
Speaker 1: All right, so we'll we'll keep you up to date
on what happens here. But you talk about talent wasted.
It wouldn't be the first time in any sport, much
less boxing where somebody they just couldn't behave, couldn't stay
out of trouble, couldn't stay out of jail, ruin their
own career. He still got some career left, stay in prison. Yep, agreed,
Stay tuned, stay tuned on that, all right. A couple
more notes. The Mario Barrios Ryan Garcia WBC welterweight title
fight is official. That was announced for February twenty. First,
it's not official, but you again, I read my substack.
You have a couple of the undercard fights that you're
talking about. Mention those real quick here on the pod.
Speaker 3: Yeah. First of all, so the fight's official February twenty. First,
the Zone pay per view at the Team Mobile Arena.
Some might say, well, isn't isn't Brian Garcia with Golden
Boy so it would be a Golden Boy event. No,
it is not a Golden Boy event. Turkey alchk is
taking ownership of the show. He has obviously paid them,
and it's going to be Turkey that puts us on.
It'll be branded a ring magazine card, so it wouldn't
be part of whatever new deal or non deal that
Golden Boy currently has with them. To make that clear,
the press conference can take place this coming week. Should
be interesting to hear whatever he has to say, and
I'm sure they'll get around to announcing undercard fights. I
am told that two of the bats that are gonna
probably be on the fight card are going to be
Richardson Hitchins, the IBF Junior Welterway champion, against the Golden
Boy contender, Oscar Duarte. That to me is actually a
pretty interesting fight. I kind of liked that fight. And
then the other fight, which I've written before and mentioned
as well, Gary Antoine Russell got one of the other
one hundred and forty pound titles. He has a mandatory
that has been overdue against Heroka from Japan or originally
that was going to be on the undercard. Win Tank
and Jay Paul were fighting. That was like as a
part of the deal that you made with PBC, but
once Tank was off the show, they had no reason
to keep that doubt on the card. So that got
booted and so this is the next place for it
to land on will be on this event. So if
that turns out to be the three top fights on
the show, Barrios and Garcia, Hitchins, Duarte and Russell Iroka,
those are all like three reputable fights, and I'm sure
they'll add, you know, a bunch of other cards, other
fights to the card if Turkey continues to do it
the way he typically does.
Speaker 2: And it's not beyond the realm.
Speaker 1: They're both in the same division that it both win,
and it's on the undercard here that that's a subsequent
unification fight at one hundred and forty pounds.
Speaker 2: Stay tuned.
Speaker 1: Sadly, we're not going to get Moses Etama in the ring.
He was supposed to fight this Saturday against Jermaine Franklin
the American, but he's injured.
Speaker 2: Again.
Speaker 1: You do a phenomenal work at digging around. They're not
saying what the injury is. If you found out what
the injury is, and they've already rescheduled the fight from March,
so pick it up for there.
Speaker 2: But Noah Tama this weekend.
Speaker 3: Right, They when they announced the postponement. They just announced
he had an injury. I reported to my original story
that it was an arm injury. I have subsequently heard
and also saw it reported elsewhere, and I don't remember
who reported, so I'm not trying to not give them credit.
I just don't remember where it was. But it was
it match my reporting, which is that it's a biceps injury.
So Moses is going to be out, but apparently not
that serious because it was supposed to take place, as
you said, this coming weekend, but instead will not take
place on March twenty eighth. So it's a bummer. Frank.
When they announced the post moment said they had not
only they call it the Magnificent Seven. It's like a
series they do usually a couple of times a year,
and they load up their undercard with like, you know
seven They have like British title fights and other sort
of regional title fights and sort of match some of
the better fighters in Britain who were on the way.
Speaker 1: I will tip the hat to one of our colleagues,
Jake Donovan. I love his work and his tweets and whatever.
He had a great line. How magnificent is the rest
of this card. If it can't go on this weekend
without the main event, it has to wait.
Speaker 2: Two more months.
Speaker 1: I mean that, good man, Jake, I appreciate a good
social savage off the top rope whenever it comes.
Speaker 3: Frank is postparting. It's not just the main event. The
whole card is going to be right twenty so the
card will still happen, apparently, but just in two months
later that.
Speaker 1: By the way, this is example number eight hundred and
seventy one that Moses E. Tama fought part of one
round with Dillion White in August. Should have been in
the ring long before January fighting somebody else last winter,
didn't and now he's heard and won't fight for another two.
Speaker 3: The Atama fight against White wasn't that long ago.
Speaker 1: It was in August of last year. It was part
of one round in August of last year.
Speaker 3: And I agree with you. But the thing about it
was they thought at that time that there was going
to be a chance they were going to be fighting
for the WBA Regular title against Poolev at that time,
and so they did not make those arrangements. Then they
had a lawsuit, not they, but the other rent. There
was a lawsuit that forced the hands and so a
time he didn't get the fight.
Speaker 2: Not what happened. This is what happens, though.
Speaker 1: We get delays, we wait and then he's heard and
now we got to wait some more and.
Speaker 3: They know it ain't The time off is not that
big of you on my mind for a young guy
who's twenty one. He'll be back, he'll be fine. He's
in the gym all the time.
Speaker 1: Generally speaking, yes, but in the heavyweight division, this guy's
got sizzle. And we don't live in England. It's a
bigger deal in England. This guy's got sizzle, he's on
the rise, he's a big puncher, and we basically have
seen him in part of one round in the last
nine or ten months.
Speaker 3: I gain. I'm not are not arguing that it's not
that's not good and it's it's unfortunate. But I don't
hold anybody like there's no blame to say. It's just
it's the reality of the business that they're in. I mean,
that's the way shit goes.
Speaker 1: They had, they had momentum and now there is none.
Let's hope he gets healthy and let's hold it when he.
Speaker 3: Comes back, there'll be plenty of momentum. Franklin's a real
opponent for for the man to fight, and it's uh,
it's a legitimate step up for him. Franklin has been
the you know, a guy that's never been stopped. His
two losses were against you know, the cream of the
crop of the heavyweights at that time. He fought a
distance fight against Anthony Joshua. He fought a distance fight
against Dillian White before Dylan White was completely shot sky.
And so if it takes two more months, no big deal.
Speaker 2: All right, Uh, there we go.
Speaker 1: You have made it through to the end of the pod,
and so is the audience, and so have I and
so uh and so we go.
Speaker 2: H here coming off the weekend, and.
Speaker 3: Tank, if you're listening, give me a call, buddy.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, Well, first of all, I don't think he's
calling you. Uh, he's gonna be calling some other people.
All right, We look forward to all of the different
stuff that's going to go on for this week, for
next week, et cetera. And we'll be back with a
regular scheduled preview pod later on in the week. Other
than that, continue to improve on the health. Appreciate hanging
here with you. We gave I heard from several peeps
like where's the pod? I missed my Rayfield and TJ
bickering coming off the weekend.
Speaker 2: You got it, you got it right here are today?
You know we not off again.
Speaker 1: This was like a two on a scale of ten
to what we normally did. Listen, I'm glad you're feeling better.
Speaker 2: Have a good week.
Speaker 1: They do the same thing to the peeps. There goes
Dan Rayfield. Fight preach Unite is the substack and the
newsletter beyond that again, follow subscribe on this pod feat
spread the word, share it out, give us a five
star review on Apples, Preaker, Spotify. If you enjoy it
those do you help? You've been part of the Fight
preach Unite Recap podcast