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Speaker 1: All right, it is my great pleasure to welcome to

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our podcast this week. It is but other than the

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lineal and WBO Junior Wealthyweight Champion of the World, Tafimo

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Lopez and Tafmo. I'll explain to our listeners what you

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have coming up. They probably should know by now for

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crying out loud, you're a very big fight. You're taking

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on the WBC lightweight champ. Should course, Stevens today is

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going to move up to fight you. You'll headline the

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Ring Magazine card on his own pay per view January

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thirty first at the iconic Madison Square Garden where you

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have fought before. And before we get into it, first

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of all, welcome to the show. Thank you very much

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for doing this.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, thank you, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 3: Obviously, you're a man that knows boxing, and that really

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is to me. Honestly, I looked up to everything that

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you always did as far as speaking on the sport,

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and you always put good faith, in good.

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Speaker 2: Faith into it, so I love that.

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Speaker 3: I'm very excited for this upcoming bout between myself and

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schequel Stevenson and I can't wait to.

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Speaker 2: Rock and roll.

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Speaker 1: Well, I appreciate those kind words. Remember meeting you and

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your dad when you were probably like four and oh

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or something like that, and get to know you guys

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a little bit. But before we talk about the big

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one with Shaqui, I actually I wanted to ask you

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a little bit about your last fight. It was a

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really good performance that you had in the Turkey's Ring

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Magazine Times Square card that was back in May. You

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want a decision against Arnold Barboza to retain your title,

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and I wanted to ask you what that experience was like,

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because i'ven't spoken to you since then. You guys, not

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just yourself, but the different competitors on the card. You

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guys took cars from the location where the dress rooms

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were to get to the ring. You're fighting in this

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iconic location of Times Square, even more iconic than Madison

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Square Garden, but there was only a few hundred people

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right there because of the logistics of the event. What

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was that like for you? Sort of like really cool

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but kind of weird.

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Speaker 2: Well said, yep, cool and weird at the same time.

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Speaker 3: It sure was definitely historical, though, the best part about

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it was that it was historical and it wouldn't have

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been possible without his excellency of al Chic and all

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those that contributed into that night, so especially the promoters

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going to Boy and Matchroom.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, overall though it's been it's been fun, it's

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been great.

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Speaker 3: When it came to Times Square, uh kind of felt

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like a little bit of the bubble.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. That's a good point. You fought there in

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the bubble.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it kind of felt like the COVID times though.

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It was a little too quiet compared to what we

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were expecting. So but you know, we we still got

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a job to do and that's what we did, you know,

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to have fulimited uh, familiar faces come in.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: I had Snoop Dogg carrying one of the freaking ring

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cards and stuff, which was hilarious. I'mdy gonna shoot in

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the middle of a fight, definitely one I say that

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I appreciate though to be on. But yeah, definitely cool

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and weird, definitely all right.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So after that, but before this fight which Shakur

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was finalized, there had been a deal agreed to for

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you uh to fight Devin Haney, who was obviously a

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big name also and he had signed the agreement and

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your team had said you guys had agreed. Ultimately you

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did not sign it and it didn't happen. I wonder

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what was if you could give your a version of

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what happened. There wasn't a matter of the weight situation.

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Was it because you were gonna have to move up

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a little bit? I guess in that particular fight, was

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it money? What was the reason why? Because a lot

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of people thought that was a great matchup. Also, I would.

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Speaker 3: Say it was just honestly, I'll go off with my

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what Keith Connelly said. It was just personal things that

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I had to still finish up and deal with, still

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dealing with divorce. So I just had those things that

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I still had to finalize and finish off before I

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get back into the the mojo jojo of boxing.

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Speaker 1: Okay, But now look at the end of the day,

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the record fight is here. That's the big one. I

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sense from boxing fans to you, Fimo, a lot of

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excitement about this matchup. Two young stars, guys in their prime.

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You guys can talk a lot of trash with each other.

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You know, there's big stakes. You're in a gree arena.

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Can you just describe for me what does it mean

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to you of being in this sort of event. I

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think it's the biggest one of your career.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think moving forward, every fight is

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gonna be the biggest one in my career. And this

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one right now is the front runner. And it's a

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it's a it's honestly, it's one I wouldn't trade it for.

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I mean, this is the mecca, you know what I mean,

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This is the mecca. And this is a moment right

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now in time where you're getting to fighters that are

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possibly heading into their prime.

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Speaker 2: They're gonna face one another.

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Speaker 3: That believe they at the top of the top of

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the food chain and are gonna put it on display,

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you know, come that night, Saturday night, And what better

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way than having it hosted in Madison Square Guarden, the

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world's famous arena. And to really put it into perspective,

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it's gonna be one that people are gonna talk about

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for a long time.

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Speaker 1: Well, it seems to me anyway that the fight has

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sort of been for the last few years kind of

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inevitable because you at your core, even though you haven't

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necessary in the same weight class, you've been not separated

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by more than a division. You know, you're around the

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same age, You've got the both Olympic backgrounds, you know,

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have fought good competition during your careers, and you were

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both with top ranked together for a long time. You

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even fought. I went and looked this up two times.

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Both you and your court fought on the same Terrence

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Crawford undercart in twenty seventeen, in twenty nineteen, and you know,

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knowing the way top rank handles things, that's not a

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surprise to put types of fights together where they've got

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guys being exposed to the same fans at the same

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time on undercards together. Did you feel like this fight

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was sort of inevitable through the years.

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Speaker 2: I'd say, maybe maybe a little more down the road,

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but yeah, inevitable for sure. It's just more down the road,

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I'd say, But we're here now. It's happening much much

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sooner than later. So and I think it needs to

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happen this way anyways to help the next fighters that

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are around different weight classes and people. You know, fights

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that want to be made and people want to see, uh,

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just fight, man, Just make the fights happen for the

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fight fans that love the sport.

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Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned now maybe it would have been further

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down the road, which sometimes seems to me in boxing

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today is a problem where great matchups with two you know,

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top young guys, it waits a long time to happen.

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But you guys are you know, doing the doing the

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fight now and taking that gamble. But I think both

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of you realize that whatever happens, whoever loses, it's not

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like the guy's career is over that you are not

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going to be able to earn a living and still

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become a big time factor in the sport. Is that

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sort of the mentality that you have, like I got

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nothing to lose here, I'm gonna go in there, I'm

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gonna put on a great fight and you know, take

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on a top opponent, which is what you said the

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fans want to say.

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Speaker 3: Now, I don't think that way. I don't think the

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I don't think about losing. I think about winning. And

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my my my mensality on that is coming out of Victorious.

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I think for a guy like Shakor, he may have

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that on him. You know, he still holds the WBC

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will title at lightweight. So you know, for myself though,

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I'm putting everything on the putting all of it on

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the line.

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Speaker 2: So I can't I can't really say. I'm just happy

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though that we're we're having this time to make it happen.

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Speaker 1: Though for you guys, have you guys have known each

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other for a long time, what's the relationship like between

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you guys. I feel like it's it's respectful and cordial,

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but not like best buddies.

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Speaker 3: Not best buddies for sure or not. It's just more cordial.

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It's just more cordial. But at this point in time,

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now that we shigned the contracts, we are close to fight.

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Speaker 2: There's no respect to it.

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Speaker 3: No, I've worked very hard to get to where I'm at,

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and I think Chakur has been eyeing me for some

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time behind the scenes.

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Speaker 2: And I didn't expect.

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Speaker 3: That of Shakoor because he has a lot on his

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already on his side. But I guess it's somebody that

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likes to aim for more and I respect that part.

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But other than that, we're just gonna go out there

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and have fun with this guy.

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Speaker 1: I have seen him quoted in some of the build

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up to this fight of essentially saying in a variety

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of interviews that he's not just better than you, which

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anytime you an opponent, you believe you're better than the opponent,

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he's actually been saying that he believes he's way better

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than you. What are what your responses to that?

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Speaker 2: Don't believe the hype? It's a sequet, okay.

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Speaker 1: Well, one thing about you is that you have performed

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at a you know, obviously an elite level, to a

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level to accomplish what you have accomplished. But in your

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two big wins, you came up huge against guys that were,

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you know, some favored even against Lomachenko, against against Josh Taylor,

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and then there's been some other times where maybe the

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performance has been slightly inconsistent. Steve Claggett, Jamaine Ortiz, do

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you feel like that's a fair assessment that you you

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really you really turn up in your big ones, but

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not always looks so great and maybe the lesser ones.

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Speaker 3: No, that just has to do with myself mentally, That's

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all it is.

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Speaker 2: Mentally, I just wasn't.

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Speaker 3: I wasn't in those fights mentally dealing with personal stuff.

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Speaker 2: It ain't easy, man, but it's part of it.

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Speaker 3: I needed to learn that to see where I was

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making my haircups and mistakes at to get to this

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point now. So all those lessons, all those fights have

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prepared me for this particular fighter that we're going to

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face January thirty first in Madison Square Garden, Live on

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the Zone.

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Speaker 1: Well, I'll just wrap up with this anti femo. What

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do you think the difference is going to be in

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terms of what separates winning and losing this fight? What

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is the winner? Because it's such an even fight, I

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think a lot of people look at on paper, you know,

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two really talented guys that brings different strengths to this

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particular fight. What's going to separate winning from losing?

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Speaker 2: What's going to separate from winning from from losing?

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Speaker 1: Is it your power? Is it his speed? Is it

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your smarts? What is it?

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Speaker 2: Believing in boxing, believing in the sport? That's it?

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Speaker 3: Who loves the sport more and who's going to do

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better for the sport. It's not about the scales at

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this point. It's it's more than that. I'll tell you Dan,

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it's more than that. I want to help these next kids,

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and the only way is by beating this guy, this

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joker that's in front of me.

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Speaker 2: Beating him will give me at least a.

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Speaker 3: Bit of a footing to to help these young young

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fighters and young kids out there to become better within themselves.

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Speaker 1: And then do you move up eventually and look for

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a welterweight title.

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Speaker 2: We'll see, you know, I'll speak to my team. I've

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been well at this weight. I've been well prepared. I've

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been training since the.

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Speaker 3: Since the Honor Babbosa fight, so it's been almost all

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year round that we've been staying focused, staying training despite

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the personal issues that I was dealing with. So nevertheless,

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it's a lifestyle and we'll see where it goes from here.

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Speaker 1: Well January thirty first, we'll see exactly what happens. Well,

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thank you so much for your time. Wish you nothing

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but the best in the fight than the