Speaker 1: The countdown is on to fight time. This is Big
Fight Weekend. No here is your host. DJ leaves. Well,
we get ready for another weekend that does not have
a major boxing main event. But wait a minute, don't
get stop, don't leave, because we do have plenty to
go over in terms of news, nostalgia, and much more.
It is the Big Fight Weekend preview. I am the
somewhat competent host TJ Reeves. Our insider is Dan Rayfield.
Fight Freaks Unit is the substack and the newsletter. You
should be on that because hey, you already found out
about some of what we're about to talk about on
the podcast if you were on the substack in the
newsletter earlier this week. I love that. Good to be
back with you. We never try to bs our way
through any of this. We're straight with the audience. There's
not a major main event again to preview. I keep
lamenting that's the word. I think I got a twenty
twenty five uh thing about the word lamenting. I keep
lamenting that we need to have a prominent fight. We
gotta we gotta wait. We gotta wait another week before NAO. Yeah,
in a way is back. So that's not this weekend.
But anyway, you and I are here because the peaks,
the savages, they need to be fed, they need to know,
they need to they need to have knowledge. They need
to hear you and me going back and forth about
the Sweet Science about eighties TV. I've had multiple people,
as have you, that have reacted to you and I
going back and forth about Dynasty and uh Charlie's Angels Voice,
John Foresight, Mia Dallas and Miami Vice and Knots Landing
and Hill Street.
Speaker 2: We start a second.
Speaker 1: We should, we should bring this back up in another form,
in another way, But I think we're good. I think
we covered it for last week. Anyway, Thank you for
finding us on all subject matter here. Make sure you follow,
subscribe apples, prefer Spotify. We do our best to preview
if there's something to preview going in the weekend. We're
here even without a big time an event this weekend.
We recap coming off the weekend again, Naoia in Away
Fights next Friday morning, US time the twenty fourth. It's
a little early for us to talk a lot about
that on the pod. We'll do that on Sunday. Why
don't we get right to the news.
Speaker 2: We got a lot of news.
Speaker 1: Hey, Hey, Rafael Tyson Fury says he's retired again. Let's
begin right there. I've heard does does anybody believe him?
At this point? Does anybody? Does his wife believe him?
Does anybody believe him?
Speaker 2: Go ahead, Paris and I haven't had a conversation, so
I can't tell you if she believes him, but given
what's happened in the past three months from now, she
might kick his re run out of the house.
Speaker 1: And that's true. I think on my rayfaeld substack. Is
this the fourth or the fifth or the twenty ninth
time that he's is at least the fourth or the
fifth that he's officially said I'm not fighting anymore, And
like the third, the fourth, and the fifth when no
one believes.
Speaker 2: Him, I believe I believe this is actually the I mean, look,
maybe I missed one or too. I think this is
the fifth, Okay. I mean. The thing is he retired
way back when when he was lined up to do
a fight against David Hay, and two times the fight
was postponed because David Hay was dealing with an injury.
And when it got postponed or canceled, I guess the
second time. That was Fury saying I'm retired. That was
in like twenty thirteen. I want to say then after
he defeated Vladimir Klitschko and became the heavyweight champion, he
was going through all of his problems with alcohol and
with drugs and with mental health, and you know, it
was just a complete eyemare for him in his life
at that point forgetting about boxing, and during that long
period of time where he was off. He said he
was retired twice again nobody believed. And now I don't
know why you said it a second time when you
already said it the first time, But that was clearly
in a moment in time when he was having all
kinds of personal problems. He had failed the test for cocaine,
a VADA test, which I actually broke that story way
back when it was just a whole big bunch of
stuff going on. Was two times in there. Then, as
you recall more recently, in the lead up to the
fight against Dylan White, and then right after the Dylan
White fight, he continually said this is my last fight.
When if I was over, he said I'm retired. He
was back in the ring eight months later before the
third fight he had against Derek Tasor, and then he
came out and made that video that he put on
his social media that was just a few days ago,
where in the whole video, by the way, was like
sixteen seconds long. It wasn't like a long type of announcement,
but he said, I'm done. I'm retired, and you know
it's been fun. I love you all, God bless I
mean so, like I do with all fighters, this is
not exclusive to Tyson Currey. If the boxer says I'm retired,
I generally believe that in their heart that's what they
think at the moment. But I also know that fighters,
like human beings in general, have the capability of changing
their minds, and it seems to happen a lot more
regularly with the boxer than it does maybe with your
average person about whatever the topic is. So when he
sat behind the wheel of the car and he said
I'm retired, and he knows that he's retired multip times,
he's a dummy. I figure in his heart he believes
I'm done. That said Tyson Fury. As I've said before,
a couple things. One, Tyson Fury loves the spotlight would
you agree with that.
Speaker 1: When you just said this, I was going to interject,
and now that you prompted me. I don't think he
thinks he's retired. I think he wants attention. He wants
us to do what we're doing right now. I want
to talk about him. I think that's what's behind this.
Speaker 2: But he loves the spotlight. Number one, Yes, what's behind this?
How many times has he said I'm a fighting man.
I love to fight like that's what he's done since
he's a kid. What the whole family does They're fighting people, right,
So that's the other thing. Number Three, he even though
he lost two fights in a row to Alexander Hussik,
fair and square, but they were super close fights, no
doubt about it. It wasn't like he looked like a
completely shot fighter, or he got badly knocked out, or
he couldn't perform at all. He just was out boxed
by a superior talent that has a better rounded game
than he does. The same way that Alexander Usik has
done that to all of his opponents in the cruiserweight
division and in the heavyweight division, including Anthony Joshua two times.
And on top of that, Number four, he's still really good,
like I said, But the fourth thing is he can
still make piles and piles of money to fight, particularly
if he were to do the matchup against Anthony Joshua,
the fight that his country has wanted for years, the
fight that fans have wanted for years, the fight that
Turkey Alshik, who's been bankrolling both Anthony Joshua and Tyson
Fury fights for the past year plus, wants to see.
And even though it's never gonna be what it should
have been, we've said the same thing about what it
would have been, perhaps with Wilder and Joshua Fury against
Joshua with no titles, no undefeated wreckers, no pound for
poundshit whatever, it's still a big freaking fight, And for
all the negatives about it, it will still put a ton
of asses in a ton of seats in a big
stadium wherever they choose to do it in the UK.
And I believe that eventually, you know, maybe not immediately.
It may take a few months for him to come
around like it did in other times, but he'll be back.
He's not an old guy, you know. He's been in
some wars fair enough, but he's still in his in
his thirties. He's not a totally old man, and he's
still competed, you know, within a point or two of
the pound for pound number one guy out there in
Alexander Hussik, so for for sixteen seconds in his announcement.
I'll take him at his word, but I believe that,
like he has done a thousand times, or at least
four times or five times. Anyway, we'll change his mind
and we'll see the big man back in the ring,
because he's not turning down a fifty.
Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't think he thinks he's retired.
I think he's doing this for attention, and we'll we'll
have more. You will find out more. The British press
will find out more when the talks start up on winning.
Where is he fighting Anthony Joshua for how much? In
the spring or the summer? Is it in Saudi Arabia?
Is it at Wembley? Where is it?
Speaker 2: I mean, just.
Speaker 1: Glad you didn't go down the road of well, we
need to talk about his career and his career versus
other ones and whatever, because.
Speaker 2: I've been doing that on Twitter for a while.
Speaker 1: I know you have. He's not retired, he's going to fight.
He's going to fight probably later this summer. Stay.
Speaker 2: The thing about is where he is right now in
his career and what he's already accomplished. And even if
you think he's gonna come back, even if he does
come back, it's not like he's got years and years
and years right left, at least not in terms of
at the upper level of the division. So his legacy,
his resume, if you will his you know, ticking down
his accomplishments, the types of things that you'll think about
when you go to Stay, vote for the Hall of fame,
or you do determine where he belongs in terms of
an all time list once he's done, most of those
accomplishments are already already there. In other words, he could
still add a thing here. There is it capable of
winning another belt. I guess in the right circumstance, if
they fracture in the right matchup, presents itself fine. But
his resume at the level that you'll dissect in terms
of where he is in terms of his all time level,
I believe has largely been solidified.
Speaker 1: You would put him in if he doesn't fight again,
you would put him in right now. You think put
him awhere, you put him in the Hall of Fame,
you think it's there.
Speaker 2: There's no question about that. It's there, all right, But
I'm not talking hall Listen, there's hat Even in the
Hall of Fame, there's guys who are the elite. Elite
talked about it off and then there's always a guy
that if you match him up against all the others,
somebody that's gonna be classified as the worst Hall of Famer.
If that's such a thing, Tyson's the least or the
least the least. So the conversation that has been taking
place that I've been dealing with in my social media,
which is wild some of the stuff I see. I
made the point that Tyson Fury, if he retires now,
is not an all time top ten heavyweight, but he's
But which is I don't even think that's up for debate,
to be quite honest with you. But you can maybe
make the argument that he's somewhere in that top fifteen
or twenty, and wherever Alexander Rusk eventually winds up, because
his the career is not over, either is gonna probably
be ahead of Tyson Fury. Now they're oksik is so active,
we'll see what happens. He has far fewer heavyweight fights.
I think some people confuse the greatness of him as
an overall boxer, taking into account his heavyweight accomplishments, his
cruiser weight accomplishments, and his Olympic gold medal, and his
amazing amateur career. But as a heavyweight specifically, he's had
seven fights against you know where. Two of them were
against Fury, two of them were against Joshua. And he's
done great things, but it's not enough in my mind
to be at the level where you're saying, talk about
the the top ten guys for example.
Speaker 1: For example, we spent about ten minutes on the last podcast.
If they didn't hear it, go back and listen talking
about George Foreman, Joe Fraser and Muhammad Ali. And I realized,
for the Brits, we could be accused as Yanks of
being somehow maligning the brit But this guy, the Southern phrase,
don't hold a candle to those three guys, and.
Speaker 2: So Lennox Lewis don't hold the candle Lennox Lewis either.
Speaker 1: And he's a bread that's right, and he's a breat
that's a good.
Speaker 2: Point, Lennix Lewis is you know, in.
Speaker 1: Terms of accomplishment and for how long and for how
many fights, because there isn't there is an argument that
at least recently, post the big layoff for the drugs
and the alcohol and ballooning to almost four hundred pounds,
he basically has beaten one significant guy, Deontay Wilder, twice.
The other the other wins is not all time that you're.
Speaker 2: Saying post so you're not getting the.
Speaker 1: Holes clitch goo post clitchcow. After he went off the
deep end. He's basically beaten one guy twice significance.
Speaker 2: I will give him credit also for the Dylan White victory.
Speaker 1: That's done all time. That's not an all time memorable.
They had it at Wimbley and it was memorable for
the spectacle, But Dyllon White is not gonna get anywhere
near the Hall of.
Speaker 2: Fame like a ticket in the in the in the
pantheon of the current group of heavyweights that were available
for a possibility for Tyson Pior to fight Dylan White
was an upper echelon heavyweight at that time and he
beat him easily. So I.
Speaker 1: Think I think Wilder has an argument. I'm not saying
we're gonna talk about Wilder in a few minutes. Wilder
has an argument potentially for the Hall of Fame. I
don't know that he's in. You're better. You're better to
judge historically, we can both go back and forth. But
Dylan Dillion White doesn't have any argument for the Hall
of Fame as whole, as far as a great fighter.
Speaker 2: And that was not the point I was.
Speaker 1: I understand, But I mean.
Speaker 2: If you look at Tyson Fury, Post, Clitchkow, the fighters
that he defeated other than Wilder, the next best guy
is his White, Dylan White, because I can't give him
a tremendous amount of credit for Safari and Otto Waalen
and Tom and I mean and Derek Tasora the.
Speaker 1: Third tounching Bag third fight. Yes, you know, that's all.
And by the way, Francis Singanu, which was embarrassing and
it's an actual fight. It was an embarrassing performance by him.
Speaker 2: So right, So he's always you're saying, so, I mean, well,
I think we think he'll be back.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you he will be back this summer whenever
they're paying him to fight Anthony Joshua. And that's coming
on a on a separate show as their own main
event outside of the other stuff they're doing with the
read season. Stay tuned. Okay, So while we're on that theme,
let's talk about a fight that is actually going to happen,
and that is Chris U Bank Junior and Connor Benn.
It is signed, It is April to twenty sixth, and
tell me more about what else you've learned about how
this got done and what's in it.
Speaker 2: So this is Turkey Alshik who was in London. Now,
remember Turkey bought the Ring Magazine had their big gala
to announce the winners of the twenty twenty four Ring
Magazine Awards the Fighter of the Year. It was actually
a nice ceremony. I watched it online. They did a
good job with it. Michael Buffer was the MC. It
was nice. But anyway, a lot of fighters were there,
and when Turkey was in London, he spent a lot
of time meeting with a lot of people trying to
lock up a lot of deals and fights. And if
you took a look at the types of guys who
was meeting with Canelo Alvarez for example, and Connor Benn
and Chris U Bank and plenty of other fighters that
he's looking to do business with, and they were able
to finally get the deal done. Now, obviously they have promoters.
Connor Ben is with match from Boxing and Chris u
Ban is with Boxer, but Turkey is paying the money
and Turkey was involved in in the room getting these
guys to sign their contracts separately and take care of business.
So look, we all know what happened back in twenty
twenty twenty twenty two, I should say Connor Ben during
the week they were supposed to fight each other. It
was a huge fight pay per view at the two
Arena in London. It's going to be a big deal.
The week of the fight, Connor Ben had a positive
vot of drug tests come out publicly come to light
and let's just call what it is. It is the
promoters of that event were very much ready willing and
able to put that under the rug and let the
fight happen. But thankfully, and I can't remember which newspaper
was one of the British newspapers and one of the
boxing writers there and off top that I don't remember
it was, but props to them because they publicly put
it out and it puts so much intense pressure everybody
that they were forced correctly to cancel the event instead
of allowing it to take place. Two and a half
years later, connor Ben has been through the litigation, gone
through the battle, not been forthcoming frankly during the whole
course of this. Got to fight two times in the
United States on a technicality. But after all big back
and forth, which you don't have to get into the details,
his suspension was lifted. He's eligible now to get a
license in Great Britain, which is his home country, which
is the place where he means something commercially, where he
has fans and Chris Eubank. After the fight was canceled,
he went through his own situation. He had the two
fights with William Smith. He got a big knockout loss
and an upset in the first fight, got a big
revenge win in the knockout. In the rematch fought in
October on the undercart of Better bf B BOL number
one scored a knockout victory against Zara Meta, who had
fought Glovekin for the Middleway title, and obviously after that
fight was over, connor Ben jumped in the ring. I
had the photo op and it became a thing where
now all the heats starting, can we get the rematch
done now? While they were trying to make the rematch,
there was a lot of conversation, perhaps just as a
negotiating ploy, that Connor ben was also interested to perhaps
challenge Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight title. But in
the end, I think we all knew the biggest fight
commercially and the most meaningful fight for them as just
because of the background of their fathers and the great
fights that Nigel pen and Chris Senior had against each other,
which are still legendary in the British boxing scene, it
was inevitable they were going to make this match. And
so it wasn't even the money, because Turkey had that
taken care of. It was some other things. It was
mainly it got down to the rehydration clause and when
they were supposed to meet the first time, it was
a one hundred and fifty seven pound catchweight fight. Chris
Ubank has been a middleweight and even before that, fought
for many years as a super middleweight. Connor is a
welterweight and frankly not that big of a a welterweight.
His two American fights during the suspension in Britain were
over one hundred and fifty pounds. He was fighting as
a generally a junior middleweight, but with plans to fight
again as a welterweight. So they agreed to one hundred
and sixty pounds for the fight middleweight limit, So props
to Connor for going up that much. But then it
became a battle about the rehydration clause, and in the end,
despite Chris u Bank not being thrilled about it, they
ultimately settled it's going to be one hundred and seventy
pounds rehydration claus So they got a weigh in no
more than one sixty on the day you know of
the weigh in, and then the following morning, you know,
many hours prior to the fight. Neither of them can
weigh more than one hundred and seventy pounds without significant
financial penalties. I don't know the specific specifics of what
those penalties will be, but you can debt on it.
It will be several hundred.
Speaker 1: I understand, and include one more thing. They're supposed to
fight two phones. It's a fight deal, right, all right.
Speaker 2: So a lot of people that reported on it said
it's it's they just made a deal. I reported on it,
and it is in fact a two fight deal. They
will have the first fight April twenty six. Now Turkey
in his post on his social media just said we
got the deal done April London. My reporting says April
twenty six. I have not reported on the venue. There
have been reports out there that's going to be the
Tottenham Hotspur Arena Stadium, which a London stadium. It's smaller
than Wembley, but it's a big stadium.
Speaker 1: It's a series I know because I've been there. Yeah,
the NFL keeps playing there. It's a sixty five thousand
seats sock. We'll do a huge class facility. And it's
in North London and that is where Joshua and Usik
fought their first battle in twenty one in front of
a packed house. Massive. So that's interesting.
Speaker 2: And if I'm not mistaken, I think Tyson Fury fought
one of his fights.
Speaker 1: Are all the thing that I was coming to as well.
What's the stipulations with Vada and drug testing? Because call
me the jaded older, get off my lawn skeptic. Is
Connor Ben gonna make it to April without screwing up again,
without having done something. So what do we know? Was
there anything about the testing or we don't know?
Speaker 2: In your I'm sure there's testing. I just don't know
the specifics of the testing in terms of by the way,
just so you know, in terms of that stadium, the
Tottenham Hotspur stament, it's also where Fury had the third
fight against Derek Tesaura in December of twenty twenty two,
there will be testing, I am sure in terms of
the test in terms of the matchup for Ben and
you Bank and anyway to to finish the point, though
they signed for the April fight, it is a fight
deal regardless of the winner. A lot of times in
rematch clause type language, the loser has the option whether
they want to do the rematch. In this particular case,
the way I understand, and this is from multiple people
who are directly involved with the event, is that is
not the case. This is strictly a two fight deal.
Whoever wins, whoever loses, is down to the rematch as
long as I guess Turkey wants to do it. And
so the second fight though is due contractually what I
am told to take place before the end of twenty
and twenty five, which means probably in December.
Speaker 1: And by the way, because you and I have been
doing this for a while now, over the last three
years or so, this is not uncommon. For example, George
Cambosis made Devin Haney agree to a two fight deal
in a rematch. We saw that Terrence Crawford and Errold
Spence had a two fight deal, but it had a
time limit on it. Notice how I remember what we
talk about in What We Do, and the time limit
expired on that. And also Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder
had a two fight deal and then you had all
the craziness with the twenty twenty year and the time
limit expired and was he free to fight Anthony Joshua
or not. So I'm just making the point. The two
fight deals going in it's a two fight deal, no
matter what. Are not that uncommon in recent bodies.
Speaker 2: I can't stand those kind of deals, but it is
what it is.
Speaker 1: But anyway, they're trying to get paid and they're trying
to protect I guess whoever loses from Hey, I don't
get my rematch at any point.
Speaker 2: All I know is this two and a half years later,
after Connor Ben tested positive for performance stancing drugs and
actually had any second test that he found also that
was done prior to that under the WBC's Queen Boxing program.
Two and a half years later, they are finally going
to fight each other. You know, I know a lot
of people are still ticked off about the drug testing situation,
not because Connor didn't set out a period of time,
because he still has never really come clean in my
opinion about it.
Speaker 1: We talked a little at the time. I remember what
we talked about, because he tested positive for clomaphene, which
is clomid, which is a fertility drug that the male
body doesn't make. It's a female drug.
Speaker 2: That's the news of the day. That's what's happening.
Speaker 1: So that one, that one is done, and it's April
twenty six. Stand by, We have a ways to go
before we get there. But April twenty six in London
and very possibly Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. You're hearing that the
Brits are gonna get on you for calling it Tottenham.
Speaker 2: By the way, what is it called Tottenham?
Speaker 1: They just called Tottenham. Let's continue with the news, Hey,
money talks and let's stick with the theme. The Turkey,
Ala Chic and the Riad season have apparently gotten Devin
Hainey and Ryan Garcia together. We got more layers to
this than a week of the Young and the restless
on what we have to sort out?
Speaker 2: Oh right, Just for the record, I'm like a I'm
a probably since the late nineteen seventies, long time die
hard daily viewer of General Hospital, not General.
Speaker 1: Little more so than than the lion they are. But
in any event, don't go down the road now for
arguing with me about which one's better. I don't care.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying I don't care Central for years.
Speaker 1: But back to Devin Haney and his lawsuit again. You
were writing on your substack that would maybe it wouldn't
maybe it would be a big obstacle here to this happening.
Ryan Garcia being suspended, which he still is, that's an obstacle.
We apparently have cleared some obstacles here, tell me, tell
me more, but these guys are actually gonna fight coming up,
Give me the details.
Speaker 2: So I have done a lot of reporting. You can
read the story on my newsletter website substack. Dan Rayfield
dot com dot substack dot com sign up for the
newsletter you can read all about it. Anyway, here's the point.
We all know. They had a highly controversial fight that
took place this past April that that that Ryan Garcia
won by majority decision. He scored three knockdowns on left
hooks against Devin Haney, who missed weight. Ryan Garcia missed
the weight was ineligible to fight for the WBC's Junior
welterweight title that Devin Haney had or that he has
since vacated. The point, though, is when that was over,
we all know what's been discussed a million times. Ryan
Garcia had his own his own drug testing problems. He
failed for ostering. Not only did he fail A and
B sample multiple tests on the day of the fight
and the post fight, but when the fight results came back,
the New York State Athletic Commission had taken their own samples,
had those samples retested, and they failed for ostering also,
So he had a VADA test failures A and B
two different tests. He also then had a sample tested
for the same substance because the New York Commission doesn't
typically test for that. But when they found out that
his VODA sample was positive. They had that test and
it failed for us. So he was dirty as a
three dollar bill. It was the bottom line, and he
got suspended for a year by the New York State
Athletic Commission, backdated to the April date of the fight.
He was fined ten grand, which was the maximum the
Commission can find him. But as part of the settlement
agreement he signed. This was him and his lawyer. They
did it. It wasn't like they had a choice, but they
put pen to paper. He forfeited his entire official one
point one million dollar perse so and hasn't fought since.
And even when he was going to come back and
fight for a certain amount of money in this exhibition
now in Japan, he got an injury and that thing
got canceled. Who hasn't been paid in a while, so
he's paying a price.
Speaker 1: If I remember correctly, and never let it be said
that I don't listen to you and pay attention. He accepted,
essentially like a plea deal with the New York Commission,
sign because they were potentially going to give him a
two year suspension. He was going to take the chance
that they were going to bang the gavel even worse.
Did I remember that part correct?
Speaker 2: I think you are correct about that. The point is
he took the settlement agreement and that does not expire
until April, but he still has to make He still
has the things he has to do for the Commission
before he can get re license, including providing you a
clean drugs, a clean year and sample, or you know,
whatever they asked him to do in terms of the
drug testing. But this fight, with his next fight would
take place after he would be re licensed, like he's
as long as he doesn't force a drug test when
he goes to get the license, New York State will
give him the license back. So he'll he gotta figure
come mid April, he'll have a license back.
Speaker 1: But the interesting thing is they're not fighting immediately, right
There's a build up, So that's kind of intriguing, would
tell me more.
Speaker 2: Well, So part of the reason for that, I think,
and I don't even think it's it's it's unreasonable because
Devin and Ryan neither one of them have fought since
April of last year when they had their first fight.
Devon has been out and Ryan has been out because
of the suspension. And then obviously he still got to
deal with the wrist injury and getting that he's having Supposedly,
you know, he said in the end of December early
January that he's having a procedure done to fix up
the risk. So he's gonna have some time to do
in terms of his rehab from that. But anyway, the
plan is that they will fight in May, probably on
the same card with each other somewhere in the United States,
and if they're both successful, they will then have the rematch,
and that rematch will take place in October, and supposedly
that will be the opening event of the READ season
next year. Remember when Fury fought in Naganu that was
the opening of the previous READ season or the first
one in twenty twenty three. The twenty twenty four October
date was better bill one that opened the READ season.
They're looking at Garcia and Devin Haney to open the
next READ season in twenty twenty five. It will also
just so people are clear, their first fight was one
hundred and forty pound world title fight that Haini made
the weight for, but Ryan was one hundred and forty
three point two. He was way overweight, bragged about dranking
and running around during his training camp. This fight is
contracted at one hundred and forty seven pounds, which is
the welterweight limit. Not a world title fight like the
first fight was, but still, you know, a significant fight
because of the name value and also I think in
terms of the fact that they're taking interim bouts, it
does give Devin Haney an opportunity, who's never fought above
one hundred and forty pounds, to at least have one
fight in the new weight division before he gets back
in there with Ryan, who obviously you know, ignored the
weight limit for the first fight, was going to fight
at one hundred and fifty three pounds in that postponed
slash canceled exhibition that was supposed to take place in
Japan against the kickbox from before he saw for the injury.
So the plan is fight each other in October as
long as they win these supposed tune up slash interim
fights that will take place in the month of May
somewhere in the United States. So that so, but that again,
that was Turkey in London taking care of business because
and Ryan Garcia were on hand for that ring magazine Gallop.
Speaker 1: And the lawsuit you reported on this Oh yeah, so
there a lawsuit.
Speaker 2: Okay, So let me get to that. The two things
that have been preventing it been being one hundred percent
like sign sealed and delivered. Two things. One, what's the
drug testing, right? You know, remember we talked about this
a week or two ago. Devin Hainey signed up with
Vodaforth twenty four seven three sixty five drug testing random
anytime day or night between now and whenever that expires,
which is like next January sometime, and he wanted Ryan
Garcia to undergo the that similar kind of testing, at
least in terms of their fights. So my understanding is this,
he's not yet agreed to it, and there ain't gonna
be a fucking fight if he doesn't agree to it.
So he's gonna have no choice but to do it,
because then he should, because he's the guy that felled
the test. So upon signing the documents, he will then
be supposedly under he's got to sign up for it,
but he'll be doing random VODA drug testing that will
commence with the signing of the agreement and will go
through not only the build up to the May fight,
but all it'll keep going after that through the October fight,
So basically Ryan will be on the hook for you know,
the random drug testing from whenever he signs, presumably sometime
in January, perhaps February, all the way through whenever they
do the fight in October, would you know, presumably be
that you know, second week or so of October, So
he'll be doing it throughout that rest of the you know,
for that port of part of this year. And as
part of that, we all know and we've talked about that,
Ryan Garcia got a lawsuit filed against him for a
battery and other stuff by Devin Haney for doing what
he did for missing weight and you know, all the business.
Speaker 1: That brought up the stuff about Haney and the VADA
said is it still a thing? And you said, yes,
I know, it's still a thing.
Speaker 2: So the lawsuit is still in place. But they have
gone to the court and I have the document where
they've asked the court to ask for like a ninety
day stay, basically telling the court we've come to an agreement,
but because of whatever the rules are, they have to
wait before they actually officially drop it. But it's gonna
get dropped as soon as, you know, they agree on
the drug testing I'm assuming that, but the lawyer and
not only is it going to drop the lawsuit against
between Ryan and Devin, but it would also drop the
suit against Golden Boy and the Strength coach. And so
I'll reread just a brief portion of it. It says the
court having been advised that there is a tentative settlement
has been reached in the above matter meeting the case.
We just mentioned that the long form agreements still have
to be drafted. Point they're saying is they're telling the
court we have a deal. We have to still get
our long form agreements set, we have to sign it.
It's going to take it's about ninety days, blah blah.
But let the corporate known that we're gonna get getting
rid of this lawsuit. So everything is, the wheels are
in motion. But Garcia's still got to sign up for
the VADA test and that's the pivotal part. And then
the losser will get dropped because that's the leverage that
was in here. Lawsuit will get will go away, and
they can settle their differences in the ring with their
fists and beat the shit out of each other.
Speaker 1: But there will be fights in between. And we saw
what happened with the Joshua and we're gonna talk more
about and Wilder here in just a second. This this
is what can happen, is that it can get screwed
up down the road. And of course Ryan Garcia, let's
be honest, he got arrested again since then for vandalism
that eventually got dropped. There are a lot of question
marks about him, including another hand injury, which is the
second time that he's had hand surgery. If he did
in fact have hand surgery, there's a lot of question
marks and around us, all right. So speaking of Joshua
and Wilder, what is on my rundown that this is
actually seriously being discussed that they may still fight each
other coming up there, especially if Tyson Fury is retired,
which we don't believe, all right, So what else here
with uh?
Speaker 2: When when Turkey was in London doing being there for
several days, tiding up some of these deals, doing the
ring magazine thing, he did an interview with talkSPORT, which
is the big sports radio station in the UK. Uh
I do a segment on talkSPORT every Monday night. We
talked boxing. So among the many things he talked about
in the interview of fights he wants to make this
and that, talking about how he's gonna leave Tyson Fury
alone and at some point they'll go talk to him
the see if he really wants to say retired or
come back. But he made the point in this interview.
This is one of the nuggets that I that I
heard from it. I quote from Turkey al Hic. I
want to see Joshua Wilder. Now, if Tyson is not available,
why not Joshua and Wilder? Well, they tried to make
I mean, I didn't even know where to start with this.
I mean we all know that back.
Speaker 1: Why Why is because Wilder is a shot fighter and
it's and it there's an argument you can make that
Joshua look like a shot fighter against Daniel.
Speaker 2: Dubois, understand, but the point is, yeah, I mean that
you're right now. They had to look. It's similar to
Joshua and Fury. There was years that went by where
that fight should have happened, and it did not happen.
And it's shameful that they never made the match, even
though there was overtures at various times to try to
get the job done, but it did not happen. However,
if you go back to, you know, at previous when
they were both they finally had gotten the deal done,
is the point, and they were gonna fight, even though
it still wasn't as big as of a deal as
it should have been because they were no longer undefeated fighters.
They were not going to be in a world championship fight.
Remember when they would have fought the first time, it
would have been for the undisputed title. That was when
when Joshua had three belts and the other belt was
held by Deontay Wilder had the WBC title. But when
they finally were doing the fight, remember the day of
Reckoning card December of twenty twenty three, they had finally
and remember I reported that they had a deal done
and Eddie Hern you know, said bullshit, it wasn't true,
And in fact, it was true. I was one hundred
percent accurate with every single fucking dot and comma that
I reported. But the fact is, on that show, while
Anthony Joshua knocked out Otto w Aalen in round number five, unfortunately,
on the undercard, Joseph Parker won a lopsided decision and
defeated Deontay Wilder, at which point that fight went down
the drain and even off that lost you know, Deontay dinkadz.
You know, he lost the decision. But even when he
came back and fought his next fight, even if there
was a minute hope that it might still happen, he
got knocked the fuck out by a big, big bang
jan brutally and brutally knocked out in round number five.
That was in June of this past year. So he's
now lost four of his last five fights. The knockout
lost to Jang. The lopside had lost to Parker, a
big knockout in the Great fight against Fury in their
third fight, and a one sided ass kicking knockout in
the second fight against Furry. The only fight that Deontay
has won since twenty twenty is a first round knockout
against the you know long passes day Robert Helenius, not
exactly something the Hanger had of.
Speaker 1: Which lasted like a minute and a half and was
one punch and yeah, so.
Speaker 2: It actually lasted two minutes and fifty seven.
Speaker 1: With the one with the one.
Speaker 2: I know because I made the trip to New York
for that, I don't I.
Speaker 1: Don't have any interest anymore in seeing I don't think
some of them have anything left, but go ahead.
Speaker 2: I still think Fury and Joshua has meaning at least
in terms of them against each other for their country,
even if it's not for a title. Fury may not
be what he was, but he's still really good. As
I mentioned, Joshua, you know, was still the jury's out
after that big, devastating loss to Duba. But I'm over.
I mean, I'm dead serious when I say this. I
am over Wilder and Joshua. That fight is dick right now.
It doesn't mean shit. I mean, if it happens, obviously
because I watch boxing, I'll watch it. But I don't
give a fuck about that fight at all. I don't
know how much more clear I can be. Wilder is finished.
We all know it. They're making plans for him maybe
to come back on a small car with BLK Prime,
potentially against you know, the rank journeyman Curtis Harper. I'm
not even sure Deontay wins that fight, to tell you
the truth, but you know, good luck to him. This
is not an anti Deontay Wilder ran. I'm just saying
in terms of his career where it is, it's very questionable.
He can get back to any kind of level Joshua.
The jury's out, but I suspect.
Speaker 1: No, we're way past the cell by date here.
Speaker 2: Deontay Wilder against Anthony Joshua would have been the biggest
fight in boxing circa two thousand nineteen, before Joshua lost
to Andy Ruiz at a time when Deontay was still
undefeated and they held all the titles. That's six years ago,
my friend.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: So we're done with that.
Speaker 1: And both have been knocked out, and both have been
knocked out badly Ruiz on Joshua and then Daniel Dubois
recently on Joshua. And as you mentioned, Wilder took two
bad beatings from Tyson Fury and then a brutal knockout
to Jang.
Speaker 2: I'm with you, so, I mean, if Turkey wants to
make the fight, I think I'd rather see him spend
his millions making something much different than that.
Speaker 1: One other news item. And then we're gonna tie Deontay
Wilder into the nostalgia, and then we are done on
this pod Oscar Duarte and Regis pro Gray is now
finalized and the local is finalized, and it's coming up.
We're gonna finally, We're gonna finally get a Golden Boys show.
I keep harping on this, will somebody put a show
on in January? Nobody did. We're gonna get a Golden
Boys show soon, right.
Speaker 2: February fifteenth, Golden Bay has a smaller card, you know,
one of their fight night cards, but in terms of
their main, bigger name cards, they're doing this card. The
main event of the of their designed card will be
the junior walterweight fight, a twelve rounder Begineen Oscar Duarte
and Regis pro Gray. It set. It's scheduled to take
place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. And you know,
Golden Boys, they're they're doing a good thing here. They've
they've they've announced that they have their small fight night
card that they're going to donate all of the proceeds
from their ticket sales to the Firefighters Foundation for all
the work they've done fighting the wildfires. Uh. And then
they're also going to give away a bunch of tickets
for the program Duarte fight for first responders and their
families to have a good night out at the fights,
you know, just their appreciation of the of course, Golden
Boy being a Southern California company. You know, they're right
in the thick of all this. Good for them, that's good.
So in terms of the fight itself, Duarte against Program.
Look Duarte, Uh, you know, we saw him getting knocked
up by Ryan Garcia, but he's looked good since then.
He had the big win against Acmadoff on the Latino
and Night card that took place in read Uh. And
you know, he's an exciting fighter. He's got a got
a good good uh good style to watch. He's got
a lot of knockouts, you know, a solid, come forward
kind of guy. Welcome on my TV, my screen, my
device anytime.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: And and maybe he can get better. I don't hold
the loss to Ryan Garcia against him. I mean, guys
are gonna lose sometimes, so but he's really the A
side because it's Regis program. He's got the name, former
two time title holder in the weight class. But as
looked really bad in recent fights. It's up to Oscar
Duarte to show the world and Regis that he shouldn't
have come back, that he should have retired like he
said he was considering after the last fight, and hand
him he had a third loss in a row because
pro Grey, who has been a fine fighter, a great
guy to deal with, a fun fighter to watch, you know,
just a good dude. But it's not just that he lost.
He looked terrible. The two fights ago he lost to
Devin Haney when he lost his title shutout, got knocked
down by Hane, who's not a big puncher. That was
in December of twenty twenty three, just completely got annihilated
in terms of the points shutout plus the was a
one twenty to one oh seven on all three scorecards.
And then he came back in in October of last
year he fought Jack Catterall and he lost a lopsided
decision in that fight also and looked bad. And so
now we'll see if Oscar Duarte can make it three
times the charm in terms of looking bad against program.
But that said, it would still be based on the names.
It would still be the biggest profile victory of Oscar
Dwarti day Sport if he can get that. So we'll see.
You know, I usually say like Regi's program makes good
fights also, but the reality is the last two haven't
even really been good fights.
Speaker 1: We talked about it, and there's concern that he is
basically done because he's what thirty five, Yeah, thirty five
or thirty six, No, he's thirty five. And is he now?
Is he now just a B side opponent named opponent's.
Speaker 2: A he's a great name opponent. It's up to Regis
to show that he's more than that and that these
are just two blips on the radar. I don't think
that's the case because, as we have talked about, even
when he won his previous fight before Hani, he looked
real bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah Zarea in New Orleans. It was awful.
Speaker 2: It was lucky to get the win in that fight.
Speaker 1: All right. So February fifteenth, Anaheim Golden Boy to his
own show for Duarte and Progre. So we have that
one on the dock, and that's coming a few weeks
from now. Let's finish with some nostalgia. It was twenty
six years ago as we released the podcast on January
sixteenth of nineteen ninety nine here on this Thursday and
to Friday that after an eighteen month go away because
of the whole stuff with the Evander Holyfield earbiting, Mike
Tyson returned to the ring and fought Franz Botha Francois Botha.
All right, so tell me more about this because we
waited in the nostalgia in the way back now, we
waited for a while. And uh, it's not one of
his more memorable fights because obviously he had one more
big memorable one with Lennox Lewis after that. But tell
me what we remember what about It.
Speaker 2: Was maybe not a memorable fight, but certainly a memorable knockout.
I mean, this was Mike Tyson like it was. It
was harkened back to like those big monster knockouts of
the eighties. The difference though, between the big monster knockouts
of the eighties and what he did against Francois Botha
on this night is that in the big knockouts of
the eighties, and up until the moment where he scored
the knockout, he was usually beating the you know, beating
the guy, and there was no question was winning the
fight against Francois Botha. This is like you said, Mike
coming off in eighteen Monthlyoff. After being vilified by the
Role for biting off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear
and getting suspended and having his license revoked, he did
come back and he was losing every single round of
the fight. And if you looked at the official score
cards going into round number five, he was down forty
to thirty five on two score cards. He was also
down thirty nine to thirty six on the other score card,
and that was because Richard Steele, who was the referee
at of that fight, he had taken points away from
Mike Tyson, who had remembered he tried to like hold
his arm and he was and he would.
Speaker 1: Do you remember he was trying to break his arm.
He had his arm clenched and was trying to like
wrench his arm while in benched, like he was trying
to break it.
Speaker 2: So after biting the ear on the previous fight, now
he's trying to break the dude's arm. And it was
just Mike showing how dirty he was in the ring,
and Steel took away two points. So not only was
Mike being out box and out classed by Francois both.
You know, it was a good heavyweight and his day
held a title for a quick minute, but was certainly
not at the elite level. Was on the receiving end.
By the way, one of the prettiest knockouts you'll see
a four punch combination by Lennox Lewis back when he
challenged Leans for the title years ago. But anyway, Botha
was kicking Mike's ass. He was winning handily. Uh and
then just you know, this was only a ten round fight.
It wasn't like a twelve round championship fight or anything
like that. Mike Tyson came up with the monster right
hand that we all knew and loved him for that
made him into a superstar in the first place, and
he landed right on the button and absolutely erased Francois Botha.
I mean, this was a humongous knockout and you're and
you like, you're like, oh shit, I mean, Tyson may
be dirty, and Tyson maybe not what he once was.
Speaker 1: The line from the hangover. The champs still got it
with the big fight.
Speaker 2: So he really he really landed. I mean, listen, if
you made a list, if you were going through like
all the great Tyson knockouts and you were ranking Mike's knockouts,
this would find a way onto that list somewhere, I
would suspect. And you know, it made people maybe not
believe that Mike was gonna you know that he was
still a top fighter, but they still knew that Iron
Mike Tyson could still crack if he lands with the
big punch. And you know, that was the beginning of
the what I what was sort of like the the
the the long slide down. Now he won, he went
on us you know where he won a bunch of fights.
He also had no contest in there after both of
he had the you know, the first round no contest
against Orlandoris. Then he went to the UK and he
had the.
Speaker 1: Two Why was that fight a no contest? Was that
a butt and and bad blood cut or something? Do
we remember why that Orlan Norris fight was a no contest?
Which about the Orlan Norris fight? Why it was a
no contest the one right after both of because.
Speaker 2: Well that wasn't a cut, I guess there was like
supposedly a knee injury and uh, and Norris was not
able to go on and uh he claimed he was
hit after the bell and they injured his knee at
the time that had happened and they ended up ruing. Uh.
Speaker 1: But then I don't even remember the name Julius Francis
in Manchester, England. He clapper him so.
Speaker 2: Julius Francis was a British journeyman fighter that when Frank
Warren brought Mike over to do a couple of fights.
The famous thing about the Francis fight was Julius Francis
got a sponsor to pay him a lot of money
to put their advertisement on the soles of his of
his boxing shoes, so he was laying on the mat.
Speaker 1: I do remember the sponsorship, the sponsorship with the photos
and everything sticking up.
Speaker 2: So that was that fight. So he did knock him
out in the in the second round, as we all expect.
He was down twice in the first round, three times
in the second round. Then he went back for the
savage fight. That was the KO one. That's the fight
where he kept punching him after the referee stopped the fight,
and then he gave the famous speech about how I'm
gonna eat Lennox Lewis's heart, I'm gonna eat his.
Speaker 1: Children children, yes, and then so I actually.
Speaker 2: So that savage fight. That was the first fight I
ever wrote about Mike because that was soon after I
got hired at USAHN, although I did not go to
Scotland to cover the fight. And the next fight was
a no contest against Andrew Galata, which was a no
contest because he failed the marijuana test. That was my
first fight where I covered Mike in person, and and
then the Nielsen fight, then the Lewis fight, and then
the last you know three before the Jake Paul craziness
on a few weeks ago, a few months ago. But anyway,
the fight against against Botha was what I consider that
was the first fight of the final chapter of Mike's career.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: And yeah, and both and both got freight trained. I
remember he hit Galata with that same right hand the
same way too, and uh, and Galata was not the
same and then and then he failed to drug tap.
Speaker 2: But it was still the BOTHA knockout was putting aside
the break, the trying to break the arm, and all
the craziness in the eighteen months off and the ear
biting and all this stuff that happened afterwards, just as
a knockout, beautiful knockout from Tyson.
Speaker 1: All right, let's advance forward to ten years ago, Friday,
January seventeenth, twenty fifteen. Speaking of Deontay Wilder, one of
the biggest moments of his career has to be that
he becomes the heavyweight champ, the WBC heavyweight champ. You
were ringside for the dominant performance against Bermain Stavern that
included I even remember this because I remember interviewing Deontay
about it. He broke his hand for the first of
several times during the fight and fought on and fought brilliantly.
You were there, What else do you remember? This was
a big deal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, this is the MGM Grand Deontaey a lot
of his fans that travel from from Alabama to be
at this fight. It was live on showtime. It was
a big deal. And now remember Deontay had won a
bronze medal in the in the twenty and twelve Olympic Games.
Uh oh no, I take them back in two thousand
eight Olympic Games exactly. And you want to talk about
bringing alonger guy slowly, I mean, Deontay fought. When I
tell you didn't fight anybody, he didn't fight anybody fight
after I mean, I totally get the fact you're gonna
build a guy up and he needs to get the
pro reps. But it was getting to the point of
almost absurdity, the lack of guys that he fought, He
did fight a couple of guys with names who were
way way past their best, you know, like an Alby Harrison,
who he drilled in the first round, a way way
past his former a WBO title holder, Sergei Layakovich. You know,
even Malik Scott, who became his trainer, Leater he blitzed
in one round, who was you know, way past his
best days. So when they matched him up with Stevern,
who at that time, you know, he may have shown
after that that he wasn't you know, a great heavyweight,
but he was a highly regarded heavyweight at that time.
Most people would have viewed him on the top, you know,
three or four in the division at worse. At the
time that they fought, he had the WBC title. He
had defeated Chris Ariola, who was another good contender, by
a stoppage in their rematch another fight that I attended.
He when he had the WBC title, and he was
a good puncher and a dangerous fighter, and Deontay had
never been the distance. He'd barely been past you know,
five or six rounds at that point. Uh and so
when he matched up against uh Severn, as I believe
he was the mandatory challenger, if I'm not mistaken. Uh,
there was a ton of questions, is this a big
how big of a step up? Is this? Does he
have the stamina? If it gets that a couple of rounds?
Speaker 1: But there you go, because most of his fights were
over with before anybody settled into their seat. Wow, three
go five rounds, much less nine, much less twelve, And
it turns out he did.
Speaker 2: So he's thirty two and oh with thirty two knockouts
going into this fight, but again had never faced anybody
of even remote consequence, and he went to distance with him,
and you know, he proved yes he did have the stamina,
and not only did he have the stamina, but he
won every single round essentially the fight in one base.
You know, it wasn't like an official shutout. It was
like I think that I'm looking at the scorecards here,
one judge had at one eighteen one oh nine, one
judge had at one nineteen one oh eight, and one
judge did have at one twenty one oh seven, which
is a shutout. So you know it was a dominating performance.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: And and Deontay, I don't think I remember him not
being like he wasn't upset that the knockout streak was over.
He was like, I prove I can go the distance
with a good fighter. That was a you know, you
won a downplace to vern because he never did anything
after that. But that was a good win because at
that moment Bermaine was a good fighter, and and he
won easily.
Speaker 1: And I still remember all of this. It was the
culmination of what is a tremendous story because Wilder was
a guy that had football aspirations at one point wanted
to play at the University of Alabama, but took up
boxing basically on the amateur level as a pathway to
make money because one of his children was seriously ill.
He had been driving Rayfield the beverage truck for a
beverage delivery service through central Alabama, including touch Washer. So
my point is this was the culmination of the guy
has now made it. He's got the green WBC heavyweight
title that many other greats including Tyson Lewis, Muhammad Ali,
Larry Holmes had in recent heavyweight title history. So this
was quite the story. It was quite the story for
the run that he went on for several years after that.
Speaker 2: Listen, he he for a period of time. No, you
want to look back and assess him, that's fair play.
You know, you can look and say, you know, maybe
he didn't live up to the expectations, but one thing
is for sure. For a long period of time, he
was a dominating champion. Maybe didn't have the greatest opposition overall,
but destroyed everybody by knockout. One of the I will
say this the single best puncher I've ever seen in person,
and arguably one of the great heavyweight punchers in the
history of boxing, heavyweight or otherwise. To be quite frank,
the right hand is a devastating weapon. Now, he did
fight Steverne again and knocked Hi out in the first
round in a mandated rematch, And so he was up
till that point every fight he'd ever won, he you know,
he'd knocked out every man he'd ever face. Obviously Fury
changed that, as did Jang and Parker, but up until
a period of time, you know, everybody ever faced he
knocked out. Because he went the distance with Steverne and
won the title and then drolled him in the rematch.
And by the way, even though we're talking about the
the anniversary of Steverne, and while They're one that took
place on January seventeen, twenty fifteenth. On January sixteenth, twenty sixteenth,
one year later, is one of Giontay Wilder's greatest knockouts
as the heavyweight WBC champion, which I was also ringside
for at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, where he knocked
out Arthur Spilka in the ninth round, which was one
of the handful of times where I was ringside and
really thought that the opponent, not just in a Wilder fight,
but any fight I'd been to, this opponent maybe be
seriously seriously injured. Thank God he wasn't, but that just
showed you that right hand was as devastating a weapon
as there has been seen. But the Steverne victory was
a huge win for Deontay. He ended up defending the title,
the WBC tititle I believe ten times successfully including the
draw against Wylder, I mean against a Fury. Rather defended
the WBC title, for example, more times than Mike Tyson
did when he held that title back in the in
the late nineteen eighties, and so that was memorable at
the time. And he had a long run where he
was one of the top one, two three heavyweights in boxing.
It was basically Fury, Wilder and Joshua and then later
Huson finally joined the party when he moved up in Wait.
Speaker 1: And as you said about twenty minutes ago or so
ish when we were talking about it, we will never know.
We will never know what his bout with Joshua would
have been in twenty sixteen, seventeen ish when it should
have been happening something like that eighteen something I did.
Speaker 2: Just look, he did defend it ten times until the
knockout loss against Fury in the rematch.
Speaker 1: All right, so good nostalgia. We gave you some news again,
there's not a big time worldwide main event this weekend.
We will come back off the weekend and we will
preview the Naoya in a way undisputed one hundred and
twenty two pound title fight. We'll have some other news,
I'm sure, some other things to talk about and discuss,
but we're here for you, Savage, just despite despite not
having the fights per se. Let me plug that. We
will also talk about the Naway fight on the bet
US Boxing Show Live Friday one Eastern time on the
bet US platforms including YouTube. Back for that so you
and I will be back here off the weekend once again,
my friend, have a good weekend. Plenty of news here
on this keep it locked in not only on the
pod here, but dan Substack is newsletter for the latest
going on with the fight news and the very latest
anything else. Are we good?
Speaker 2: We're good? Hey, we're good.
Speaker 1: I think we are again. Follow Subscribe to the podcast
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