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Speaker 1: Three two. I yes, back aboard the Dazed dwindling down.

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We're almost done with twenty twenty five, but we're not

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done with the debating year. On the pod feed, it

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is the Fight Freaks Unite podcast taking a look at

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the Fight of the Year for twenty twenty five. I

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am merely TJ Reeves. He is our insider fight Freak

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to night. After all, is the substack name and the

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newsletter be subscribing. Always good to be with Big Dan Rayphiel.

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All right, So immediately preceding this pod on the feed,

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we talked about the Fighter of the Year spoiler alert.

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You and I agreed it was Terrence Quaffer for the

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win over Canelo Alvarez. Magnitude of that event massive. I'm

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curious if you even have it on the short list

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here for Fight of the Year. But when we start

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talking Fight of the Year for the podcast audience, give

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me what your overall thought for the criteria is and

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then give me some Fight of the Year nominees.

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Speaker 2: My criteria has been the same as it's been since

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I first started doing this, when I first picked awards

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in two thousand, when I was the boxing reporter for

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USA Today, and although Terrence Crawford and Canel avers was

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the biggest event of the year, and it was a

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good fight, entertaining, and I'm glad I went to see it.

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In no way, shape or form doesn't qualify to me

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as even a remote candidate for the Fight of the Year.

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To me, the fight of the year has to have

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action period action. Action. Action doesn't have to have like

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crazy knockdowns or blood and all that. I gotta have

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a fierce fight and all that other stuff helps. There's

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got to be some drama, maybe perhaps a great atmosphere,

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although that's not a prerequisite. And although Crawford and Canelo

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check some of those boxes in terms of the magnetude

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of the event and the atmosphere and all that, it

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ain't to fight fight of the year. There's a lot

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of great fights that took place in twenty twenty five,

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and all of them that I look to and I

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have not really made my I'm gonna do and they'll

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have a piece on my pot on my news are

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coming up in the next couple of days, next few

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days that will go through and I will place them

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in order. I'll probably do about ten or so and

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they can take a look at that, but there were

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some tremendous fights here. You want me to how do

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you want to start this out?

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Speaker 1: So let's go with we kind of did this on

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the fighter of the year who deserves recognition and a

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pat on the back. If not gonna be rising to

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the level of let's say the top three to debate,

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give me some honorable mentions if you will go ahead.

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Speaker 2: And necessarily not, there's others besides the ones I'm gonna mention.

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But a fight that I think exceeded, no, I want

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to say exceeded, but kind of met the expectations of

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this is gonna be a hell of a fight, and

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maybe it slightly exceeded the expectations. Was just recently and

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that was the outstanding battle for one of the vacant

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lightweight titles between Abdulla Mason and Sam Noakes. Yes, the

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two younger guys who are both you know, hungary, both

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looking for their first world titles. They battled for the

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vacant WBO belt that had been stripped from Keishaan Davis

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earlier in the year from not making weight, and they

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went to Saudi Arabia stepping up in competition, and they

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put on a hell of a fight, and it was

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Abdulla Mason who got the victory, but he certainly knows

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he was in a fight. And Sam Noakes, even though

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he lost, You're like, I want to see that dude again.

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He can absolutely get back in the mix and be

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in the picture.

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Speaker 1: Like my metaphor, they could have fought it on a

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bathroom rug exactly. It was toe to toe for probably

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the last four rounds, maybe maybe five rounds, where they

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just stood and bombed. And Noakes I thought, in particular,

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because it looked for a while like Mason was maybe

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getting the better of me. He showed a lot of

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resiliency and was firing back, and I thought even in

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one instance shook up Abdulla Mason late in the fight.

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I love that as an honorable mention.

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Speaker 2: I was gonna say they could have fought on the

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in the phone booth. I don't think any of the

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kids would have.

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Speaker 1: Not They don't know what a phone booth is anymore.

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Speaker 2: That's right, that that would have not been. I don't

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know what is due to phone books even exist anymore.

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Speaker 1: I don't think they do. Bathroom rugs exist and it's

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not a lot of room put it that most people right,

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So Mason Noakes gets a nod. What else gets a nod?

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A fight or two.

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Speaker 2: So here's another one. And this one was an absolutely

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wild fight. It was again not the fight of the year,

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but just raging battle, wild knockdowns and back and forth action.

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And that was the WBCs one hundred and eight pound

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world title fight that took place. I forget the month

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that took place in, but it was just an amazing fight.

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And this was for the WBC's Junior Flyway title. It

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was a rematch between Carlos Canizales and the Thailand fighter

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Panya product Bristbree. They had fought in Thailand the first

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time around. Panya got a controversial decision victory in the

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first fight. They did a rematch and the rematch was

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everything you could have possibly wanted in a fight. It

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was a fucking absolute shootout from the start. This time

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instead of fighting it in Thailand like they did. The

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first fight took place in December of twenty twenty four,

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a good fight and Panya won the disputed majority decision,

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and I just looked it up. The rematch was in

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August of this year and they did it in Caracas, Venezuela.

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Which is where Canazalas is from. And it was just

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a wild fight. Cannazalis, even though he ended up winning

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the fight by a fifth round knockout, he was knocked

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down in the fourth round, so there was some drama

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there because he got off the deck to do the damage.

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But they just battled back and forth, and he thought

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the fight could have been over like five different times

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until he finally stopped him. Uh. And it was just

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a great fight. I mean, if you liked the little guys.

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It was televised in America, by the way, he was

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on to my recollection. It was on ESPN Deportees. They've

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been ever since the end of the Top Ranked deal.

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They've picked up and simulcast the ESPN Knockout Series, which

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is a series of fights that are generally televised throughout

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Latin America and Mexico, but they've been picking them up

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for the United States Spanish language audience. And I don't

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care if you understand Spanish or not. I understand boxing.

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And it was great to watch.

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Speaker 1: We love that entertainment. All right, give me another one

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for pat on the back, and then we'll get to

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the debate about the two or three that we think

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are the.

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Speaker 2: I'm not gonna get into like huge detail, but I'm

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gonna throw a few different ones just to give him

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the props. On the Undercardiff Canelo and Crawford was a

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great battle between Christian and Billy and Lesser Martinez that

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turned out to be a drug, a tremendous fight. You

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had the very exciting fight punctuated by a knockdown with

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literally the last punch of the fight. This was between

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a boss Bureau who has now got the WBA's junior

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middleweight title. He had a great battle with Joennespez that

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was on a card that MVP put on. They did

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that was a great fight. I'm also a big fan

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of the fight between Pitt Bull Cruise and Angel Fierro,

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who went to absolute fucking war. And what made that

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so cool was they did so but they had honored

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the family of Israel Vasquez, the late great former champion

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who was known for being in great action fights. They

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honored his family and they made like a special belt

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to like honor like you know Mexican uh fights between

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you know, all Mexican fights and UH and they put

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on a fight that Israel Vasquez would have been proud

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to say, I watch or he could have been in

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uh they dead battle tooth and now tremendous battle. They

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were supposed to have a rematch, unfortunately did not happen.

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That was going to be on a card that took

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place a few months ago, but Fierro had a problem

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with the weight and it ended up dropping out of

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the fight the day before and they put in a

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replacement from the undercards. So we didn't see the rematch.

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Maybe someday we'll see the rematch, but even if we don't,

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we've got the memories of that first fight. That was

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another outstanding fight, And I could go on, there's a

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whole bunch I could mention. Callum Smith against Josh Wawatzi

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didn't get the credit it deserve because it was on

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one of the Monster Saudi cards that had about fifteen

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fights on it, and it was like the opening fight

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of the show basically as far as the main card,

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and I don't think anybody was even really watching yet

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except for dorks like me, And it was just an

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amazing fight. Also, it was a good year in that sense.

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Speaker 1: All right. So let's get to it. The debate here

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on the fight of the year. What are we debating

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which which two or maybe three are we debating go.

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Speaker 2: I mean some people have said, I mean, I didn't

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mention this one, but it could be on your little solves.

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And that was in a way against Cardenas. A lot

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of people love that fight, but for me.

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Speaker 1: The down by Cardenas made it a dramatic situation, but

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he didn't that.

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Speaker 2: The action was just very very outstanding. To me, there

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are really only and everybody has their opinions, and that's

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what makes this fun to do. For me, There's only

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two fights that could actually be the winner to me,

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and that's the fight that took place in March was

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the fight between Kinchiro Taraji. This place. This took place

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in Tokyo, Tenhiro Taraji and a unification fight against segu Akui.

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They were battling. It was a WBCWBA flyway unification fight,

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a very rare, by the way, all Japanese unification fight.

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And this was dramatic from the get go until the

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very end, when it had one of the more dramatic

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endings you'll see with Taraji coming from behind on the

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scorecards to score a twelve round knockout, making some element

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of history because the you know the number of times

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in the history of boxing that a fighter has gone

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and stopped the opponent in the final round, whether it

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was scheduled for fifteen rounds or twelve rounds or whatever,

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to score the comeback knockout in a world title fight,

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a fight.

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Speaker 1: That they were put actually going to lose a decision

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the cards if they had not gotten the stoppage.

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Speaker 2: And I not remember in the final round.

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Speaker 1: In the final round, right am I not remembering correctly?

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Taraji had been hurt in the fight, swollen face, yes, sir,

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not looking good, but pulled it out and got the stoppage.

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Is the point for the drama in a unification fight, no.

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Speaker 2: Question about it. I mean it was. It was a

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fight where they both took a tremendous amount of punishment.

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And again, there's only been in the history of boxing

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like fifteen or sixteen times. Think about the thousands of

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world title fights that have happened in the history of

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the sport, like fifteen sixteen times that a guy has

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come from behind in the last round. It squart Of

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knocked out to win the fight. And not only did

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he win the fight, but it was a unification fight.

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And besides the twelfth round in the comeback. The rest

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of the fight was just completely action packed. That is

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a blazing, blazing, blazing fight. You never saw it. Watch it.

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It was on ESPN Plus in America as part of

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the Top Rank thing. You can probably find it on YouTube,

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I'm sure. Just an amazing fight. I've watched it back

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a few times through the year, just loved it.

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Speaker 1: And again at the end of twenty twenty five, we

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were supposed to get Taraji fighting on this night of

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the Samurai card that the Turkey Ala Chic and the

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Read season were gonna have, but he didn't get to fight.

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Still though, this is it's worth it. It's worth the remwatch,

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go back and relive it. I'm in agreement with you.

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It should be considered. Now give me another one, Give

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me another one that I think everybody's been waiting for.

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Speaker 2: Go ahead. Yeah, it's the first fight between Connor Ben

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and Chris Yubang Junior. Not a world title fight, but

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all the trappings of a mega event, huge stadium fight,

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massive crowd, incredible atmosphere, you know, just just from my

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point of view just watching on the screen, much less actually,

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I having been there. I actually have spoken to some

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folks that were there, you know, talking about the type

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of atmosphere it was and what makes it so incredible,

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besides just the twelve round battle that they had, which

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was completely action packed. But you can't look at that

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fight without understanding the reason why it was such a

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big deal, even though it wasn't for a title. That's

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because of the rivalry between their fathers, Chris Hubank Senior

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and Nigel Ben, who of course, if you don't know,

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I don't know. I'm surprised. I'm surprised. If you're listening

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to this.

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Speaker 1: If you're listening to this podcast, you have to know,

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because they've had a rematch since then. You have to know,

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because we've been talking about it NonStop.

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Speaker 2: But if you don't, you know. The fathers had two

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of the most exceptional fights of the nineteen nineties that

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became legendary fights in terms of British boxing lore, where

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you had them fighting in a one and middleweight title

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fight that a super middleweight unification fight, and you had

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Nigel Ben getting knocked out in the first fight, them

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fighting another great fight in the second fight to a draw,

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and the bitterness between the families and the raging sort

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of rivalry between them, and it's passed down to the

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next generation, to the sons, who in their own right

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had become, you know, professionals with with certain popularity. You

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Bank had, you know, was more accomplished than then. But then,

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of course had all the controversy of the drug tests

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that he failed that forced this fight to be canceled.

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And finally, you know what, two years later or whatever

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it was, they finally were able to do the fight

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that had been sorted out, and then you have the

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reunion between Chris Junior and Chris Senior who had been estranged,

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and they get together and they come to the stadium together.

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That's all the backdrop of what then turned out to

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be twelve pulsating rounds of action that you couldn't date

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your eyes off of all the way to the final round,

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which was one of the best rounds of the year,

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and in the end it was Ubank who gets the decision.

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But what a fucking fight, I mean, tremendous and you

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can't really go wrong if you picked that fight or

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you pick Taraji NAKUI can't really argue, I.

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Speaker 1: Said then when we were recapping it. I've said it

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since they had the rematch, which did not live up

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to the first fight, even though Connor Ben finally got

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a win. In the column for the Ben camp, for

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the Ben side of the families, the first fight was perfect,

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and you can rarely say this in sports, much less

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in boxing, in that you had the build up, you

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had the backstory of the dads, You had a phenomenal fight,

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and then they both handled it with genuine class, congratulating

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the other. You saw the raw motion from Connor Ben

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in tears because he felt like he had let his

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father down and not won it. You had everything that

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you would have won it. Nobody ruined it. The men

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it was over. Nobody ruined it.

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Speaker 2: Not to mention the anticipation because of the cancelation the

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first time and all the crazy shit in the promotion

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like when I don't I don't approve of this, but

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it's certainly added to the to the level of interest,

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I guess. And that's when when you Bank cracked the

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egg across connor Ben's face in the press conference and

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then again, but again, the most important thing is when

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the bell rang, they let it all hang out like

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true pros.

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Speaker 1: And then twelveth round too, with the crowd roaring crowd, stadium,

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crowd on their feet, great twelfth round, just to punctuate

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it one more time. The first fight, fight number one, Yes.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean fight number two was more of a

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of a boxing lesson from Ben against u Bank, who

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just wasn't wasn't even close to the same. But that

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was a worthy successor the first fight to the great

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battles that their fathers put on. And it may be

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blasphemous to some, but I think I think their first

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fight just in terms of action, not the stakes, because

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the dads in the rematch that was the draw that

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was to unify two of the titles. I think that

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the second fight that they had was a good was

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an excellent fight, But I think that the kids fight,

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their first fight, was maybe better than the dad's rematch.

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Speaker 1: The blasphemus you can love them both, you can love

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them both.

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Speaker 2: I mean, the classic fight, of course has been you

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Bank one of the fathers. That's going to be that's unsurpassed.

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But this the fight between the kids, I think you're

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not out of the realm if you say you like

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that better than the second fight between the dads. But

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either way, it was a worthy successor to be part

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of that family rivalry, and I think there will be

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a lot of people that will pick it as the

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fight of the year. Certainly it's going to be the

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British Fight of the year, which is a thing that

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the brit British press and fans do. I see like

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in some of the like Boxing News already said it

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was their their their fight of the year for Britain.

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It might have even been their international Fight of the

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Year as well. But just just a really outstanding fight.

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And you know, we're fortunate that we have even though

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box has got its issues, what counts as when the

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Dell rings, and we've seen a lot of great fights

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this year, well said.

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Speaker 1: On that again, read more of Dan's candidates, his writings.

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You've here, you've heard him here on the Fight Faction Nights,

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substack and the newsletter when he subsequently pins the Fight

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of the Year, and you can read more obviously about that. Listen,

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We've got a whole new year about to begin. I've

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enjoyed sitting here with you again. One more plug if

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for a social media link reason or some other reason

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that you've happened upon the Fight of the Year pod,

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just go back one podcast on this feed and hear

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us talking fight Fighter of the Year as well as

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we had that debate. We covered both here right at

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the end of twenty twenty five. You've been listening here

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00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:51,080
to do the Fighter or there anything else in closing

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here as we wrap it up on Fight of the

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Year Abdi.

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Speaker 2: So we get help, we get another great's candy and.

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Speaker 1: Four hope, so let's hope. So is it also Wort's

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up again. Thank you for finding us on Apples, Freaker, Spotify.

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Make sure you're subscribe to get on Dan's newsletter, the

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Fight Freaks Unite, substack and the newsletter. You've been listening

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to our discussion here on the pod about the Fight

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of the Year