Speaker 1: The countdown is on to fight time.
Speaker 2: This is Big Fight Weekend.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: Here is your host, DJ leaves.
Speaker 4: Well, we get ready for what will be a very
intriguing weekend all.
Speaker 2: Over the globe.
Speaker 4: We are worldwide on the Big Fight Weekend Preview podcast.
I am merely the somewhat capable host TJ.
Speaker 2: Reeves.
Speaker 4: He is our insider Dan Rayphiel. He would like to
he would like to let you know that he's all
over the sport with his substack in his newsletter. Good
to be with you, By the way, my friend is
we're ready to embark. You're good, but you can't be
in all these places at once. I mean, we got Norfolk, Virginia,
we got Ipswich, England, we got Tokyo, Japan, we got
Broad Beach, Australia and everywhere else in between. But I
can't keep up with all of this. Good to be
with you as we're ready to preview all of it,
and we've got a lot more to go over, including Richardson.
Hitchens is a guest on the pod. We've got some news,
we've got some nostalgia. How are things busy?
Speaker 1: Show, busy show? It's good right, You're better than not
being by the way, you mentioned all those places that
you have fights emanating from this weekend. It's not like
the NFL or the NBA or Major League Baseball in
other sports. It's a worldwide sport. That's what we love.
Speaker 4: It is the reason it is and enough of this
is staggered where we don't have it all on top
of each other from Saturday afternoon to Saurday night and
even now Sunday morning. Although the Japanese main event card
that has Junto Nakatani and the Australian card which features
the cruiserweight champ Jai Opataia similar time zone Australia and Japan,
even though the main events may not be at the
same time Sunday morning US time.
Speaker 2: We'll see. But anyway, thank you for finding us.
Speaker 4: Make sure you're following subscribing here, Apple, Spreaker, Spotify. Also
go to our YouTube channel. Shall we tell them you
want to tell them? At the top, we are going
to go what we're gonna go live. We will do
it live Saturday night, Saturday, not Saturday Night Live, not SNL.
After their fiftieth year, you and I will go live
on the YouTube page exclusively Big Fight Weekend YouTube page.
Nowhere else, not on Twitter x, not on any other platform.
YouTube exclusive. We're live Saturday Night after the Top Rank
main event, the Keyshan Davis main event. In that whole card,
Dan saying, are we not going to talk about Fabio,
Wordley and Hooney. Of course we'll talk about the heavyweights
as well from earlier in the day in England.
Speaker 2: That is what, Dan, That is what Saturday night. Say
it again. It is live, live, live Saturday night.
Speaker 4: When it's over, follow, subscribe on the YouTube page. We'll
socially promote, but the only place to see it is
live on the YouTube page Saturday with whatever happens.
Speaker 2: All right, so let's get into it right there.
Speaker 4: The Top Rank Show Norfolk, Virginia homecoming for key Shaan Davis.
Keyshawn Davis and Edwin Delos Santos will battle for Davis's
WBO lightweight title in the main event. Abdullah Mason is
in the co feature fight. All right, We're excited to
this card. It's the most prominent card in the United
States obviously for this weekend. Give me a little more
in the preview mode.
Speaker 1: Please, Well, look, this is this is now a time
where Kishan Davis is looking to continue what he's done,
which he looked absolutely spectacular. Back in February when he
won the world title against Denny's Brentchik, dominated won every round,
knocked him out in the fourth round to claim that
WBO title. Brentchick was undefeated going into that fight, was
an Olympian, although an older Olympian than Kishan was. He
had been in the Olympics, you know, several before him.
But they were both undefeated, and I think most people
expect a Kisha to win, but that Brentchick, because of
his style, would give him some competition at least and
it was a complete wipeout. So he is coming back
just a few months later, four months later, which is
obviously a good thing for any young fighter, and he
is the star on the rise. He drew a huge
crowd at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, his hometown, back
in November when he fought Gustavu Lemos in a main
event that was his first time fighting as a professional
in his hometown. They went on the road and he
did the title opportunity that took place in New York City,
and now he comes home as the champion. He'll be
on the card his brothers are also on the card,
Calvin and Kean. You know, their very close family, and
he has those guys on his shows for obvious reasons.
They draw crowds also, and so he's making the first
defense he's taken on Edwin de los Santos. Now, on
the one hand, Edwin de los Santos is a dangerous puncher.
He is a pretty good fighter. But the problem is
most people remember him for his most recent fight, which
was a long time ago. It feels like November of
twenty twenty three. He has not fought since then, and
if you remember, or you probably don't want to remember,
if you saw it, that was when he challenged for
the vacant WBC lightweight belt against Chaquurse Stevenson and turn
in one of the most garbage performances in the history
of profuit.
Speaker 4: You've already said fight and challenged. That implies that he
actually threw punches and did something. You're being very kind,
he did.
Speaker 1: So that let's hope that was an anomaly. Neither Hey
or chakor fought particularly well. But Cha course still beat
him eight to four and seven to five, a unanimous decision.
Just an absolutely horrible fight and let's see if he
can put some punches together in Tekisha. And now, Kishan's
a good defensive fighter. Also, he may not be at
the same level as of course Stevens, and so there
might be some more opportunities for him to take a
step forward.
Speaker 2: But can I tell you, can I just tell you, man.
Speaker 1: He shows up to fight.
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe it's.
Speaker 4: The cynic in me, but we're sitting here like for
the fourth or fifth week in a row, where we
expected Ryan Garcia and Devin Handy to look great and
they look terrible. And we expected Josh Taylor to look
great and you look pretty good at the beginning of
the fight, and then he lost in Glasgow. And we
expected cayleb Plant to look great with everything in front
of him, and he was pretty good for the first
half and then he looked terrible. Honest to god, is
this a curse right now? I don't think so. With
Keishaan Davis, but how do we know.
Speaker 1: This was Edwin Dee Los Santos, who Yeah, you know,
I'm always happy to give a guy a second chance,
but don't do that again. Come to fight if you will,
so be it. Obviously you know Keishaan is is a
big time favorite, and the reason they even went with
Edwin de los Santo was, quite frankly, it's not because
he's some great shakes, is because if they were looking
around who was available in the weight class, who was ranked,
who could be in the fight, who had a decent record,
who was available, et cetera, fit the budget, all that
kind of stuff, that was very slim pickings to go
for because even though there's good talent in the division,
there was guys who weren't available, like they weren't going
to make For example, the Moritaia fight, he had a
different lightweight title fight happening. Shakuor was not going to
do that fight. He's obviously making much bigger money, tied
up with Turkey and getting ready to do this A
paid a mandatory and anyway you could go on down
the rankings. You know, Cambosis left the division, This guy,
you know, Lomachenko will get to his retirement. He is
on the shelf. That wasn't happening. There was like a
bunch of good names, right, but there was nobody available
to fight Kishan and nobody really banging the drum to
do so.
Speaker 4: So take care of business in front of the home
crowd and move on from there. Have a big night
in front of the home crowd. Let's see if he delivers.
He's got power in both hands. R anxious to see
that in the main.
Speaker 1: But one thing about De Lo Santo, he can hurt you.
He's got that. That's his calling card. If he's gonna
win the fight, he's got much just that's true, But
he's not gonna outbox Kishan.
Speaker 4: Was there more activity in the UH in the pre
fight press conference on Thursday where Delo Santos put his
hand You saw this and a lot of our peeps
that are listening and the savages saw this. He put
his hands on Kishawan's belt on his shoulder, and Kishan
slapped his hand away and then shoved him away. Let's
hope that's not the extent of the activity from Delo Santos.
Speaker 2: I say sarcastically, I.
Speaker 1: Would say that savior aggressiveness for win.
Speaker 4: The parents all right on the immediate undercard, And it's
interesting that Abdullah Mason is in the same division and
he's in the co feature or he's on the undercard.
Is to clarify for me, he is the co feature
fight right, Go ahead.
Speaker 1: Correct, yes, he's the co feature. Look, we all know
about Abdullah Mason. If if you're a die hard enough
that you're listening to our podcast, you know he's one
of the best prospects. Some might call me you on
contender at this point, he's only twenty one years old,
he's eighteen and already with sixteen knockouts, and this has
got to be considered at least a halfway decent step up.
Nakatiya hasn't looked very good in recent fights. He doesn't
really have big wins, so to speak, but he's been
in the ring with good quality opponents in his bigger fights.
You know, for example, he did go in a world
title fight or an interim world title fight at one
hundred and thirty pounds and lost a shutout one hundred
and twenty two hundred and seven in all three score
cards against of course Stevenson back in twenty twenty one.
You know, he did finish off in many respects by knockout.
This is his biggest win, although it was a fated
Miguel Bertschall who was a former title holder, but that
was a good win for him. And then he lost
a couple fights in a row he got abused and
stiffened and knocked out in the second round by Moretaya.
Then he fought the hot prospect Ernesto Tito Mercado got
stopped by him in the second round. You know, he's
won three fights in a row since then, but against
extremely limited opposition. So the point of this fight, it
seems to me, and probably what top rank is looking at,
is Ken. The explosive and very aggressive Abdullah Mason, who
did have some trouble in one recent fight where he
got knocked down surprisingly twice in round one, but came
back to finish his opponent off by a knockout. Is
Kenn Abdullah Mason basically do the kind of performance that
Maratai and Mercado did, who also at the time that
he fought, had those two guys fought against Nakatia that
they were kind of up and coming prospects, and that's
what Mason is now. So not to say that he
isn't necessarily knocking out in the second round, but I
think they're expecting that based on those results, to see
him take care of Nakatia, and if Nakatia can win
or do something impressive, obviously that will continue to help
him continue his career, at least as an opponent if
you will. But so that's the feat or the co
feature it is. Despite those results I mentioned to you,
it has still got to be considered a step up
in opposition for Mason, who is obviously not yet ready
to or at least most people don't think anyway to
go and fight like the big boys that will come.
It's just a matter of time. It's not if, it's
just when. And this is one of those experience fights
you need, halfway decent name that you need, kind of
just get the reps in. Hopefully all have the busier let's.
Speaker 2: See if it will happen.
Speaker 4: And again another mention, we will go live Saturday night
Eastern time. Adjust your time zone accordingly. When that top
Rank show is over, find us on the YouTube page
and we'll talk about that. We'll also be talking about
earlier in the day the heavyweights the vacant Here we
go again, WBA Interim Heavyweight title on the line for
Fabio Wardley and Justice Hooney the Australian. This is the
Queensbury Desone Show IP Switch England Saturday night in the UK,
Saturday afternoon in the US. I perk up with the heavyweights.
I've seen both of these guys, all right, give me
a little more in a preview mode, I.
Speaker 1: Think this is gonna be a fun fight. That's the
main thing why I say it every single time. We
can preview every fight in the world. But to me,
the most important thing. Am I going to sit back
and watch this fight? And am I going to be entertained?
And based on my experiences of having watched previous Fabia
Wardley and Justice Hoony fights and knowing the stakes and
knowing the crowd will be going absolutely crazy because they're
fighting in a stadium that is in Fabio Wardley's hometown,
I do believe it turn out to be entertaining. This
is I don't believe going to be a heavyweight fight
where guys are scared to throw punches or waltz around
the ring and bore us all the tears for twelve rounds.
So that's the first thing. Foremost. I give Honey a
lot of credit. He's going halfway around the world. He's
from Australia, no fear about going to England to fight
this fight in the Lions. Then he took this fight
on about a month's notice the original opponent that Wardley
was supposed to face was Jeral Miller. Jero Miller withdrew
because he claimed he had an injury, a shoulder injury,
so he was out and it came down to the
two fighters that they offered the fight to, both of
whom accepted. One was Hoony, the other was Philip Herkovich.
They ended up going with Hooney, and the reason, frankly
as simple as this is he came at a cheaper price.
We'll see if they were wise to not pay the
extra money. If Wardley ends up getting upset and loses,
you might question that decision. But nonetheless it's a good
fight because putting aside the stupidity of the title involved.
That's the reason, by the way, why Hooney took the opportunity,
because he's got to chance to get himself in position
with the WBA in terms of the title picture, and
that will bring him more money and exposure. But if
you take a look at what Wardley has done, it's
really his last three fights that have sort of given
him a lot of the at tension that he's gone.
He had a really good performance in the end of
twenty twenty three in Saudi Arabia and his British countryman
David at Delier, both were undefeated and that was sort
of a toss up kind of pick him fight. He
went on there and did a tremendous job. He knocked
at La out in the seventh round. He came back
in March of twenty four and had a spectacular battle,
a war of wars with Fraser Clark, his British countryman
who had won a bronze medal in the twenty twenty
Olympic Games. That was a hilacious fight. He did score
a knockdown against Clark, but it wound up to be
a draw. But then they had the immediate rematch again
in Saudi Arabia. This was back in October. This was
on the Better bev one undercard, and he didn't mess around.
They had gone to a draw in twelve rounds the
previous time. They get back in the ring for the
rematch a few months a few months later and he
knocked himut in the first round. And so those are
the three you know that Delia fight in the back
to back fights with Clark, and it puts him in
this position against Hoony and Hooney. You know, first of all.
The one thing about this is they're both basically the
same size. They're both about six foot four, both around
they're gonna be around two hundred and forty some pounds.
Their measurements are the same. This is not like one
crazy tall guy one much larger guy. So from a
physical standpoint and matches up, Hooney has less professional experience.
He's got twelve and zero record, whereas Worthy's got an
eighteen year old record. But Wardley did not have any
amateur background to speak of. He was doing like white
collar boxing matches, that type of thing. Hooney was a
decorated amateur when he was twenty years old. In one
of the one of the tournaments to get to the
twenty twenty Olympics, he went, you know, he did a
solid job against Jalalov, who won back to back gold medals.
He went to distance with him in that fight. He
got knocked down, but it was it was competitive at
points and that so my point is Jalov was the
class of the super heavyweight division for years in the
amateur ranks, two time gold medals, and Hooney, you know,
was in the ring with him and the other top guys.
Speaker 4: And and for what it's worth who These last three
fights have all ended in the second round as second
round t ko's and I remember we broke down back
in January, his battle with someone named Sean pote Gate,
Geeter Right or pot Geter.
Speaker 1: But these guys are nobody's.
Speaker 2: They weren't, they weren't really well known. But he's blasting
the nobody's out.
Speaker 1: That's what you're supposed to do with that.
Speaker 4: And he's at least been active because this will now
be what his fifth fight since March of last year.
On the way up, big step up, going to the town.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's still a baby as a problem, big moment,
big moment.
Speaker 1: He was twenty years old. So I look at more
of what he did as an amateur than as a
pro because, as you said, he's knocking these guys out,
but these are just complete nobody's. This is like, this
is the step up, This is this is the thing, A.
Speaker 2: Big step up, huge at his place, at at Fraser or.
Speaker 1: Frankly if you ask, if you ask me, I also
happen to think that that this is a step up
in some respects for Wardley, also because I I Fraser
Clark was obviously it was a significant fight from the
mere fact that he was a medal winner and he
was his country in But Fraser Clark was in his thirties,
Fraser Clark was not that big of an amateur, and
since I don't think he was even expected to get
a medal in the Olympics, and he's proven that he's
not all that as a professional, and Adelia hasn't really
done that was a good British level fight, Whoni is
at a different level of my opinion. So I feel
like both of these guys are putting on the line
in this fight.
Speaker 2: We look forward to that. And again that is Saturday afternoon.
Speaker 3: Again.
Speaker 4: Coming up here on the pod, you'll hear from Richardson
Hitchens with Dan in a few moments. He's fighting George
Cambosa's not this weekend, but June the fourteenth, next weekend.
Speaker 2: Hear from him in a couple of moments. But wait,
that's not all. We're still worldwide.
Speaker 4: Let's go to Japan where it is Junto Nakatani and
Nashida for the unified bantamweight titles WBC IBF bantamweight titles
early Sunday from Tokyo. We obviously know we've talked about
this several times, Nakatani in line, but the possibility of
fighting down the road against the monster Naoya in a way,
got to take care of business here.
Speaker 2: What else here?
Speaker 4: What about Nashida in this as well as a as
a champion at one eighteen?
Speaker 2: What else about this?
Speaker 1: Well? I mean, this is a big opportunity for both guys.
Anytime you can meet to unify, that's a big deal.
And one of the things about Nakatani, he is already
a decorated champion. He's on a lot of people's pounderful poundless,
maybe towards the bottom end of it, but he's a
dominating offensive machine lately, and then most of his fights
doing spectacular work and knocking guys out and just you know,
very fun fights. But he's won titles in three weight
classes already. But in the lead up to this fight,
one of the things that he's been talking about, which
he's very happy about, is he's looked for an opportunity
to finally unify the title. So for him, even though
he's got the three titles already in other weight classes,
for him, it's a really big deal to be able
to unify the titles and Rosuki Nashida is not as
experienced as a professional, but he is a champion. He
did win the title in his last fight, so he's
making his first defense, and you know, obviously he's going
to be the heavy underdog. I've looked at the odds yet.
I guess we'll get to that when we do our
bet Us show. You know, Nakatani is already thirty and
er Nashida's ten and two, and he won the belt
in May of this year. I take this back. He's
making a second defense of the title, but the guys
he was fighting to win one was against Emmanuel Rodriguezo,
was an established fighter. That was a good win. For
the first defense that he did back in December was
not against a guy that anybody ever had heard of.
So now we step it up into what I consider
the big leagues for the second defense against Nakatani. So
of course Nakatani is a big favorite. The other thing
that's interesting is if you look through the course of
unification fights, since there's been multiple titles, whether it's a
two belty or three belt or four belt, it has
not been a normal thing for them to be Japanese
fighters to meet in unification fights. So this is one
of those rarities. But anytime Nakatani is fighting, I don't
care who he's fighting. I'm very excited to see it.
He looked spectacular in his last fight when he knocked
out Kwaar. That was a devastating performance, knocked him on
the third round. That was back in February. So these
guys are back in the ring after you know, not
long layoffs. And to me, again, nothing against Nashida, but
but this is the type of fight that Nakatani should
be heavily favored to win. And uh, and let's see
what he can do because he is hopefully on a
collision course before maybe the end maybe the end of
this year, but probably not till some time at the
beginning next year.
Speaker 4: With in a way, can we say again, let's hear
it for activity, because Nakatani has been in the ring
since uh February of last year. This is going to
be the fifth fight since February of last year, all
title fights, all four of the previous fights KOs so
let's hear it for activity.
Speaker 1: Well, listen, when you look at his recordj he's thirty
oh with twenty three knockouts, so most guys are not
here in that final belt, I mean, and he's got
you know, he he want to think about Nakatani different
than most of the Japanese champions. He does most of
his training and sparring in the United States, so he
gets top notch sparring. He works within the gym with
Rudy Hernandez, a very well respected trainer, the older brother
of the late great Genera Hernandez, you know. And he's
an old school boxing guy, and he's had Nakatani pretty
much since I think since almost the beginning of his career,
and they do a tremendous shop together. But he gets
the best sparring that you can get because there is
no better place probably in the world to get top
level sparring than southern California.
Speaker 4: All right, So that is Sunday morning in Tokyo US
times Sunday night obviously prime time. The teak in boxing
ESPN plus will have it all right, so somewhere around
that same time. Again, the time zones are kind of aligned.
I don't know. I got to check my Broad Beach,
Australia time zone versus my Tokyo time zone. But it's
probably within an hour if it's not lined up perfectly.
So this is Sunday night in Australia, Sunday morning.
Speaker 2: Also in the.
Speaker 4: US, Jai Opataya is back with his lineal and IBF
Cruiserweight Championship on the line. Raphael, I lean on you,
Claudio SQUAYO. I don't know that name. Is there any
reason to know that name? That's the opponent, but go ahead.
Speaker 1: Well, just to back up about your timing, just so
people know, the broadcast or the stream on ESPN Plus
for the Japanese starts at four thirty am Eastern time
on Sunday, and that's you know. I think they have
three fights on the stream, the Opataia and Squale card
on the Zone that debuts at three thirty am Eastern
time on Sunday. So check your local listings. Anyways, First,
I do know.
Speaker 4: I just looked Broadbeach is fourteen hours ahead of US
time this time of year with daylight savings time. Tokyo,
as I suspected, is thirteen hours ahead right now, keep it.
Speaker 2: Keep it, keep it straight people.
Speaker 4: If you care about what time it is where, just
know it's Sunday morning early in the United States. No
matter what time zone you're in. In our country, it's early.
Speaker 1: All you got to know is when it starts. Nobody
gives a shit about the time zone.
Speaker 4: Well, the other thing is with the zone or with
ESPN plus. If you sleep a little bit and wake
up on Sunday, Hey, if you go to church, whatever,
it's right there on demand, And if you stay off
the internet, it's new to you and you can watch
the fight on demand that way too, as opposed to
being up at o dark thirty. Then again, some of
the savages just roll in at oh dark thirty and
then watch the boxing.
Speaker 2: We know how you operate. Anyway. Is this anything more
than essentially a stay busy KO situation for Opataia?
Speaker 1: Well, I can't say. I mean, I don't know. I
don't know if he's gonna get a KO, But you
know they're they're they're moving towards if they continue the
plan that they had several months ago. The idea here
is for him to win this fight. You have Zerdo
Ramirez making his mandatory against dord Post that's on the
Jake Paul Chavez pay per view, and if both of
the guys come out with their belts, the idea was
for Golden Boy and Turkey and UH and Matt Room
and Tasman Fighters, all the different people involved with these
two boxers to put them together to unify three of
the titles in the cruiserweight division. And they are clearly
the two best guys in the way class right now.
That would obviously be a big time, very attractive fight.
So Zerto has got his fight coming up, and Opatai,
there's no reason for him to sit around. He can
draw a nice crowd at home.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: This fight was supposed to take place on May thirteenth,
but Opataia suffered what they termed a minor injury and
they pushed it back a few weeks. So clearly he's
okay because a fight he's still happening. I don't think,
oh the injury to my recollection. He had like a
very mild strain of his calf and so they had
arrested for a little bit. But anyway, the fight's happening.
And you know, Squao has got an undefeated record, but
he's thirty four, he's never fought outside of Italy. I
looked at his record TJ when they made his match
to see what he was all about. And when I
tell you that he never fought a remotely notable opponent,
I mean he never fought a remotely notable opponent. So
you know, but credit to the guy. He's going on
the road to Australia to take on the guy that
I think anybody with any clue about what's up in
boxing would consider it. Opataia to be the number one
cruiserweight in the the IVF champion, he is the lineal champion.
He's been knocking everybody out.
Speaker 2: He's looking really he can punch.
Speaker 1: He's in front of his home home crowd in this
particular fight like he was previously. But he's, like I said,
he doesn't know how to lose, Like he's seventeen and
oh with nine knockouts. But Opataia is the best in
the business. He's right now. I feel like as a cruiseweight,
he's right there at his best. He's twenty nine years old,
he has designs like every cruisewight it was ever probably
put on the gloves to someday be a heavyweight. No
doubt in my mind that if he can get this
fight taken care of, if he can maybe get the
Zero Ramirez fight, Unifi I think there's a really good
chance that sometime next year we'll see him debut at heavyweight.
But first comes first.
Speaker 4: All right, good stuff on all of the previews. Let's
get to your conversation now with the IBF Junior Welterweight Champion.
That's Richardson Hitchins. He battles George Cambosa's coming up in
New York. Not this weekend, next weekend June fourteenth, at
the Madison Square Garden Theater. So Dan caught up with
him one on one. Let's hear that conversation right now.
Speaker 1: Well, it is my great pleasure to welcome to our
podcast this week a first time guest on the podcast.
It's the IBF Junior Welterweight world Champion, Richardson Hitchins. And Richie,
you have an important fight coming up, your first title
defense if you're taking on George Campbosa's junior, the former
lightweight champ. You'll fight in the main event of the
matchroom card on his own at the Madison Square Guard
Dinner June fourteenth. Welcome to the show. Thank you very
much for doing this.
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 1: It's my pleasure. Before we get into the fight with George.
I wanted to just talk a little bit about your fight.
When you won the title, you became a world champion.
Go back to December and you scored a decision victory
over Liam Parum. It was a big step up for you,
it seemed to me based on the opponents you had
faced previous to that. He was the champion, he was
twenty five. And oh, tell me about your confidence going
into that fight, because anybody that follows you knows that
you exude confidence.
Speaker 5: I knew he was it on my level, and I
knew that a lot of a lot of the people
were looking like, oh, you know, he lost the first
four rounds or something like that, and his coach woke
him up.
Speaker 3: You look at the fight even a rounds that I
was losing in the early rounds, I wasn't even getting.
Speaker 5: Hit, and I felt like, you know, Liam Parrol was
knowing I love. I felt like he was a novice
fighting compared to me. And I think that in that
fight I showed that, you know, I, once I took
the data that I need to take in it was
easy work. And I don't think he went a round
from third round up and up.
Speaker 1: So when the fight was over and you heard it
to split decision. How surprised you are because, like you said,
I thought, you know, he he did well early. It
took you a few rounds to settle in, but eventually
it was pretty much all hitchins.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that, you know, it ain't no surprise
that happened to me.
Speaker 5: For what theous men fight, it was literally two judges
had it literally like I think gae win is maybe
at most was two rounds and a whole judge told
another judge had me winning at most only two rounds.
So in boxing, I just feel like with things like
that happen, and scorecards like that happened, they needed to
be somebody like watching and you know, like paying attention
to saying why was your scorecard thiss or what's this?
Because you know, judges could you know, can mess up
a whole fight or life, you know, doing with the
wrong decision. I don't think that that's okay for the
sport and I think that it's fucked up.
Speaker 3: But God, wouldn't you know the judges the other two
you just had to right.
Speaker 5: And what's crazy about it was one of them was
the Australian judge that scored it for me too.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so when you heard and the new IBF champion,
that's the moment that every young fighter dreams about. Can
you tell me or remember what it was like when
you heard that those words that every every boxer wants
to hear.
Speaker 5: It was so real. It was like whoa, we did it.
Like it's like, yo, we did it. It's a great feeling,
you know, because it takes doubts. It's more of a now,
it's more of a it's more of a knowing.
Speaker 3: In your head. It's like the for your first national tournament,
you don't know if you can win it.
Speaker 5: And you win your first national and you go to
the second and third nationals, it's like, yeah, I know
what to do to win this. Like you know how
it feels to go to a tournament, you know what
it feels to compete on that level.
Speaker 3: Now, So I think that that's just all of this.
Speaker 5: It's just about you know, knowing what it takes to compete.
And boxing is levels. You know, you got your first
TV fight, might fight, your first undefeated fighter, first world
title fight. Then you go on and obviously and then
then you get to a level of boxing where a
fight is just a fight, and.
Speaker 1: Well, you're checking all those boxes that you mentioned. You've
done those settings, and now you're about to check another box.
This is gonna be your first world title defense, so
that that's always a big mark on anybody's career. But
not only is it your first defense, but you're gonna
be doing this at home in New York. You're a
Brooklyn kid. You're fighting in Madison Square Garden Theater.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: You fought a plenty of your fights in New York
through your career. I saw you many of your early
fights at Barclay Center, those types of fights when you
were coming up. But now you're the You're you're the
A side, you're the main event, you're defending the title.
Can you tell me a little bit about what it
means to you to have gone through the road that
you just talked about and now get to the point
where you're not only defending a title but doing it
in the main event at home.
Speaker 3: It feels great. Uh, you know, defendom my title at home.
You know, just long road, long long road.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna going to a Barkiy Center seeing Danny Jacobs,
Adrian Brona, Tank Davis. You know in a Barkby Center
headline of big cards in New York. You know, then
to the current time when you had guys like Edgar
Blinga bringing headlines to New York City, and then every
time there was a big fight in New York, I'll
be like, damn, I can't wait to be the headline.
But then I would have never doubted my first headline
in New York wild as the world champion bringing the.
Speaker 3: Title back home. That's like even bigger for me.
Speaker 5: And I feel like the city, you know, the city
haven't had a world champion and so long, and for
me to be a world champion, I am, I'm from
New York. I'm really I'm really a New Yorker. I'm flamboyant.
You know, I got charisma, you know. So I think
that it's even It brings even more energy and more
uh more spark to the fight fans from New York.
So I think it's big for me. You know, it's
uh just to just to see everybody. A lot of
people that doubted me, a lot of people that you know,
overlooked me, didn't really think I would get to I
was getting to. But the people that knew talent, the
people that knew what I was capable of and what
my potential. They're not surprised, but it's just finally, you know,
we're here, let's part, let's celebrate.
Speaker 3: So it's big.
Speaker 1: How hard is it going to be to sort of
keep your emotions under control in the circumstances You're you're
you know you're. I don't think it's a secret to
say you're a little bit of an emotional guy in
terms of like you're outspoken and you don't have a
problem speaking your mind. But when it comes to fight night,
you know, you got to kind of control the emotions.
How is he going to do that?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 1: Given how excited you are about the the scenario of
being at home and defending the title.
Speaker 3: Being in the ring is being in the ring, and
I'm I think three steps ahead. It ain't. This ain't
a do a dom moment.
Speaker 5: There'll be another time to headline and another big fight,
another time, another time. So it's just another day of boxing.
This is a small card, it's not that big. It's
not a big opponent. Is a title of defense. George
Campbos's I'm training extremely hard, but it's not a crazy
moment for me.
Speaker 3: It's not a.
Speaker 5: It's not a fucking like Yankee Stadium eighty thousand, but
like the belts on the line, hundred million Turkey giving
me the gold gold belt like and to me, it's like,
I know, I'm I know the places I'm going to
another day, another dollar.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned about sort of at some points in
your career, a lot of people didn't know you, maybe
overlooked you. You had been a little bit inactive. Even
when you were boxing with PBC, it wasn't in the
higher profile type of cards, or at least in terms
of your exposure on those cards. In twenty twenty two,
when you guys parted ways with PBC and you went
and you signed with your manager, Keith Connolly, he brought
you to Eddie Hearn. You guys did a deal there
and ever since then, you know, you've been pretty active
relatively speaking. You've been fighting your two fights a year,
You've gotten exposure, you've gotten obviously the opportunity to fight
for the title. You won the title, And I'm wondering
what is it meant that linking up with Keith Man,
because to me, it seems like that really changed the
trajectory of your career in terms of getting not only
opportunity but exposure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it tain'ted my career.
Speaker 5: It was a move I wish I would have did
a year earlier or two years earlier before that. But
everything happens for a reason. You know a lot of
people around the New York area is something you need
to with Keith Conley. You need to get with Keith Conley.
Speaker 3: And I see the things he.
Speaker 5: Was doing, you know, Edgar Balinga heard about his track
See with Danny Jacobs, and I just always need a
level I was on. So I said to myself, if
he could do that with those fighters, I couldn't imagine
what me and him could do together. And I told
he told me, we need some time to catch up.
We're gonna get you a few fights, and we're gonna
bring some structure to your career.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna and I'm gonna get on my job. You
do as long as you do your job.
Speaker 5: This is what Uh, this is the plan, and everything
is going accorder as plan. I think that uh, he's
a manager, that he's he's about his business. He's uh,
he's a shrewd businessman. And I'm a hard work and
I'm a talented special fighter. So I think the things
that we could do in the support the box and
built on the business side, and as far as you know,
the legacy side, I think it's gonna be major. So
I'm just excited for I'm just excited for you guys
to sit back and just watch. And all he said
to me that you know you're not having some time
to catch up to your peers, but to catch up
we take off. So now this is the point where
I'm building by my resume. I'm building my portfolio to
catch up with the til femos and Devin Haynes, the
guys that been here before me. And yeah, once I
get once, once, once I get to that even playing
field with them, and my name is just as big
as them.
Speaker 3: It's lit.
Speaker 1: So you you mentioned about you're fighting cambosis. You said, oh,
it's not that big of a fight, you know. Uh,
And and I just wonder you've been outspoken about cambosis.
You guys have had plenty of back and forth with
each other on your social media and in the build
up to the fight.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: I get the feeling, you know, you kind of don't
like each other. George has always been a guy to
talk about his opponents. What is it?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 1: What is it that annoys you about him? What is it?
Speaker 3: What is it?
Speaker 1: Is it more than just hyping up the fight?
Speaker 5: Nah? I just feel like he just think like I'm
just like a regular guy. I don't like when fighters
like try to downplay me, downplay my skills. I take
that very personal.
Speaker 3: So I think that he don't know what's in front
of him, and I think.
Speaker 5: That it's not about the crowd or da da da,
Like I'm gonna make a movie on him, like I'm
gonna sho if George campbos Is, if he don't come
in there and prove that he's on an elite level
of box and if he don't come in there, I
Am going to show him that he's a fucking bum.
Speaker 3: And I believe he's a bum. So if he's the
guy that I'm watching on TV, he's the guy that
I'm seeing as a front of Devin Haines.
Speaker 5: If he comes in as that same guy, it's going
to be a messy nightment and I can guarantee that.
Speaker 1: So he's back in the same building at the theater
where he scored his biggest win when he became the
unified lightweight champion against tia Fimo in a huge upset.
That was back in twenty twenty one. He hasn't really
done anything since then, to be honest, I mean, I
got nothing against George, but he's two and three since then,
A lot of folks would say he's one and four
because a lot of people thought he lost that fight
against Hughes. He got wiped out two times by Haney,
who you mentioned. He got knocked out in a one
sided fight by Lomachenko. He's had one lower level win
at one hundred and forty, and I wonder do you
think he even deserves to fight for the world title
because he hasn't really done anything at one forty and
the end of his days at one thirty five were
certainly nothing to write home about.
Speaker 5: Kim Bo has been a bum before that, he's been
a bum. He's he beat to a female, Lopez to
a femal. Opez is a talented fighter. Like I said before,
he's a talented fighter, but IQ wise, it's not It's.
Speaker 3: How I look at boxing. You got guys that if
I have two little kids.
Speaker 5: Walking to the gym right now, and I tell him
both to throw one two, one might throw it faster,
one might throw it slow, one might throw it fast
and harder.
Speaker 3: One might throw a slower slower and and and not
that hard. That don't mean the other fighter is a
better fighter.
Speaker 5: Just mean that fighters is a talented fire to a
female show, he's a talented fighter with boxing experience. But
as far as IQ, as far as the ship that
he needs, as far as the ship that he he
he needs to like compete at a high high level
of boxing, he don't have that.
Speaker 3: He showed that since the amateur days.
Speaker 5: If you got as if your guy at, if your
guy at, like any guy at, is not me, He's not.
Speaker 1: No, he's not, he's not.
Speaker 3: It's too differ.
Speaker 5: Styles two different to my body type, my arm, reach,
my speed, my like tell female is an athletic, twitchy,
fast dude and talented.
Speaker 3: He's not me. He's not me.
Speaker 5: And I noticed for a fact, if you know boxing,
it's not I can make a fight look way easier
than to your female can. And if you know boxing,
you you would agree. But if for the people that
don't know, I'll just show them it is what it is.
You know, like in boxing, fighters like you gotta prove
they so you know, people will listening, like, all right,
he says this. He says that until you get to
the canelos in the Maywether level, then it's like, oh okay,
this guy's been saying this for years. I mean he's
not lying when he say this. But female and me
is not the same. For us, I'm I'm a way
better boxing than to female.
Speaker 1: Well, since you think you're gonna win this fight so easily,
I know that you have aspirations for bigger fights. There
was some conversation before this match was made between yourself
and Cambosas about you fighting against Femo. He's the champion
in your division. He has a WBO title, he's the champion.
You've got the IBF title. You are both with Keith
Conneley as your management. Is that a fight that you
want down the road, or like, what are your aspirations
for the so called big fight? You know at one
hundred and forty pounds.
Speaker 3: He has plans right now.
Speaker 5: I definitely want to unify with one forty champions and
then I want to look at one forty seven. Oh,
if I get a big fight, I want to go
to one forty seven. I don't want to stay have
one forty too long, especially with the IBF. I don't
want to hold onto the IVF too long. So I
just want to make the best out the belt and
go up to one forty seven and grab a strap
up there and uh, you know, make big fights up there.
But right now, it's just one fight at a time.
And George camp Bos is the guy in front of me,
so just a guy we gotta get, you know, passed.
Speaker 1: When you say you don't want to keep the IBF belt,
you specified the sanctioned body. I know there have been
champions of the IBF. The one thing that they don't like.
They love having the world title obviously, but they don't
like that Saturday morning or the day of the fight. Wait, check,
that's a ten pound limit.
Speaker 3: Is that?
Speaker 1: Is that why you say that about the idea?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, they need to change that ship.
Speaker 1: So if you fight a unification fight, they waive that. Yeah,
So is that is that one of the reasons that
you'd love to unify? You got other good champions that
Wake Lass is fighting coming up in July against Mattias
who was a former champion. Got the very talented Gary
Antoine Russell with the WBA title. Anybody though, any of
those guys tickle your fancy.
Speaker 3: Any of them guys.
Speaker 5: Femo is definitely the more high profile fight, the more
easier fight to make because he's with Keith Conley also,
and you know with Turkey now anything is possible.
Speaker 3: So maybe after this.
Speaker 5: Fight the win a Playo and Matias. Uh, we'll see
what Russell has a title defense. I think he has
coming up with the Asian guy, so or I mean
I'm hearing Femo has you know, other plans with other fighters,
or we'll just do another defense or you know, well,
I don't know, so right now, I can't think too
too much.
Speaker 3: I got a box.
Speaker 5: I gotta box George campbos Is on June fourteenth, and
after theam is done boxing. Uh, we'll figure out what's
the next who the next guy they'll put in front
of us?
Speaker 1: All right, So just to wrap it up then, with
the fight coming up against camp Boss, you've said that
he's a bum. Basically, you've said that you're gonna beat
them easily. I wonder you put yourself in a little
bit of a corner, or even if you go out
there and you win the fight, but maybe it's close,
maybe maybe it's not so dominant. Maybe you have a
little bit of a rough moment that you'll get to
win and still be a champ, but you'll emerging that
where people might downgrade you because you didn't live up
to the big boasts that you're making leading into the fight.
Speaker 5: I believe every fight that I fut as a professional,
I'll dominated even in the fight. I think the only
fight that I haven't completely dominate is the Gustavo Lemos fighting.
Speaker 3: And if you look at if you really.
Speaker 5: Watch that fight, if you really watch that fight from
fourth round all the way up to the seventh, seventh,
and eighth before that hiccup, they were saying, hitching is
starting to dominate this fight, as the words the commentator
is used in almost obviously calling me with the big
shot in at eighth and he got to say he
pulled hisself back into the fight where he took the
momentum away from me.
Speaker 3: So I believe in my skill.
Speaker 5: I believe in my skills, and I believe most all
my professional fights I put on dominant performances. Lily and
perrow fight, they said I was losing from the fourth
rounding up, it was pure domination.
Speaker 3: So I believe that with George camp Boss.
Speaker 5: I erased them mistakes I've made in them fights where
I did lose the momentum for me dominating and I
stay consistent, I will dominate him. So I think that
at the end of the day, Yeah, it can uh.
Obviously me talking like that can fuck fuck uh you know,
fuck my stock up. But if I didn't say anything
about George kmp bos and I was just playing on
just you know, just not doing interviews and just you know,
keeping the platonic, people still would have had to say
what they were saying. They were like, you know, he's
he's definitely can't beat the other one forty champions, he
struggled with George camp Boss camp Boss two and.
Speaker 3: Four in his last they would have did the station
ship regardless. So to me, it's like why not talk shit?
It's like fuck it, like I've been the people.
Speaker 5: The people don't like me anyway because I've talked shit
in the past, So me not talking about Cambos's don't
erase if I have a bad performance with him or not.
Speaker 3: So it is what it is.
Speaker 1: Well, Richie, I enjoyed the trash talk. For me, it's
always amusing to me. I appreciate Uh, I can appreciate it.
I appreciate the trash from George. Also, he makes it
makes it fun. I wish you the best of luck
in the fight coming up June fourteenth. Rite, thank you
very much for the time, and good luck to you.
Mother man, thank you, appreciate you.
Speaker 4: All right, a little outspoken. Hitchins has obviously got the opportunity. Cambosis. Look,
let's be honest. Cambosis had the big moment. We've talked
about this before with Tea Fimo Lopez and beat him.
But in the biggest fight since then, he hasn't won
any of him and Loma Chenko tore him up. All right,
So but this is probably more about Hitchins. So a little,
a little, uh, a little more after talking with richardson
Hitchins as you did, Dan.
Speaker 1: This is all about Hitchins. I mean, he's the one
that went on in the interview people heard, and I
think there was multiple moments in that interview with called
Kimbos as a straight out bumble and now it's time
to be came back.
Speaker 4: Not exactly ideal for promoting selling tickets, but every di
rest go ahead.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it made me think back in the day when
I was covering Artaro Gaddi against Floyd Mayweather, and Floyd
Mayweather spent the entire promotion calling Artaro Gatti a sea
or a C plus fighter. Like then, why would anybody
want to buy your paper if you tell us you're
fighting a bump? But this is not a pay per view.
Richardson Hitchins is a is an outspoken guy. I enjoy
his personality, but this is to see what he can do.
And this is again he's fighting, at least a guy
with a decent name. He called him a bum, and
now it's up to him to show that what he
said is true. And if George Camboss can you know,
do anything against him, it will prove him wrong. But
Richards and Nichin knows how to play the promotional game.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 4: So that fight again next Saturday the fourteenth in New York.
Speaking of the silly Lomachenko, the news out this week
that Lomachenko has decided to retire. Does anybody ever truly
retire in boxing? Will take him at his word for now,
there's obviously circumstances with him, especially being thirty seven, being
part of war torn Ukraine, as he has been with
his fighting career.
Speaker 2: All right, Dan, but what do you make of this news?
And let's talk a little bit about his career.
Speaker 1: If this is it as retirements in boxing, go. If
I'm one to believe boxing retirement, I one hundred percent
believe this retirement. Lumachenko, I do not believe is coming back.
He is done. The man had three hundred and ninety
seven amateur fights. He went three hundred and ninety six
and one the one loss. He avenged twice. He won
two Olympic gold medals. He had a brilliant professional career,
made millions of dollars finishes eighteen and three, was a
dominating fighter for a long period of time during that
he walks away as a world champion. He'll vacate the
IBF title that he won a year ago by one
sided ass kicking knockout against Cambosis on on Cambosa's turf
in Australia. I might had and you know, he struggled
with what he wanted to do. Part of it I
think was what he wanted. If he wanted to go
through does the whole training process. He remember when he
fought to cambosas fight he made this was not a secret.
He did a first father who you know, his beloved father,
anatoly tremendous trainer, worked with a lot of the top
Ukrainian fighters on their Olympic team, and guys like Usik
and Baronchek and and Loma and and Vodzik and others.
And so his father was like, let's do it one
more time. And he won the title again. And I
don't know how motivated he was. And then he suffered
an injury to his back and that that that kind
of sapped him a little bit. You mentioned he's got
a lot going on in terms of in his mind
with the family and the war and everything that he
does spend most of his or not most, I shouldn't say,
but a lot of his time. He has a place
that he spends with his family in southern California. But
I remember this is a guy that also Staw has
a plenty of family in Ukraine. When the when the
war started, he gave up his career for almost a
year and joined one of the territorial defense battalions the
same way that Usig did. And I just think that
it gets to a point where you're done. Now, it's
unfortunate we never saw the Tank Davis fight. He was
calling Tank out a few years ago, and you know,
he was in the Floyd Mayweather protection program back at
the time, and Floyd wouldn't let him aywhere near it.
And then when Tank was finally ready to do the fight,
and they were calling him out when Loma was old
and they thought they could get a name on their record.
They were in deep discussions and they were ready to
make that fight between Top Rank and PBC, and then
Loma basically said, look, stop the negotiations. I'm taking the
rest of twenty twenty four off and then he ended
up suffering the injury. Now he got a medical exception
to the mandatory that he had with the IBF that
was not going to be due now until October. So
that's why we saw a few weeks ago Murataya take
on Zaa Abdallah for the interim title, and then the
winner of that fight would be the obligated opponent for
Loma to fight in his next fight back, and he
wanted to keep the belt. I mean, he guess he
could have still made the you know, some other fight
if he wanted to, but in the end he'll vacate,
Murtaia will be elevated to the full champion of the
IBF and Loma can walk off into the sunset. He's
got absolutely nothing to look back on him. He had
a great, great career.
Speaker 4: I was gonna say I would put him in on
the first ballot, but I don't vote. You vote, you
believe he should be automatic.
Speaker 1: I don't have to go back and when I vote
in all of fame, take time to go and look
at the records and just make sure I'm not like
misremembering or that I'm accurate about what I'm thinking. In
terms of a person's career, I don't need to do
that with Lomachenko. I was at of his twenty what
twenty one professional fights. I covered twelve of them at ringside.
I'm as familiar with Vasilli Lomachenko's career as anybody. This
is a fighter that dominated he he this is this
is one of my favorite stories about Lomachenko. He was
never about the money. Yeah, he made a lot of money,
and it wasn't like he wanted to be underpaid, but
it was never the driving force. His driving force was
I want top opponents, I want belts when he was
coming out of the Olympics after he won his second
gold medal. He was meeting with promoters to talk about,
you know, professional contracts, and he met with Top Rank
and Bob Aram. They went to his house in Beverly Hills.
He was with Eggus Quamas, who was his manager, and
they were talking about, you know, doing some kind of deal.
And Bob has recounted this story to me on multiple occasions.
He didn't care about the signing bonus. Obviously he was
gonna get one. He's get you know, a six figure
signing bonus, whatever it was going to be. He wasn't
concerned about negotiating every dollar like most guys are when
they come into the pros. He all he wanted to
know from Aaron was can you get me a world
title fight in my pro debut? And Bob, you know,
who can bullshit with the best of him, was honest
with him. He's like, you know, I can't do that,
but I can probably do it in your second fight.
That was good enough for Lomachenko. We signed on Top
so in his pro debut, which I was at on
the undercart of Timothy Bradley against Juan Manuel Marquez, they
put him in the ring with a legitimate like top
Tennis type one hundred and twenty six pounder, and he
won a schedule for a ten rounder. You know, most
guys don't turn pro with ten rounders. He knocked him
out in the fourth round and he looked good. He
won a WBO regional title, which qualified him to be
in the rankings, and in his next fight, they match
him up with Orlando Solito, who was a rugged, tough
as leather type opponent from Mexico. Had double digit losses
and people want to mock that. If you look at
the record, most of Solito's career losses took place when
he was a teenager, not as a mature grown man
fighting real guys and anyway going. And I was at
that fight also in San Antonio, number one. Salito miss
wait for the fight, so we got stripped of the title,
but it was still available for Loma Chenko. Then they
went in the ring. This was at the Alamo Dome
on an undercard on HBO, and it was a really
close fight. It was a pretty good fight, and Solito continually,
round after round after round, kept hitting him low and
the referee never gave him a real legit warning, didn't
take any points, and Loma, you know, there's still something
to be said. Even if you have four arged amateur fights,
it pro fight's a different story. And he couldn't deal
with that and he lost. There was super close. I
think it was a split decision off the top of
my head. A very close fight, and but the title
was vacant. Now, I'm gonna tell you a story about that.
I go to a hang out with the fellas after
that fight. We were going to some like twenty four
hour Mexican restaurant where everybody hung out in San Antonio, right,
and I ran into one of the guys on Solito's
team that night in the restaurant, went over to him,
said a low congratulations, good fight, blah blah blah. And
he says to me, and I quote, we're glad we
got Loma tonight, because you give this guy another fight
or two, we have no chance sot In his next fight,
the title was still vacant because Toledo had been stripped
because he didn't make the weight and Loma obviously had
performed extremely well in the fight. He went in with
the next available guy that was the undefeated United States
olympian who was twenty four to zero Gary Russell Junior,
who ended up eventually having a nice long title reign
at featherweight even though he very rarely fought once a
year or so. But when Loma fought it for the title,
who he was two and one at that time and
or no, I take that back, he was one and
one at that one, one right, right, one and one
at that time. He won easily. He just dazzled. He
easily beat him. This was a fight that was on
a PBC cart because I guess Top Rank had lost
a purse bit for the fight, or maybe they had negotiated,
but the bottom line was he was the away fighter,
he was not the home guy, and it was on
showtime where they had been all their fights at that
time were on HBO for Top Rank. Anyway, he easily
beat Gary Russell. That's a great win he became. Not
only did he become a world champion, his third professional
fight that tied the all time boxing record for fewest
fights needed to win a world title had been done
in nineteen seventy five by a forty pounder who won
a WBC title who was from Thailand, so he would
go on and set all kinds of records. He became
the quickest fighter to win a title in a second
weight class when he absolutely destroyed Rocky Martinez by knockout.
Then he became the quickest to win a title in
a third weight class when he had a very dramatic
victory in a knockout where he got knocked down and
very badly hurt his shoulder, but got off the deck
and knocked out for Lenaris at Madison Square. Guarden I
was at that fight, spectacular crowd that night. And then
in his next fight he became the quickest to get
to a unification when he dropped Jose Padraza twice in
the eleventh round and won a very lopsided decision. And
so he has all of those various records in boxing.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: Could some of them be broken someday, sure, I suppose,
but for now he has those records. And then he
went on and had some other significant fights. He obviously
yep ended up. You know, he at first I had
a very good performance. He went to London and easily
beat Luke Campbell, the Olympic gold medalist from twenty twelve
in his hometown. That was a title a fight. Not
only they retain his unified lightweight titles, but he also
won the vacant WBC title and then became the thing
with the franchise title where he ended up vacating the
BC whatever and Uh, he ended up fighting Ta Femo.
Lopez had another shoulder injury, went the distance, lost that
fight close, but lost and had surgery. Came back by
the way, he reeled off three fights in a row
and one looked good. Uh, and then had the opportunity
to fight Devin Haney, who we hadn't fought when Haney
was his mandatory because he'd opted for the Lopez fight,
and Haini beat him on a very close controversial.
Speaker 2: He won that fight with Haney, A lot of people
doing that.
Speaker 1: For what it's worth. I had Haini against Loma a draw,
but it was a close fight, and I can certainly
understand why some people might have thought we much should
have won. However, Uh, as much as I have man
love for Loma Chenko, the man took the twelfth round off, admittedly,
and you cannot do that, and to fight that close
and that fight in my mind, so you can't do that.
But either either way, that was there's no shame in
losing to Devin Haney.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: Anyway, he came back and eventually when he Cambosas won
that vacant ib of tunnel because he and he had
vacated everything and went up tow one hundred and forty
pounds and he didn't just win, he went to the
other guy's hometown. He absolutely destroyed Cambosas yep won the
title and took him a year to figure out what
he wanted to do with the injury and whether he
wanted to pursue something else, and ended up vacating. But
that to me is a Hall of fame career. And
then all the things I mentioned, There was a period
of time in there where he made and these were
in one hundred and thirty pound world title fights. He
made he made four guys in a row quick mid
fight because they either were too hurt or too fucked
up from what he was doing to them with his
footwork and his defense. There was nothing he could do.
He had good power, speed, defense, intelligence, experience. The footwork
was the sickest I've ever seen period. That includes any
fighter you can think of that I've ever seen, old
timer or current fighter. I mean, just a brilliant fighter.
Some people shit on him and say, you know, well
he disappointedn't do this and didn't do that. He lost
a guy with double digits in his second in his
second fight. There's nobody in the world that would be
have the balls big enough to fight in Orlando Soledo
in their second professional fight.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I got you, so, I mean, you just laid
it out. It is definitely a Hall of Fame resume
and we and I said, is it a first ballot one?
And you just laid out what close?
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm gonna say one other thing and people I
love this because people get so mad at me, and
I love it. I don't give a fuck. Fuck them all.
I've been doing this for twenty five years.
Speaker 3: M h.
Speaker 1: He is a talent. It is on the same level.
I'm not saying his resume or what his ultimate achievements were,
but in his best his talent level was off the charts.
It is on par with Roy Jones and Floyd Mayweather,
who I consider the two best fighters I've ever seen
in person in terms of having covered by race. He
had that kind of talent. And I'm gonna say this
again for those in the back say it is at
his best, and people can shit on me for this. Also,
I couldn't give a shit at his best, and they
fought in the same way classes. He would one hundred
percent compete with the best Floyd May whether you could
ask for I'm not saying he would win, and I'm
not saying Floyd would win. But that's a real, real
fight at one hundred and thirty or even one hundred
and thirty five pounds, that's a absolutely competitive, interesting fight.
And sure Floyd would probably win some of those fights.
But I would tell you I would go to my grave,
I'd die in the hill to say there'd probably be
a fight in there that that Loma would win. Also,
he was a spectacular fighter, and he had a break
everything about him. He could do.
Speaker 2: By the way, I agree with you that I think
he could have at one thirty of whatever it's worth,
at one thirty one to thirty five, he could have
fought with almost anybody at his heyday, especially the amateur
rep What did you say, three ninety seven and one.
Speaker 1: Three ninety six and one, three ninety six and one,
and the loss was twice ridiculous, And let me just
say one or a thing by it. I know he
won the titles at one hundred and thirty five, when
he unified and became a three dollar champion. He was
really at his best at either featherweight or junior lagweight.
He really kind of only went to one thirty five
because there was really nobody for him the fight that
meant anything at one hundred and thirty left anymore or
one twenty six, and he just wanted challenges. I mean,
I can't tell you how many times I sat with
him before fights, interviewing him or with a scrum or whatever,
and he would own just say I just want to
fight the best, and he meant it. That's the thing.
He meant it, all right.
Speaker 2: One more quick thing and we're gonna move on.
Speaker 4: Tank Davis beats Lamont roach and Tank Davis calls out
Lomachenko to come out of retirement.
Speaker 1: What say you like anything? You never say never, but
I doubt it. I mean, I think that shift us
out all right.
Speaker 4: Two other actually, couple of other quick things. Unfortunately, the
passing of Jose Santa Cruz, who trained all of his
sons as professional fighters, including the four division world champ
Leo Santa Cruz. He died earlier this week after battling
bone cancer for several years. This was well documented during
Santa Cruz's most recent part of his career. Unfortunate say
a little more about this, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean this was a guy that raised four sons,
all of whom had boxing careers. Leo, who was obviously
the most famous and well known to won titles in
four way classes. Jose, who was his older brother who
he basically became his lead trainer when his father was sick.
His father would go to the gym, but the brothers
would be more hands on, and the other brothers, Antonio
and Roberto, also had careers, but the ones that had
the most success were obviously Leo. Jose. Armando did win
a WBC interim title in the lightweight division. I've said
this before, I'll say it again when he fought Joel Casamayor,
who at the time was the lineal champion in the
lightweight division. He got it was one of it's I say,
it's the worst robbery I've ever seen in person, and
that includes fights like Manny Pacio Timothy Bradley won. This
was a fight at Madison Square Garden, where he's scored
a knockdown against Casimire in round number one and basically
won every single rest of the every round the rest
of the fight. Most of us at ringside had the
fight basically either twelve to nothing, ten to two, eleven
to one plus a knockdown, and they gave Cassimeire a
split decision. It was absolutely terrible and it cost him.
But the point is Jose Santa Cruz, the father, had
trained both of the sons as well as the other
sons that had turned pro, and he was the cement
of that team. And even at his at his sickest,
when he you know, if he was not hospitalized, he
was in treatment, he was exhausted, he was in pain.
He would still show up at the fights to support
his son. He would go to the gym and again,
even if he couldn't be hands on and hold the
myths and things like that. That was the brothers, but
they all followed his game plan. He was the patriarch.
He was very recognizable, always had the big black cowboy hat.
Just a nice man with the great boxing acumen to
be able to do that with his sons, and you know,
unfortunately he was sick for the last several years. You know,
if there is a silver lining, I guess you know
he's out of his misery. I suppose you don't want
to see anybody suffering. He was only sixty five years old,
and I mean there was a period of time where Leo,
you know, struggled whether he would go through and have
fights or not because of the father being so ill.
But he took a lot of like the cues from
his father, Like his father is a fighter fighting this disease.
At least I can do just go in the ring
and do what I do as a boxer, and so
great accomplishments that Leo had as a boxer, and to
a lesser extent, what Jose a Romando did, you know,
was a reflection on on what their father taught them
and showed them how to do. So, you know, rest
in peace, Jose.
Speaker 4: Santanna and I will say this as well, Leo Santa
Cruz class act. I've dealt with him a couple of
times with interviews, et cetera, and a world champion and
so rip and our our prayers, our hearts go out
to the Santa Cruz family. A couple more things, all right,
So wait a minute, no Nito don air speaking of
guys that are maybe at the end, maybe retired, maybe not.
Nonito don Air is going to be back next weekend.
And this has been hastily put together. Here we go again,
Ray Phiel, how many more times are you gonna put
them on rundown? Vacant WBA title, vacant WBA.
Speaker 2: Interim bannitj I'm not the one that's all right. So
this is in Argentina, So tell me more about don
Air and this fight and Andre's Campos the opponent go.
Speaker 1: So as I wrote, Manny Paca is not the only
forty forty something Filipino former multi division champion making a comeback,
because now don Air is joining him. He's been a
champion in four different weight classes. He's a first ballot
Hall of Famer. You can argue that he's the maybe
the second or third greatest Filipino boxer of all time,
you know, behind Pacya. And he's coming back. He never
actually retired, even though you know it's been a while
since he's fun. It's been about two years since he
had a fight. But every year the WBA they do
like a two night card called KO Drugs. It's like
the KO Drugs festival. They raise money, they make you know,
fighting drug abuse and and that sort of thing like
a big part of their of their of their profile
when they do these events. And so they have that
coming up next week. And these are taking place in
Buenos Aires, Argentina this year. They take place kind of
all over the place, and he is going to fight
on this card. He's the main event of the version
of the show on the fourteenth. There's also fights on
the thirteenth. And he's forty two years old. He has
lost two fights in a row. He got stopped here.
Speaker 2: And so you and I were at his last fight.
I just just get this, but go ahead recap it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So I was saying, so two fights ago
he got blown out in the second round of a
rematch against in a way, they had fought a great
first fight. That was the fight of the year in
this in the second fight that they had. This was
back in what June of twenty twenty two. This was
a a bantamwaite unification fight and Donair lost that fight
by a second round knockout. At that time he was
considering retirement. He didn't retire. He came back and at
that point, you know, in a way had vacated the
bandam Waite titles. He had been un disputed and moved
up in wait and Alexandro Santiago had won, you know,
had to had qualified for that fight, and so they
fought for that vacant belt that that in a way
had vacated, and he beat him that night. It was
a competitive fight, but Donair lost. That was on the
Errolspence Terrence Crawford card. As you said, we were there
at that fight, and he hadn't fought since then. But
again he talked about I want to come back. He
never really retired, and so I was coming back to
fight a little known fighter from Chile who's seventeen to
two and one with six knockouts. He's twenty eight years old.
He's two to two and one in his last four fights.
The one fight that people might recognize from Campos is
that if you go back to twenty twenty three when
he was fighting as a flyway, he lost the decision
when he challenged Sonny Edwards, who at that time was
still the IBF flyweight champion. But so far, don't Air,
I guess he's not done yet. So he's always been
a guy that I've enjoyed dealing with I've covered many
of his fights since he's a good guy, him and
his you know, his whole group there, his wife of course,
and you know, I wish him good luck, but I
kind of thought he was done. If he wins, you know,
he's not walking away. And I think even Donair off
the couch and forty two is probably good enough to
be this dude.
Speaker 4: All right, And one more thing, The Boxing International Boxing
Hall of Fame inductions are Sunday. Speaking of Manny Pachiao,
who you've mentioned about four times. You might have heard
he's looking to make a comeback at forty six years
of age. He's going into the Hall of Fame this weekend.
And I can see you on video shaking your head.
You've you've gone off on this a couple of times
about they didn't really wait long enough, although it's been
four years since he's had a So they're gonna put
him in the Hall of Fame, and then he is
slated to fight next month after being put in the
Hall of Fame. All Right, it's not only him, but
expound on the Hall of Fame inductions, including Manny Paciel
as the headliner.
Speaker 1: So just briefly in terms of the Hall of Fame.
In what they do in terms of the voting is
for most of the time period that I have voted
in the Hall of Fame, which is well over twenty years,
the eligibility weight was the same as in baseball. Five
years out of the ring or retired and then you
could become eligible for the ballot. And it was probably,
like I don't know, maybe like four years ago thereabouts,
they reduced the waiting period from five years to three years.
And that's why this is happening, because if they waited
the five years, there's a more reasonable chance that packed
it would be done for good. A top boxer coming
back after three years will not totally common. It's certainly
not out of the realm happens. So he will not
be the first boxer to ever box after being enshrined
in the Hall of Fame, but he will be the
first one to have a fight scheduled before he's actually inducted,
because this fight with Barrios was announced, you know, in
the last week or two, and he's got a fight
coming up in July. So he'll be the first guy
in the Hall of Fame history that can stand up
at the podium on his induction speech, thank everybody for
everything they did for him, and recount some of his
great moments, perhaps maybe tell a funny story, and then
finish things up by saying, oh, by the way.
Speaker 2: Hold the poster up. Nineteen I'm back Baby.
Speaker 1: Live on pay per view against Mario Barrios. So in
any event, we don't want to get into all the negativity.
At the end of the day, this is a celebratory
weekend Canastota and Verona. We're at the Turningstone. A lot
of the activities also are taking place. I know a
lot of people have already gone up there for the weekend.
They will have the actual and there's a there's a
card that takes place at turning Stone that Solida Promotions
that's putting on. That'll take place. I believe it's on
Friday night. They'll have the parade on Sunday before the inductions.
They've got the Banque Champions the night before. There's one
of my favorite activities is on the on the Saturday
morning of the induction weekend, they have the big Boxing
Memory Billion show with the Canistota High School, which is
like a you know, a one block walk from the
museum and that's always great fun. But then they'll have
the actual induction ceremonies two thirty pm Eastern time on Sunday.
For those who care to watch the various people be
inducted and give their speeches. It's available on the International
Boxing Hall of Fames YouTube channel. You can watch that live.
And you know, look, obviously nanny Pack now being the
legend and the superstar draw that he is, he's the
star of the show this year. The other fighters that
are going in in the men's Modern category, which is
the most high profile, I guess, of the group of
categories that they put fighters in. He also have the
former middleweight and super middleweight champion Michael Munn. You have
the former two division lightweight and Jingiam middleweight champion Denny Paz,
who is an inductee. That's kind of created some controversy
because his resume is somewhat lacking, but people remember the
great things he overcame to make it to sure be
able to continuous career for he had the broken vertebrates.
Speaker 4: Hey let's go, let's go right there, because you vote
for this, you said to us back, and he's been
on the ballot at least a couple of times, because
you were saying to this maybe even a year ago,
that it's questionable to you about whether his career rises
to the level of Hall of Fame Benny Pazienza, And
we're not picking on him only there are other guys
where you've had questions about, and other voters have had
questions about. So You're just you had said that before,
So I'm just refreshing the audience.
Speaker 1: Was this, I understand go aheads. Everybody takes it into
the account different things when they vote. I mean, it's no,
they don't tell you on the bout vote under this
exact criteria. So you kind of got to figure it out,
you know. Do you do you take into account like
when Lomachenko comes up, do you include like the two
gold medals? Do you include like wun Usa comes up
his gold medal or not? I mean, in other words,
there's different things that people consider. And I believe that
when they looked at Vinny Pazienza, Denny Pazzes, he goes
by that, a lot of people put a lot of
stock in the fact this was a man who suffered
a broken vertebrae, was in a Halo didn't know if
you would ever be able to carry on a normal
life much as be a professional boxer, and was able
to come back, not only box again, but do so
at a high level and carry on for a number
of years after that incident occurred. And there's others that
will look at the resume and say, you know, yes,
he did win two world titles, and lots of guys
have done that, And his record in world title fights
is very poor, and he never beat like an A
level guy, and the guys that he did fight that
were that were big time he lost to And unless
you're gonna count the absolute remnants of a Roberto Duran,
which I find hard to count that as a I
mean it's like, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong
with beating Roberto Duran, no matter when you did so.
But if that's your calling card, win are you? Are you?
Should you be inducted? Look, everybody's got to make their decision.
I mean, it is what it is. But he's a
popular figure. He's going in. There's a great weekend. I
hope Pacya. He's he's been in training camp, so I
talk to his people. They're flying in on Saturday. Uh,
they'll attend the induction ceremonies and then probably do some
stuff with the you know, the banquet the night before
on Saturday night, and then he's right back to California
to continue training. I know Manny spent most of his
American based career being promoted by Top Ranked. They have
their card in Norfolk, Virginia on Saturday. I know a
bunch of people that are involved, Bob Aram and others.
They're taking a private plane from Norfolk to They'll go
to Syracuse, which is about twenty thirty minutes from Cannestota
and Verona. In they'll attend the induction ceremony. That's how
much Manny has meant to Bob and to Top Rank,
and so you know, it's a chance to celebrate all
of these great fighters and people involved in the business.
If you want to talk about some other people being
inducted real quick, you have the former Middleway champ Rodrigo Valdez.
He's being inducted. He's obviously no longer here, he's died
many years ago. He's being inducted in the old timer category.
You have three women getting in in the category, Yesca Chavez,
Andy Sophia Mathis and Mary Joe Sanders. The referee Kenny Bayliss,
who for a long time was the best refin box.
The late cutman and trainer Al Gavin who was a
wonderful guy and a great cutman. Harry Gibbs, a late referee.
These are guys from the non participant category. In the
observer category, you have the longtime HBO executive producer and
former HBO Sports resident Ross Greenberg, who was one of
the most brilliant television producers of not just boxing but
sports in general and did plenty of things that people
would recognize twenty four to seven and and all kinds
of beautiful way that the HBO show has looked. My
good buddy Randy Gordon, broadcaster and journalist, former editor of
The Ring magazine, now has his show up on the Xtram.
Speaker 2: Shout out to Randy Gordon.
Speaker 1: With my boy Jerry Cooney.
Speaker 2: And I've told this story.
Speaker 4: Before, Randy Gordon took five minutes with a young little
TJ teenage TJ at a boxing event in Tampa as
if I was somebody important. So shout out to Randy Gordon,
who was the former commissioner of the New York State
Athletic Commission as well.
Speaker 1: Also true, yes, I forgot about that. So so even
though that was nice that he did that, I will
tell you, having known Randy for my entire career, Randy
would talk to anybody about boxing anytime, which is great.
Speaker 2: But I mean he's an ambassador in that's the regard.
Speaker 1: We love it. So there's that. And then there's also
in the women's Trailblazers category a woman named Kat Davis
who boxed in the eighteen hundreds are not the in
our of trailblazer and women's and then a mail fighter
from the eighteen hundreds in the bare knuckle fighter named
Owen Swift. So that is your class of twenty twenty five.
They'll be inducted on Sunday, So.
Speaker 4: Check that out through the International Boxing Hall of Fame's
website and coverage, and Daniell write about it on the substack,
et cetera, and his.
Speaker 2: Ballot and all of that.
Speaker 1: I already did that.
Speaker 4: I know you've done that, and it's something near and
dear to you, one piece of nostalgia. And again we're
going to push people to go watch our video on
the YouTube page where you're going to talk more about
the fight in twenty sixteen. You've already talked about Orlando's
Solito beating the silly Lomachenko, But Solito was in a
tremendous fight with Francisco Vargas for the WBC one hundred
and thirty pound title nine years ago on June the fourth,
June the fourth, twenty sixteen. You were ringside for that fight,
So just give a quick tease. We're gonna have it
on the YouTube video. They'll be able to see you
talking about why this was such a great fight, a
fight of the year caliber fight, Francisco Vargas Orlando Solito
nine years ago.
Speaker 1: I mean, in one word, TJ violence, that's really.
Speaker 2: It was this including early, just the whole the whole fight.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I think the way I recall
it was maybe after about the first half of the
first round, maybe after the first round. From there on,
the entire fight was just an absolute fucking war of
attrition and it turned out to be a draw. But
it was a fantastic fight and one of the best
you'll see two Mexican warriors. Let it all hang out,
and and uh, it was not a surprise frankly, because
Vargas had already been in a in a previous Fight
of the Year and Soledo had been in several top
quality fights fight of the Year candidates. So when they
fought each other, uh, and you expect an explosion, That's
exactly what you got, all right.
Speaker 4: So again, go to the YouTube page and watch what
we're talking about off of our YouTube page, including the content.
We've had a busy show again, great stuff with Richardson Hitchens,
all the previews for this weekend. We're going to reconvene
on the bet us Boxing show that is live on
their play on YouTube, social media, et cetera. Will handicap
the fights this weekend, and then you and I will
do it live on Saturday night after the Top Rank
show in Norfolk, Virginia featuring Keyshawn Davis. We will be
live on the YouTube page exclusively the Big Fight Weekend
YouTube page post fight recap of that card, and also
we'll even talk Wardly and Hooney the heavyweights earlier in
the day in the UK. So be with us live,
We'll work your comments and etc. We'll do that for
a little while when the Top Rank show ends Saturday night.
I think we got all the promo stuff out of
the way. Anything else in closing or are we good?
Headed to the weekend?
Speaker 1: Here everybody is working for.
Speaker 2: The Yeah, and thank god you didn't sing that.
Speaker 4: But we got fights everywhere Norfolk, Virginia, England, Japan, Australia.
Speaker 2: We're all over it again. See you on the bet
Us Show, Dan Ray Fielt's Good Friday, and then again
night on the Big Fight Weekend YouTube page.
Speaker 4: I'm merely TJ Reeps. Thank you for being with us
here on the Big Fight Weekend Preview podcast