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Speaker 1: This is Boxing with Chris man Somebody punch him in
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Speaker 1: Wat's This Heavy hosted by s I S. Chris Mannix.
Speaker 1: That was my moments now with interviews, analysis and everything
Speaker 1: going on in the world of boxing. When you have talent,
Speaker 1: you are given another chance. Here's Chris Mannix. All right,
Speaker 1: a lot to get into this week at a busy
Speaker 1: weekend in boxing last weekend. Uh, to my guest Keith Idex, surprise,
Speaker 1: I made an appearance at a non zone fight last weekend.
Speaker 1: That was at Masses Square Garden for the Tea Feo
Speaker 1: Lopez win over sand Or Martin. He is in Las
Speaker 1: Vegas for the Martin Rivera fight which will take place
Speaker 1: on showtime. A very good fight, although I'm curious to
Speaker 1: see how it does uh in terms of television ratings.
Speaker 1: This is a fight that you know, two young ish
Speaker 1: you know would be contenders going at it. I'm very
Speaker 1: interested in that fight this weekend talk about that and
Speaker 1: much more. Let's bring in Keith idek out in Las Vegas,
Speaker 1: his home away from home, his favorite place to be
Speaker 1: on Earth. Keith ideke is here. What's up, Keith, that's
Speaker 1: what's going on? It's uh. It is my home away
Speaker 1: from home. So a little less time here this year
Speaker 1: overall than uh than in the past, but still probably
Speaker 1: about forty days when it's all said and done. So Yeah,
Speaker 1: familiar with Las Vegas for sure. And listen, whenever you
Speaker 1: show up to a fight, it's an honor to have
Speaker 1: you at Rings. Saturday night, was it was a rare treat,
Speaker 1: you know, Yes, Uh, to see my second fight for
Speaker 1: Sandra Martine as many years, and uh, I'm not entirely
Speaker 1: sure I need to see a third. We'll get into that,
Speaker 1: um a little later on in the show. We're gonna
Speaker 1: get into Martin rivera terrific fight that's gonna air on
Speaker 1: Showtime this weekend. But I do want to look back,
Speaker 1: um at a couple of things. Let's start with Terence Crawford. Uh,
Speaker 1: number one pound for pound on my list, top three,
Speaker 1: at least on virtually everybody else's. Uh. He returns after
Speaker 1: a thirteen month layoff and stops David Avanezien in the
Speaker 1: sixth round. That fight went largely as I expected. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, Avenecian is not bad. He's probably a B
Speaker 1: B minus level fighter. And look, he applied pressure early on.
Speaker 1: Took Cross for a little bit of time to kind
Speaker 1: of figure him out, but once he did, he landed
Speaker 1: an oppercut huck combination has put Aveneci to sleep and
Speaker 1: reinforced to the Crawford supporters why he belongs atop the
Speaker 1: pound for pound list. Um, any surprises for you, first,
Speaker 1: Keith in that fight, Uh, not from the way that
Speaker 1: it played out, Chris. You know Terrence Crawford, I've always
Speaker 1: had him number one pound for pound, and I understand
Speaker 1: the criticism of of his resume and that he hasn't
Speaker 1: thought Carrol Spence. I get all that stuff, but from
Speaker 1: a talent perspective, from uh, you know, the way he
Speaker 1: from what he's done in his career. I've always had
Speaker 1: a pound for pound number one, and I understood the
Speaker 1: arguments for Canello having said that he beat David Avenees
Speaker 1: in a convincing way that I expected that that right
Speaker 1: hook was, you know, he put him the sleep basically,
Speaker 1: and that's what Terrence Crawford does. He gets in there,
Speaker 1: he computes, he breaks you down, he beat you up,
Speaker 1: and you know, usually knocks you out. The one thing
Speaker 1: that surprised me about the fight, Chris, and I think
Speaker 1: we're gonna have some sort of issue here moving forward,
Speaker 1: is that Terrence Crawford's gloves came apart and there wasn't
Speaker 1: really anything done about it. I was sort of surprised,
Speaker 1: you know, of course, we were at the garden. I
Speaker 1: watched the fight in the wee hours of the morning
Speaker 1: when I got home from the garden, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Rick Reno had told me I might drive home what
Speaker 1: happened with the gloves, and I was surprising re runs
Speaker 1: boxing scene. Um he you know, and when I got
Speaker 1: I was surprised that his gloves were torn in the
Speaker 1: way that they were, and that they took a real
Speaker 1: good look at the gloves before the start of the
Speaker 1: sixth round and allowed him to continue. I mean, they're
Speaker 1: meticulous about the gloves becrise every commission, I don't know,
Speaker 1: not a big boxing commission. I understand they don't have
Speaker 1: a lot of fights there and everything, but they did
Speaker 1: have w b O supervisors and uh and the referee
Speaker 1: was from New Jersey had experienced people at ringside, and
Speaker 1: when I saw the way the gloves came apart, I
Speaker 1: was really stunned that they did not make him put
Speaker 1: on the backup gloves. Now, of course you're gonna have
Speaker 1: an interruption of the fight. People are going to get bored,
Speaker 1: the fighters are gonna get cold, But you simply should not.
Speaker 1: This is not Terence Crawford's fault, of course, but you
Speaker 1: should not have fighters boxing with with torn gloves like
Speaker 1: that that that just should not happen. So, um, it
Speaker 1: looks like David Avensen is going to file a protest
Speaker 1: related to this situation. I don't know that it's going
Speaker 1: to go anywhere necessarily, but he has a valid point. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: just let's get to that for a second, because that
Speaker 1: was bizarre. I haven't seen an incident of gloves tarry
Speaker 1: in a long time, and when you look at the
Speaker 1: gloves in the Africa, that's a pretty big tear it
Speaker 1: add along the side of the gloves. I mean, when
Speaker 1: is the fallout from something like that? I mean I
Speaker 1: saw ever Last quickly came out and sort of fell
Speaker 1: at its sword and took some of the blame for it. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I don't think Avenecian has much of
Speaker 1: a gripe. In fact, if he did have a gripe, yeah,
Speaker 1: you gotta kind of put up the protest during the fight,
Speaker 1: right like you kind of gotta be more agitated about
Speaker 1: it in the moments. Is there any fallout from something
Speaker 1: like this? Now, again, he's gonna go through the process
Speaker 1: and do what they need to do in real time, though, Chris,
Speaker 1: I don't know that his corner. And now this is
Speaker 1: a fault of theirs, of course, but I'm not sure
Speaker 1: they took a close look at the gloves. Maybe had
Speaker 1: they seen it really what the damage was that was
Speaker 1: done to the gloves, they would have put up more
Speaker 1: of a protest that before the sixth round started. Um.
Speaker 1: And again, I don't expect the decision to be overturned
Speaker 1: or anything like that because the officials at ringside, Uh,
Speaker 1: the onus is on them to stop the fight from
Speaker 1: moving forward. And it's really their fault. It's not like
Speaker 1: they didn't inspect the gloves. They did. I just don't
Speaker 1: understand why the fight they have backup gloves. And and
Speaker 1: like you said, Chris, we don't We never see this.
Speaker 1: I mean, gloves are usually made well. This you know,
Speaker 1: there are times in a fight when a global tear
Speaker 1: for some reason or another, but it is very rare,
Speaker 1: particularly in the place where it toured. It's just not
Speaker 1: something we're accustomed to seeing. Especially when their custom made
Speaker 1: gloves Everlast does a great job. You know, other companies,
Speaker 1: Grant and others do great jobs with the gloves. It's
Speaker 1: just extremely uncommon and unfortunately for Crawford. You know, put
Speaker 1: some sort of controversy around what really should not have
Speaker 1: been a controversial result. Yeah, and I think you and
Speaker 1: I would both agree. I don't think the torn gloves
Speaker 1: had any impact on the outcome. You could see Crawford
Speaker 1: from like the fourth round on start to slowly put
Speaker 1: his foot on that gas pedal, landing body shots that
Speaker 1: were started to slow avan EASi and down, then coming
Speaker 1: up with that combination um. When I when I look
Speaker 1: at it in a boxing big picture perspective, what that
Speaker 1: fight did to me, Keith, was it at least preserved
Speaker 1: in my mind the idea that a Crawford Spence fight
Speaker 1: next year will still be elite against elite. I was
Speaker 1: a little worried coming in that Crawford at thirty five
Speaker 1: years old, might show some signs of decline. He did
Speaker 1: get tapped a couple of times by Avansia, but I
Speaker 1: have an easy and I don't think he wanted any
Speaker 1: of the round um in that fight. And you know,
Speaker 1: he eventually picked up what was his tenth consecutive knockout,
Speaker 1: which you really don't see from you know, world champions
Speaker 1: fighting at this stage of their career. More often than not,
Speaker 1: most of your knockouts for fighters come early in your career.
Speaker 1: Crawford's not picked up ten straight um at this stage,
Speaker 1: so that's pretty impressive. Um. I still, I still saw
Speaker 1: a fighter key at the top of his game, and
Speaker 1: I was at least glad to see that, because if
Speaker 1: they are able to revisit a Spence fight for the
Speaker 1: middle of next year, because of what I saw from Crawford,
Speaker 1: I'll go into that fight thinking you're still gonna get
Speaker 1: a guy at the top of I keep saying top
Speaker 1: of his game, but a guy at his very best. Yeah, Chris,
Speaker 1: I agree, And I think it's a testament toward the
Speaker 1: way Terrence Crawford lives his life. You know, he does
Speaker 1: not blow up and wait between fights. Um. He trains
Speaker 1: every person that I've ever talked to who has been
Speaker 1: in training camp with and they're all very deferential at
Speaker 1: Crawford because of his pound for pound status and everything.
Speaker 1: But you talked to Shakor Stevenson, he shand Avis, steven Nelson,
Speaker 1: other guys who spend time training alongside Terence Crawford. He
Speaker 1: is a beast in training. He takes it extremely serious.
Speaker 1: Cuts no corners. Uh. He's an inspiration for those younger fighters.
Speaker 1: To uh, to show them the way that you really
Speaker 1: need to behave as a world champion, so that you're
Speaker 1: always in tip top shape and that you never leave
Speaker 1: any stone unturned. And Chris, look at how he's he's
Speaker 1: gone about his career in the last few years. Some
Speaker 1: of it through no fault of his own this case
Speaker 1: maybe more so. He doesn't fight that often. He fights
Speaker 1: once a year or so, and then he comes comes
Speaker 1: around that one time per year and fights like the
Speaker 1: best pound for pound fighter in the world. No one.
Speaker 1: People can say whatever they want about Shawn order that
Speaker 1: he had one foot in the you know some of
Speaker 1: the things that were set after the fight, that he
Speaker 1: had one foot in the ring and one foot out.
Speaker 1: No one, and I mean no one ever did that
Speaker 1: to Shaun Porters, not like Seawn you know, like he was.
Speaker 1: He's the same age as Terence Crawford, so it's not
Speaker 1: like he was some older fighter and that had never
Speaker 1: been done to him. And Terence Crawford came in off
Speaker 1: a one year layoff and did what he did. Now
Speaker 1: takes another, you know, thirteen month layoffer. So comes in
Speaker 1: and not Avenetians, not Sean porter Um, but you know
Speaker 1: he does what he does, and he's an elite level fighter,
Speaker 1: and you're right and that if they do finally fight
Speaker 1: this year, and who knows, they do finally fight, it
Speaker 1: it will be an elite welterweight against an elite welterweight.
Speaker 1: Let's just hope that we see it. So you are
Speaker 1: as in tune, are in touch with the people involved
Speaker 1: with the Crawford Spence negotiations, You can be, um, how
Speaker 1: easy to think it's going to be to rekindle those
Speaker 1: talks at some point next year, because I thought it
Speaker 1: was notable that when asked directly after the fight about
Speaker 1: Errol Spence, Crawford didn't really go there. He said, looking
Speaker 1: to get the big names, but he didn't specify, Um
Speaker 1: that it was Spencer bust And that's kind of what
Speaker 1: it's got to be. I mean, I don't know what
Speaker 1: Terrence Crawford would do, at least not at seven after this.
Speaker 1: Does he look for the winner of Virgil Ortiz standy Onis?
Speaker 1: Does he challenged Boots Ennis, like, I don't see those
Speaker 1: as being the kind of money making fights that that
Speaker 1: Spence will be. Um, do you foresee it being difficult
Speaker 1: to restart those talks and get past whatever it was
Speaker 1: they needed to get past the last time. I do
Speaker 1: see it being difficult, Chris. And the reason primarily that
Speaker 1: I see it being difficult is because of the way
Speaker 1: Terence Crawford went about finalizing this deal with Abanisi and
Speaker 1: had he gone to Al Hayman. And I understand the
Speaker 1: flip side. Al Haman is the most secretive guy, and
Speaker 1: but you know he never speaks to the media. People
Speaker 1: don't know what's going on behind the scenes. People are
Speaker 1: mistrustful for whatever reason about what's going on with PBC
Speaker 1: and such. But you know PBC's the tractors. I mean, um,
Speaker 1: so I understand they're gonna say, well, why does he
Speaker 1: owe that's al Haman. I just think it would have
Speaker 1: been better business for Terence Crawford, who have told al
Speaker 1: Haman looked. I told you from the beginning I was
Speaker 1: getting in a fight this year. For whatever reason, this
Speaker 1: Spence fight is not happening this year. I am going
Speaker 1: to fight before the end of December. I have this
Speaker 1: deal for to fight David Avensian for an enormous amount
Speaker 1: of money based on what type of opponent he is.
Speaker 1: I'm going to move forward with this fight. Hopefully we
Speaker 1: can read is with the negotiations after I go beat
Speaker 1: him up, but he didn't do that, he al, Hayman
Speaker 1: didn't really know that he was fighting David David Avenecian
Speaker 1: until a couple of hours before anyone else knew. So
Speaker 1: that's not a way to to build trust within what's
Speaker 1: already from Crawford's perspective and mistrustful partnership so to speak.
Speaker 1: You know, I just don't I don't know how they go.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they can't, but it won't be easy
Speaker 1: because not now, Hayman is gonna be very mistrustful of Crawford,
Speaker 1: so and Crawford clearly is mistrustful of Hayman. So I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know what the answer is. But
Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to be just as easy
Speaker 1: as you know. Errol Spence fights he Therman uh in
Speaker 1: February and then they just pick up negotiations where they
Speaker 1: left off. I don't I don't think it's going to
Speaker 1: be that easy. So Crawford was able to walk away
Speaker 1: from the Spence negotiations because he had this massive offer
Speaker 1: from BLK Prime to fight a lesser opponent like David Avenisian.
Speaker 1: Do you think that option is going to be available
Speaker 1: to him next year. It's kind of my way of
Speaker 1: asking about the future of b l K Prime because look,
Speaker 1: they released this press release with flowery language. They said,
Speaker 1: you know, early early returns exceed expectations. I don't believe
Speaker 1: any of that like that. There's there's no way this
Speaker 1: could have been anything but a financial disaster for b
Speaker 1: LK Prime if they paid him the reported ten million
Speaker 1: dollars that is out there that they paid him that
Speaker 1: to pay of an easy and something that to put
Speaker 1: together the event. They did a good number in Omaha
Speaker 1: given credit for that, but I can't imagine what a
Speaker 1: live gate and Omaha um is equivalent to. So do
Speaker 1: you think this is the start of a potential relationship
Speaker 1: with b LK Prime? And do you think b LK
Speaker 1: Prime is gonna be around like this time next year
Speaker 1: doing fights like this. No, and no, that's kind of
Speaker 1: what I think too. But you go first, they got I.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't foresee Terence Crawford being able to
Speaker 1: do another fight with b l K Prime because I
Speaker 1: don't think that this event would have will have been
Speaker 1: a financial success. We all knew that Terence Crawford would
Speaker 1: sell tickets at OHMA. He always has the financial disaster.
Speaker 1: Let's just call it like it had to have been
Speaker 1: a financial disaster. Look, Chris, even as we've discussed before,
Speaker 1: and I've discussed with other people on podcasts and whatever,
Speaker 1: let's just say the guarantee was five million. It would
Speaker 1: still be hard to turn a profit if the if
Speaker 1: the guarantee was five million, because even at the lower
Speaker 1: pro price point, I just don't believe that a lot
Speaker 1: of people bought the fight. You know, you know, people
Speaker 1: pirate the fight and all that. That's another issue altogether,
Speaker 1: but I don't think a lot of people were gonna
Speaker 1: punk down forty bucks. When there was a competing card
Speaker 1: on ESPN and yeah, Tifo Lopez, sand Or Martin. It
Speaker 1: was not you know, Ali Fraser or anything. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying it was you know, far and away better than
Speaker 1: Crawford and Avenue, but it was on ESPN. You got
Speaker 1: three of the top prospects on their way up in
Speaker 1: boxing in different way classes fighting on the undercard. E
Speaker 1: Sean Davis, Xander's Eyes and Jared Anderson would look fantastic
Speaker 1: on Saturday night. Um, so you know people would watch that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just don't know that they were going
Speaker 1: to be even among the hardcore fans, the same number
Speaker 1: of buyers as usual, even among that hardcore fan base
Speaker 1: that we're gonna buy this fight. Plus there there was
Speaker 1: a lot, whether it's fair or not, because Terence Crawford
Speaker 1: just took advantage of a financial opportunity that was presented
Speaker 1: to him. There was some resentment among boxing fans that
Speaker 1: they didn't want to help fund this event because Crawford
Speaker 1: went forward with a fight other than Spence. You know,
Speaker 1: maybe some of that plays into into comes into play here.
Speaker 1: So I just don't think it was a financial success,
Speaker 1: And um, I would be it would be hard to
Speaker 1: convince me that Adrian Browner is going to fight Ivan
Speaker 1: red Cash in February, that event is going to move forward. UM,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you talked to people like everyone I've talked
Speaker 1: to an Ivan red Catches camp doesn't believe it's going
Speaker 1: to go forward, like both for financial reasons and the
Speaker 1: fact that Adrian Browner looked like a cruiserweight at the
Speaker 1: press conference. So I did. There's nobody like they're preparing
Speaker 1: for it. They'll be ready. I've read catch works out
Speaker 1: a wild card. They'll be ready to go, but there
Speaker 1: is a strong disbelief amongst people around him that that
Speaker 1: fight's gonna go forward. And Chris, even if it does
Speaker 1: go forward, what is the point of If there's no
Speaker 1: point to it, you're putting it on paper. It makes
Speaker 1: no sense. You know, you don't know what they should
Speaker 1: have done, what they should have done. I mean, first
Speaker 1: of all, Browner has got to find his way into
Speaker 1: fighting shape. That's number one. Number two, they should have
Speaker 1: found a way to do Browner and Rolly Romero, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's a good fight either, but the
Speaker 1: way those two talk, you could have at least built
Speaker 1: it up over the course of a month, month and
Speaker 1: a half into something that maybe might have registered some interest.
Speaker 1: It still would have been a financial loss, but it's
Speaker 1: just more appealing than Broner red Catch when the last
Speaker 1: time we saw Red Catch we just program was beating
Speaker 1: him up and he's been off for a long time.
Speaker 1: So I just I don't see. I'm with you, I
Speaker 1: don't see the marketability of a fight like that. And
Speaker 1: also just look look what just happened. Adrian Broner was
Speaker 1: supposed to fight Omar Figaroa Jr. In August and the
Speaker 1: week of the fight, he withdrew from it and said
Speaker 1: he wasn't in the mental space and I don't want
Speaker 1: to you know, I don't know, you know, whatever was
Speaker 1: going on. You know, I wish Adrian Broner. Well, but
Speaker 1: how would you have confidence then that he's going to
Speaker 1: get to the to the point of this, Let's just
Speaker 1: say the fight remains intact. Well, how do you know
Speaker 1: he's not going to get to the fight week and
Speaker 1: then withdraw from the fight because he doesn't feel like
Speaker 1: he's in the right emotional or mental place to to fight.
Speaker 1: It's the whole thing is odd because you're building a
Speaker 1: pay per view fight around a guy who hasn't fought
Speaker 1: in quite some time and just withdrew from a fight
Speaker 1: four months ago because he just was not capable of
Speaker 1: fighting a fight that no network in their right mind
Speaker 1: would put on pay per view. They wouldn't. This would
Speaker 1: be kind of a low level showtime fight if it
Speaker 1: was on that network. Um, it just I don't know
Speaker 1: who's buying that. Like, Broner's ratings have steadily declined in
Speaker 1: recent years. He used to be this really marketable guy
Speaker 1: at his peak, but he's not that guy anymore. Largely
Speaker 1: because he hasn't that much six s in recent years.
Speaker 1: His last fight, the majority of people watching I thought
Speaker 1: it was either a draw already lost. So I don't
Speaker 1: I don't really understand the thinking there that that that's
Speaker 1: going to be your next step in the boxing space.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't sound like it's a money maker at all. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, let's talk about the fight we were at
Speaker 1: this past weekend, the show at Madi Square Garden. Ta
Speaker 1: Femo Lopez headlines and squeezes out a decision against Sandor Martine.
Speaker 1: Let's start with the results. Um, how did you score
Speaker 1: the fight and did you have a problem with the decision? Well?
Speaker 1: I could see tia Fimo Lopez winning the fight very narrowly.
Speaker 1: You know, it was it was a close fight, Chris,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna you know, to score eight rounds for
Speaker 1: tia Fimo Lopez is ridiculous. You know. One of the
Speaker 1: judges had at eight rounds to to another had at
Speaker 1: seven rounds to three. I didn't think it was that
Speaker 1: type of fight. I saw a five, five, six, four
Speaker 1: type of fight. Um. Look, judges favor aggression. Whether that's
Speaker 1: fair to pure boxers or not, that's the reality. Of
Speaker 1: scoring boxing. They favor the the aggress or the guy
Speaker 1: who's pushing the fight, which is what TiO Fimo Lopez
Speaker 1: tried to do. I don't know that he was all
Speaker 1: that effective at doing it. He himself would tell you
Speaker 1: that he wasn't he he came out of the ring.
Speaker 1: You know, you saw everything that was caught on the
Speaker 1: hot mic where he said, you know, do I still
Speaker 1: got it? I mean, he was even questioning himself after
Speaker 1: that performance and had said repeatedly after he left the
Speaker 1: ring that he's got work to do. This was not
Speaker 1: his best performance. He even said on his way back
Speaker 1: to the dressing room, Chris, he said, I might have
Speaker 1: even performed better in the Cambosas fight, and I performed
Speaker 1: in this fight. He was displeased. You know, um, And
Speaker 1: you know, people tend to overreact. Boxing fans tend to
Speaker 1: overreact with every performance, as we well know. So does
Speaker 1: this mean that Tiafimo Lopez has done at the top
Speaker 1: level because he struggled against Sandor Martin. I don't think that.
Speaker 1: And and Sando Martine is pretty good. He doesn't have
Speaker 1: the most appealing style, but he just beat Mikey Garcia
Speaker 1: and he probably seven rounds of that fight. Mikey Garcia
Speaker 1: was a four division world champion, what only lost to
Speaker 1: Harrell Spence Um, so he can box. But he said
Speaker 1: something that was interesting to me to Bernardo or soon
Speaker 1: after the fight as well, Chris, he said, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe I need to go to war more. I don't
Speaker 1: know that war is necessarily the right way for him
Speaker 1: to fight. But he himself acknowledged maybe I didn't do
Speaker 1: without coming out and saying it, and maybe I didn't
Speaker 1: do enough. While he thinks he was robbed and that
Speaker 1: he won the fight, in the back of his mind,
Speaker 1: he saying, maybe I should have done this, I should
Speaker 1: have done that, you know. So yeah, but that's that's
Speaker 1: scoring boxing, this subjective science that it is, and leaves
Speaker 1: us all uh frustrated and annoyed sometimes. Yeah, I scored
Speaker 1: the fight for Taffimo Um. I was ringside for Sando
Speaker 1: Martine against Mikey Garcia. I scored that fight for Santo Martine.
Speaker 1: That was a much more convincing win than what Sandor
Speaker 1: Martine probably believes happened at the garden Um copy box
Speaker 1: numbers aren't everything, but you look at each round Tafemo
Speaker 1: was outlanding him, albeit by one or two punt is
Speaker 1: for most of of the rounds, and the connection rate
Speaker 1: when power punches was significantly bigger for Tafea Lopez. I
Speaker 1: just it's just really hard to win. To your point,
Speaker 1: it's really hard to win fighting like that, Like you've
Speaker 1: got to clearly win rounds if you're gonna fight backpedaling
Speaker 1: the entire time. Um, he had a lot of success
Speaker 1: doing it against Mikey. I don't think he was as
Speaker 1: successful against Ta Femo. If it had been a draw,
Speaker 1: I probably would have been okay with that. I would
Speaker 1: not have been okay with Martine coming away with the
Speaker 1: wing because I don't think he did enough in this fight.
Speaker 1: And you know, people on Twitter getting on Ta Femo
Speaker 1: was one thing, even some media or quasi media members
Speaker 1: getting onto a Femo. I was surprised how many fighters
Speaker 1: kind of got on him. I defy any of the
Speaker 1: top hundred forty pounders to go out there and dominate
Speaker 1: Sandra Martine. It's just tough to do. Like Mikey Garcia,
Speaker 1: who has an argument to be in the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: couldn't do anything with him, struggled with him. Now, some
Speaker 1: of that to do with Mikey Garcia having one ft
Speaker 1: out the door as well, but he struggled in that
Speaker 1: fight at a weight class with Sandra Martine was not
Speaker 1: especially comfortable at above one forty. This was Sandra Martin's
Speaker 1: natural weight. Despite the fact he took the fight on
Speaker 1: short notice, he came in great shape. He had a
Speaker 1: good game plan. Dave Fimo was not preparing for a
Speaker 1: fighter like Sandra Martine coming into this, so I think
Speaker 1: that has to be taken into account. And he just
Speaker 1: makes you look bad, and he's gonna make everybody look bad.
Speaker 1: You put Sandra Martin in against Regis program and Regis
Speaker 1: programs and stopping him in the second round. You put
Speaker 1: him in with Josh Taylor, that's a hideous fight. If
Speaker 1: you put Martin in with Josh Taylor, I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: not here for the you know, I can't believe he
Speaker 1: struggled with Sandra Martin. I agree he needs work, and
Speaker 1: you know, maybe you don't have to replace his father,
Speaker 1: but I think they should start bringing another voices, somebody
Speaker 1: else to supplement that team, maybe in the same way
Speaker 1: that Devin Haney does and has done with Ben Davidson
Speaker 1: and others over the years. I just I don't think
Speaker 1: it was as catastrophic a performance as some people, including fighters,
Speaker 1: seemed to believe that it was, because, you know, the
Speaker 1: interesting thing is that he had another voice in his corner,
Speaker 1: Joey Gamasha's good point and and and he thought very well,
Speaker 1: and he got to the point where he beat Vasili
Speaker 1: Lomachenko with Joey Gamash in his corner. So I don't know,
Speaker 1: really know what happened there, but Joey hasn't worked with
Speaker 1: him for his last few fights. So um, I agree
Speaker 1: with that. The one thing that troubled me maybe about
Speaker 1: good strategy. One thing about Joey we should point out
Speaker 1: to people that aren't familiar, very good strategist. Joey Gamash,
Speaker 1: Like he had a lot to do with the strategy
Speaker 1: going into that Lomachenko fight, so he's he's very good
Speaker 1: in that sense. Also, um, the thing that troubled me,
Speaker 1: maybe more so than anything about t Female's performance on Saturdays,
Speaker 1: that he didn't make the adjustments during the fight that
Speaker 1: he needed to make, because he continually came forward, lunged
Speaker 1: forward and got caught with the counter right hook, and
Speaker 1: sandel Or Martin knew how to handle him coming forward
Speaker 1: all night and he knocked He really should have been
Speaker 1: credited for two knockdowns. That knockdown and said, I could
Speaker 1: see the overhead view it looking like he cut them
Speaker 1: behind his head, but then we saw the other or
Speaker 1: angles where it looked like he caught him more on
Speaker 1: the side of his head. My personal opinion is that
Speaker 1: that should have counted as a knockdown that came from
Speaker 1: a counter right hook, as did the knockdown in the
Speaker 1: second round. Now, Lopez was not hurt either time. They
Speaker 1: were flash knockdowns, but they should have counted as additional well,
Speaker 1: one of them did count as an additional point for
Speaker 1: Sando Martine in the second world should have as well.
Speaker 1: And he just kept getting hit with that same punch,
Speaker 1: And that makes me wonder what he's being told in
Speaker 1: the corner, why he's not making those adjustments to uh,
Speaker 1: to stop that from happening, because it just happened time
Speaker 1: after time. No, Sando Martine in Atlanta, ton of punches
Speaker 1: in the fight, but that fight, that punch in particular
Speaker 1: was his money punch in the fight, and tia Fimo
Speaker 1: should have figured out a way to combat that. And
Speaker 1: that's I think some of what he's referring to and saying,
Speaker 1: we have work to do, because he came into the
Speaker 1: fight he had told me and he told other people that,
Speaker 1: you know, I do well with south ball, they do
Speaker 1: great with south pauws, which, of course, Vassilio Machenko is
Speaker 1: a south paw. Diegel Magdalanos a south paull who was
Speaker 1: waiting past his prime at that point he beat up. Now,
Speaker 1: not every southpaw fights the same way, as we found
Speaker 1: out the other night, and and credit to sand Or Martine.
Speaker 1: It's not the most appealing style. It's not something people
Speaker 1: are gonna want to tune in to watch on any
Speaker 1: kind of repetitive basis, but it's effective. He's boxing. Now.
Speaker 1: Some people call it running to a female. Lopez calls
Speaker 1: it running, but you know, he called it a master
Speaker 1: class of boxing, and in some ways it was. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, you need to be somewhat
Speaker 1: more aggressive, as you said, to win that type of fight.
Speaker 1: But he boxed very well, and he fought through a
Speaker 1: damaged nose, which happened in the first round. He deserves
Speaker 1: credit for that as well. I don't know if it
Speaker 1: was broken necessarily, but there was a clash of heads
Speaker 1: in the first round, and his nose was all jacked
Speaker 1: up for nine plus rounds, so he deserves some you know,
Speaker 1: it's not only what ta female Lopez did not do.
Speaker 1: It's some of what sand Or Martine did and deserves
Speaker 1: credit for that. It was a difficult fight. It's not
Speaker 1: a fight any of us are gonna want to see again,
Speaker 1: so please, I hope no one thinks there should be
Speaker 1: a rematch in any way, but but you know, maybe it,
Speaker 1: you know, it gets people to fight Tiafimo Lopez. And
Speaker 1: I think personally, I think he's gonna wind up fighting
Speaker 1: Josh Taylor. I think they're going to keep him away
Speaker 1: from Regis Prograe because progra is a big puncher. He's
Speaker 1: an unorthodox uh south ball, he doesn't fight conventionally, he
Speaker 1: doesn't fight anything like sand Or Martine, and he's still
Speaker 1: in the prime of his career, and he beat down
Speaker 1: Jose's a pay to I wouldn't pursue that fight if
Speaker 1: I were them, and and it obviously makes more sense
Speaker 1: for him to fight Taylor. If Taylor beats Cattera, which
Speaker 1: is no foregone conclusion, and if he stays at a
Speaker 1: hundred and forty pounds. Again, no foregone conclusion, but that's
Speaker 1: the fight to make. That's easier to make because they're
Speaker 1: both with top break and I'm sure Taylor will look
Speaker 1: at the fight against sand Or Martin, so yeah, bring
Speaker 1: Tia Fimo Lopez across the pond here and I'll beat
Speaker 1: him up. Yeah. I think that is the way that
Speaker 1: they're they're going to go. Um, it sounds like Regis
Speaker 1: pro Gray and Jose Ramirez are are gonna get a
Speaker 1: deal done someway or the other. It might have to
Speaker 1: go to purse bid for that to happen, And I
Speaker 1: don't know what the purse bid split is going to be.
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone knows at this point with the
Speaker 1: purse blad split is gonna be. But that sounds like
Speaker 1: it sounds at least possible. I've talked to people in
Speaker 1: Ramier as his camp and they say, they want, uh
Speaker 1: that fight. Um, yeah, I mean it's a sink or
Speaker 1: swim fight against Taylor for sure. What worries me a
Speaker 1: little bit about about fem Or two things. One, he's
Speaker 1: now been dropped by two non punchers, right like Cambosis
Speaker 1: is not a big puncher. Um and Sandra Martine is
Speaker 1: certainly not a big puncher. Now, he was caught by
Speaker 1: Martina a difficult angle. He was lunging in. Some of
Speaker 1: that had to do with balance, but he was dropped,
Speaker 1: and he was legitimately dropped in the first round by
Speaker 1: George Cambosis in that fight. So I start to wonder
Speaker 1: about his chin as we go into bigger fights with
Speaker 1: bigger punchers. The other thing is kind of his mental space, right,
Speaker 1: Like you go back a year ago and I was
Speaker 1: in those fighter meetings you were around Tafimo. He was
Speaker 1: not in a good place. Like a lot had to
Speaker 1: do with what was going on in his personal life.
Speaker 1: He was dealing with family issues. He had just had
Speaker 1: a baby. Weight issues professionally speaking were problematic for him.
Speaker 1: So you know that was that. But then this fight
Speaker 1: comes around and Taafemo seemed like he was in a
Speaker 1: better place. But I'm listening to Tim Bradley do an
Speaker 1: interview after the fight, and Bradley said something like the
Speaker 1: ta Femo we saw in our fighter meeting was not
Speaker 1: the same guy we're used to seeing when it was
Speaker 1: not that same kind of upbeat guy he was, he
Speaker 1: felt Bradley felt like Lopez was going through some stuff.
Speaker 1: So and Bradley knows the former fighter Hall of Famer.
Speaker 1: Now I wonder I worry a little bit about where
Speaker 1: he is mentally, and there's no way to kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, project how to fix that. But I think
Speaker 1: that's something to watch as his career moves forward. You know.
Speaker 1: That's kind of my two cents. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: went to visit Ta Fema Lopez and training camp. He
Speaker 1: was training in Jersey and about it's probably about eleven
Speaker 1: days before the fight. I went down and I spent
Speaker 1: the while. I was there for a couple of hours,
Speaker 1: and I talked to him, you know, on and off
Speaker 1: the record, and he seemed like he was in a
Speaker 1: good place to me. You know, he's reconciled with his
Speaker 1: wife and UM, and his son is back in his life.
Speaker 1: You know, that's a that's a troublesome thing for for anyone.
Speaker 1: You know, when you're when you're separated from your wife
Speaker 1: and your and your son is not your you know
Speaker 1: that that's tough. That's tough stuff, you know. Um, So
Speaker 1: it seemed to me that he was in a good place,
Speaker 1: you know, mentally going into the fight, but um, certainly
Speaker 1: more so than he's that he would have been, although
Speaker 1: I wasn't there for fight week because I was here
Speaker 1: covering a fight, um when he fought George Cambosis, but
Speaker 1: certainly in a better place mentally, um than he was
Speaker 1: going into that fight. So the thing about his chin
Speaker 1: that I would just say Chris is uh, I agree
Speaker 1: with you. It's concerning because he's been down, you know,
Speaker 1: three times, twice officially, but probably three times. Um. It
Speaker 1: does seem to be a balance issue more than anything,
Speaker 1: because he's getting these shots as he's lunging forward, he's
Speaker 1: his feet are not placed in the right position, and
Speaker 1: he has gotten right up each time. It never seemed
Speaker 1: to me in each of those three instances that he
Speaker 1: was really hurt. It just seemed like he went down
Speaker 1: to a gotch like more annoyed at himself than anything,
Speaker 1: and then just right back into the fight. He did
Speaker 1: not seem hurt against George camp Boss to me either. UM.
Speaker 1: But you're right. I mean, it keeps happening, and that's
Speaker 1: the thing you're going to have to fix. It's from
Speaker 1: a strategic standpoint, from a fundamental standpoint, You're going to
Speaker 1: have to fix those things because if you do that
Speaker 1: against Josh Taylor. You know, maybe he puts you away.
Speaker 1: Certainly if you do it against read his program, he's
Speaker 1: gonna put you away. So uh yeah, those are things
Speaker 1: that he needs to correct moving forward. And as you said,
Speaker 1: probably not a bad idea. I don't know if the
Speaker 1: situation with Joey Gamash is fixable and they can bring
Speaker 1: him back, but bring another voice back into his corner,
Speaker 1: because that certainly seems to be needed. Whatever he was
Speaker 1: doing going into the Lomachenko fight, Do that bring the
Speaker 1: same people back into your life in that one, because
Speaker 1: that was your career defining performance and you want to
Speaker 1: get back to being that fighter. Uh once again? All right,
Speaker 1: let's talk about a fight that happened just a couple
Speaker 1: of days ago. In a way, the now undisputed champion
Speaker 1: at eighteen pounds after stopping Paul Butler in the eleventh round.
Speaker 1: Not surprising Paul Butler took the fight. Didn't really seem
Speaker 1: like he was coming to in the fight. Um had
Speaker 1: a survival strategy. I guess he was. He was on
Speaker 1: the move a lot. He was in good shape. I'll
Speaker 1: give him that. He stayed on the move for the
Speaker 1: majority of eleven rounds. In a way eventually catches up
Speaker 1: to him. I don't really want to talk about the
Speaker 1: fight itself because it was so one side. It was
Speaker 1: ten rounds the NNE before in a way blast them
Speaker 1: out of there in the eleventh round in a way.
Speaker 1: Now moves to a d and twenty two pounds or
Speaker 1: will move pounds? Um? Start here? Do you think how
Speaker 1: dominant he was at one eighteen can carry over to
Speaker 1: a higher weight class. Yeah, it depends on how well
Speaker 1: he carries his power, which I think he will because
Speaker 1: he's a pretty big puncher. You know, he's you know,
Speaker 1: he's uh, he's the monster for a reason. For sure.
Speaker 1: There are good fights for him at one two. But
Speaker 1: guys are moving up as well, you know, like it
Speaker 1: looks like Steven Fulton is going to move you know,
Speaker 1: the guys are are are advancing and weight so, um,
Speaker 1: you know, Acmdaliev is there as titles there, there are
Speaker 1: interesting fights for him, you know. Um, but yeah, but
Speaker 1: what there's nothing left for him to accomplish an eighteen
Speaker 1: pounds right? So what you know they were remember there
Speaker 1: were people last year or whenever. Oh would love to
Speaker 1: see him fight Chocolate Team. No, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no, no no mind, Like what are you trying to get
Speaker 1: talk Latto killed? I mean, you know that's exactly what
Speaker 1: would happen. So so there's nothing really there for him
Speaker 1: in that way class or anyone coming up from you know,
Speaker 1: one fifteen that would be an appealing fighting anyway as
Speaker 1: far as I can tell. So, um, yeah, so it's
Speaker 1: time for him to move up and then what kind
Speaker 1: of fights can they make? Can you get the champions?
Speaker 1: And you know, we'll see, But that's where he needs
Speaker 1: to go, I mean, because there's nothing left for him
Speaker 1: to accomplish a Phantomly, yeah, I think that Stephen Fulton
Speaker 1: would fight him. Um sounds like based on some of
Speaker 1: his social media posts, he's interested in coming back down
Speaker 1: and fighting him, defending his titles. I think the challenge
Speaker 1: there is getting fault into Japan frankly, because you know this,
Speaker 1: like in a way, it makes a lot of money
Speaker 1: over there, like millions fighting over there almost doesn't matter
Speaker 1: who he fights. Sometimes he makes a lot of money
Speaker 1: in that market more probably then he would make fighting
Speaker 1: on ESPN or showtime over here. So can I see
Speaker 1: a PBC fighter going to Japan to take on in
Speaker 1: a way I don't know, I don't know if I
Speaker 1: see that. I think that's gonna be a big challenge
Speaker 1: for that fight. I think Aquadali would do it. Achmadalai
Speaker 1: has no fan base anywhere, so he can go wherever.
Speaker 1: His problem right now is that he's got another mandatory,
Speaker 1: which I think is his thirty six mandatory in the
Speaker 1: last three years. There's a purse bid for that. I
Speaker 1: think next week it's the ib F I believe, and
Speaker 1: he's gonna have to take care of that mandatory. But
Speaker 1: if he gets through that, and maybe the timing winds
Speaker 1: up good here. If he gets through his mandatory, Um
Speaker 1: in a way, moves up gets one fight to get
Speaker 1: used to it. It's a pretty big fight the middle
Speaker 1: of next year. And like I said, I don't think
Speaker 1: Achmadali would blink about going over to Japan to fight now.
Speaker 1: In a way, yeah, I think the Acamadala of option
Speaker 1: is more realistic than Fulton, because I'm not saying Fulton
Speaker 1: doesn't want to fight. From a business standpoint, there are
Speaker 1: a multitude of reasons why it won't happen UM, and
Speaker 1: I do think that he's going to settle in a
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty six pounds and just stay there because
Speaker 1: it's hard to make. I mean, he's a he's a
Speaker 1: tall kid for the weight class, and it's not easy
Speaker 1: to make a hundred and twenty two pounds, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, he himself wants to fight out, but that's
Speaker 1: the fight he wants. He wants to become the fully
Speaker 1: unified champion. For whatever reason, it hasn't happened. So you know,
Speaker 1: of course, in a way, is A is a big
Speaker 1: star in Japan and he's arguably you know, some people
Speaker 1: have number one pound for pound two three or whatever.
Speaker 1: That's a bigger fight for Stephen Fulton. But the more
Speaker 1: meaningful fight to him is fighting Akmadaliev for full supremacy
Speaker 1: in the hundred and twenty two pound division. But that
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like it's going to happen. He has plenty
Speaker 1: of options at a hundred and twenty six pounds if
Speaker 1: he moves up. In the PBC universe, there's a rematch
Speaker 1: with Brandon figure Rowa, which I think people would really
Speaker 1: want to see um, and I think that's more the
Speaker 1: direction he's gonna wind up going. You know what, in
Speaker 1: terms of which fight I think is more aesthetic pleasing.
Speaker 1: Actually think Akadali of against in a way would be
Speaker 1: a better television fight. Um Acumadalia is a talented guy
Speaker 1: who can crack like he's and I think he'd be aggressive.
Speaker 1: I think he throws some punches. I think he would
Speaker 1: really test in a way in a fight. So I
Speaker 1: kind of hope that in a way gets a fight
Speaker 1: early next year Acadal gets a fight, and then middle
Speaker 1: of next year we get those two guys clashing for
Speaker 1: two versions of two pound title. All right, a couple
Speaker 1: of things I want to finish with. Um. We had
Speaker 1: a purse bid just a couple of days ago for
Speaker 1: virgin Lortiz and standy Onis Golden Boy. Surprisingly to me anyway,
Speaker 1: they won that purse bid uh two point three million,
Speaker 1: one point seven of which uh standy Onis gets because
Speaker 1: of some interesting rule by the w b A to
Speaker 1: give of the purse bid to standy Onis. Um. It
Speaker 1: sounds like this fight is gonna get made, probably in
Speaker 1: late February or early March. Are you surprised that we're
Speaker 1: going to get a fight between two guys that are
Speaker 1: outside of Spencing Crawford at or near the top of
Speaker 1: a hun pound of division. Somewhat surprised because you would
Speaker 1: expect that stan Jonas would have tried, even though he's
Speaker 1: kind of sort of a PBC fighter. He you know
Speaker 1: that he's staying in the PBC universe. You know, you
Speaker 1: would think he would do that. Um, And they did
Speaker 1: try to do that. I mean, there was a while
Speaker 1: when Geron Ennis was convinced that he was the one
Speaker 1: who was gonna fight stan Yonis. In my opinion, that's
Speaker 1: an unwinnable fight for stan Jonas, as good as he
Speaker 1: proved them to be. Um. I think Virgil Ortiz will
Speaker 1: beat him as well. But but I do see some
Speaker 1: vulnerability and Virgil Orties that I have not yet to
Speaker 1: see in Geron Ennis. That leads me to believe that
Speaker 1: san Jonas has a better chance to win that fight
Speaker 1: than he would if he would have thought Ennis it's
Speaker 1: a good fight. Um. Look, in this case, it's probably
Speaker 1: one of those instances, Chris, were the w ba's nonsense
Speaker 1: actually created something positive, because we would not have seen
Speaker 1: stan Yonas fight Virgil Orties and Ortiz has fought Cavalaska's.
Speaker 1: He's thoughts of decent opponents, but this would probably be
Speaker 1: the best opponent of his career, would would be the
Speaker 1: best opponent of his grips and defeated guy who looked
Speaker 1: very good against Utayev, who's you know, strong and can punch,
Speaker 1: and it's a good fight. So you know, I hope
Speaker 1: it happens. And um, you know, Virgil Ortiz is getting
Speaker 1: the short end of the money, but it's about the opportunity.
Speaker 1: Although this w b A title should not exist, it
Speaker 1: gives him some leverage in his own pursuits of welterweight
Speaker 1: title shots. And you know, I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people hope because we don't really see Terence Crawford or
Speaker 1: Errol Spence fighting Virgil Ortiz or Geron Ennis that eventually,
Speaker 1: assuming they can remain at welterweight, that that's the fight.
Speaker 1: Jeron Ennis saying that people have been talking about it
Speaker 1: for a while now, Geron Ennis against Virgil Ortiz, so
Speaker 1: this would put Ortiz in good position to try to
Speaker 1: make that fight happen. I spoke to Ennis about this
Speaker 1: last week and has said, Look, everyone wants to see
Speaker 1: the Ortis fight. I'd love to make it happen. I
Speaker 1: hope that's the fight for me. He goes, but I
Speaker 1: kind of see stan Jonis Ortiz as a fifty fifty fight.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if either guy won, and then
Speaker 1: I would just want to fight the winner. But but
Speaker 1: to answer your question, Chris, I yes, I'm surprised somewhat
Speaker 1: that it's happening, but wasn't le surprised, And let's just
Speaker 1: hope it moves forward and it's a really good fight
Speaker 1: in the first quarter of between two young, undefeated guys.
Speaker 1: That's what we want, maybe to a lesser degree, but
Speaker 1: we're getting that on Saturday night here in things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think this Ortiz Danny Onis is is a can't
Speaker 1: miss type of fight. Like it's two guys, as you said,
Speaker 1: they can crack aggressive. You know, it's it's it's excellent
Speaker 1: and like credit to I mentioned credit to Golden Boy
Speaker 1: and Ortiz's team. Um, I do think they'll be able
Speaker 1: to make up some money for Ortiz, whether the Zone
Speaker 1: gooses it a little bit too to make Ortiz happy
Speaker 1: or look, they go to Texas, they could probably do
Speaker 1: half a million dollar gait if they work hard down there.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's that's reasonable as Ortiz has grown
Speaker 1: as a as a star kind of in that that area. Um,
Speaker 1: but they like when talking to people around Ortiz, like
Speaker 1: they want to get him that belt. Yeah it's a
Speaker 1: fake belt, but they don't believe Spence is going to fight,
Speaker 1: you know him if he's ordered to, like they're they're thinking,
Speaker 1: is that that w B a belt? He'll eventually get
Speaker 1: elevated to the full champion at w B. A same
Speaker 1: thing with Boots Tennis. Like, you know, he's not. Spence
Speaker 1: is not gonna fight Ennis. He's gonna wait for Crawford
Speaker 1: or move up to you know, he's been talking about
Speaker 1: moving up so then we'd get you know, full title
Speaker 1: holder or tease full title holder Ennis. My hope is
Speaker 1: and I talked to Ennis about this as well. I
Speaker 1: just don't want to get on the same merry go
Speaker 1: around we've been getting on with previous welter weights. I mean,
Speaker 1: whether you go back to Mayweather and Packiau circling each
Speaker 1: other for five years, Spence Crawford's still circling each other. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean, are we about to do the same thing?
Speaker 1: Do you think? Or is there any kind of reason
Speaker 1: to be optimistic that or Tease and Ennis would fight
Speaker 1: sooner than that. I guess the other welter weights out there,
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully that merry go around would last a
Speaker 1: little uh not as long as some of these other ones,
Speaker 1: but but they it will go on to some degree
Speaker 1: because they're gonna fight, you know, make a mandatory defense
Speaker 1: or whatever. My point is, as if he beat stan
Speaker 1: Jonis and when Geron and his beats the crap out
Speaker 1: of whatever his name is, um, they will eventually, as
Speaker 1: you said, eventually be elevated to full champions and then
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully within two years they would fight each other.
Speaker 1: Is that that's probably a realistic timetable. But the other
Speaker 1: thing is as these guys grow, Chris and where teams
Speaker 1: I believe it's twenty four, they can't be expected to
Speaker 1: stay at welterweight forever. You know, Spence has been a
Speaker 1: welterweight his entire career. Crawford obviously moved up from lightweight
Speaker 1: uh in one world titles at thirty five and forty
Speaker 1: before he got to welterweight, so he hasn't been a
Speaker 1: welterweight for his whole career or anything. But you can't
Speaker 1: be you know, it's got to be hard for Spence,
Speaker 1: particularly because he's made the mistake of blowing up and
Speaker 1: weight between fights. It can't be easy for a guy
Speaker 1: who's thirty two going on thirty three years old to
Speaker 1: make that weight. He's you know, he's five nine and
Speaker 1: a half, five ten whatever he is, and you know
Speaker 1: it can't be easy at that point. So hopefully sooner
Speaker 1: than later they would that fight would happen. Let's just
Speaker 1: hope they keep winning and at least there's the possibility
Speaker 1: of that fight, because that I would favor Ennis, of course,
Speaker 1: But a fascinating fight is a beast offense, a lot
Speaker 1: of offense out of Virgil Lortise offense and skill out
Speaker 1: of geron Enis. It's it's an unbelievable fight for both
Speaker 1: those guys. Credit to your point, credit Spenceford being able
Speaker 1: to make welter weight. This long guy fought the Olympics
Speaker 1: at one two like he's been at for his entire
Speaker 1: pro career. It's yeah, I don't blame him at all
Speaker 1: for I want to move up and wait, so I
Speaker 1: do think by like the middle of next year, last
Speaker 1: quarter of next year, winner of Orties standy Otis will
Speaker 1: be the full title holder there Boots will be a
Speaker 1: full title ib F and then hopefully, you know, sayer
Speaker 1: minds can prevail and we're not doing this all over
Speaker 1: again at welter weight. All right, let's finish with the fight.
Speaker 1: You're at. Terrific fight. Frank Martin Michael Rivera, two guys undefeated.
Speaker 1: Martin is what seven? Michael Rivera is twenty or uh
Speaker 1: they're both contenders. Um surprised we're getting this fight? Like
Speaker 1: you know, this is This is a great fight for
Speaker 1: people like you and me that that watch these guys
Speaker 1: coming up. It doesn't have the broad mainstream appeal. It's
Speaker 1: the kind of fight that, you know, to borrow Bob
Speaker 1: Aaron phrase that promoters would let marinate under different circumstances.
Speaker 1: Why let me ask us, why are they fighting? Like
Speaker 1: I don't want to. I'm not poo pooing it because
Speaker 1: I'm glad it's happening, But why are these two guys
Speaker 1: fighting right now at this stage of their career? Well, Chris,
Speaker 1: that's a great question, particularly from Michelle Rivera standpoint, because
Speaker 1: he's ranked number two by the w b A and
Speaker 1: he's in position to get a title shot sooner rather
Speaker 1: than later. Of course, he was hoping to fight Thank
Speaker 1: Davis for another uh w b A title that should
Speaker 1: not exist, but it would be a big fight for
Speaker 1: Michelle Rivera to go fight Javonte Davis in a pay
Speaker 1: per view event. So I was more surprised from his
Speaker 1: standpoint that he took the fight because he's ranked by
Speaker 1: all four. He's ranked by the ib F, w b A,
Speaker 1: w BC and w B O has a very high
Speaker 1: ranking with and he's he's six by the ib F.
Speaker 1: He's in good position to to get a title eliminator
Speaker 1: and this fight as an eliminator as well, not a
Speaker 1: final eliminator or nothing, but but an eliminator. Um. So
Speaker 1: I was more surprised that he took the fight because
Speaker 1: he seems to have a little bit more to lose
Speaker 1: than Frank Martin, who's only ranked by I think it's
Speaker 1: the w B A. I think he's tenth by the
Speaker 1: b A. But Frank Martin is uh in boxing fan.
Speaker 1: Hardcore boxing fans had watched him somewhat in the shadows
Speaker 1: come up here as some of his fights have been
Speaker 1: televised by FS one Fox and then his last fight
Speaker 1: against Jackson Marines was televised by Showtime. Frank Martin is
Speaker 1: a very interesting guy, Chris, and that he only started
Speaker 1: boxing when he was eighteen years old. He didn't walk
Speaker 1: into a boxing gym until nine years ago. And look
Speaker 1: where he is. He had fifty eight amateur fights in
Speaker 1: a place where you know, boxing is not a hotbed.
Speaker 1: He fought most primarily in Indiana. He raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana,
Speaker 1: born in Detroit, raised there a little bit too, but
Speaker 1: but moved to Indianapolis to start his amateur career. You know,
Speaker 1: here too many fighters coming out of Annapolis. He now
Speaker 1: obviously is trained by Spence's trainer, Derrick James and Dallas.
Speaker 1: He's promoted by Errol Spence's company. Um. He's a very
Speaker 1: humble guy, but in my opinion, one of the more
Speaker 1: underrated fighters that I've seen in boxing over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years, and has come a very long way
Speaker 1: from someone who only started boxing nine years ago. Um.
Speaker 1: I wasn't surprised that he took the fight as much
Speaker 1: as I was from Rivera's perspective, because Frank Martin had said,
Speaker 1: and Errol Spence said after he fought Jackson mary As
Speaker 1: in the press conference, we will fight any lightweight that
Speaker 1: is willing to take the fight, and that proved to
Speaker 1: be true. It's a very good fight. It's a it's
Speaker 1: a it's a hardcore boxing fans fight Chris obviously, um,
Speaker 1: it's not gonna, you know, generate Jamel Charlo Brian Castaniol
Speaker 1: type numbers on Showtime. But it's the type of fight
Speaker 1: that we want to see, and I give both guys
Speaker 1: credit for taking it because it's a high risk fight
Speaker 1: at this point in their careers. I wish more fighters
Speaker 1: would do this type of thing, but I think it
Speaker 1: is going to be a very interesting fight. I favor
Speaker 1: Frank Martin, He's slightly favorite. I believe it's a two
Speaker 1: to one favorite according to the oddsmakers. I think he'll
Speaker 1: win the fight. But Michelle Rivera has proven to be
Speaker 1: a very very capable boxer and again, lower profile fight,
Speaker 1: but a very very good fight that I think hardcore
Speaker 1: boxing fans will really enjoy. I encourage people to watch it.
Speaker 1: It's it's gonna be an excellent fight between two guys
Speaker 1: that are quickly becoming names at one five. I'll say
Speaker 1: this much, Keith, I will not no matter the outcome,
Speaker 1: I will not criticize the loser, because you don't need
Speaker 1: to see these guys in against inferior opponents anymore. I
Speaker 1: give them all the credit in the world for stepping
Speaker 1: up and taking fights of this caliber despite them not
Speaker 1: being as high profile or lucrative as maybe it would
Speaker 1: have been a year from now if they had fought
Speaker 1: some lesser guys real quick, Um, would you think of
Speaker 1: Devin Haney kind of clapping back at top rank a
Speaker 1: little bit over the last couple of days, Devin Haney,
Speaker 1: Devin Hani wants the Lomachenko fight in March, right because
Speaker 1: Devin Haynes is Muslim, he is planning to observe Ramadan,
Speaker 1: and the way Haney is framing it, he believes top
Speaker 1: rank wants the stage the fight it may, which he
Speaker 1: believes because of you know, because of Ramadan would not
Speaker 1: allow him to train properly for that fight. We know,
Speaker 1: Devon Haney this is more likely than not being. It
Speaker 1: will be his last fight at a hundred thirty five pounds.
Speaker 1: He struggles to make that weight. Anyway, What do you
Speaker 1: think of Devon Haney kind of you know, going at
Speaker 1: top rank a little bit on social media. I was
Speaker 1: surprised just because since he came to top rank, he's
Speaker 1: been treated very well financially and otherwise they like at
Speaker 1: King since he's come there. Uh, and the plan of
Speaker 1: course all along the three fight plan was for him
Speaker 1: to fight Loma Chanco. I understand what he's saying, but
Speaker 1: he also has to remember that he's making four million
Speaker 1: dollars plus to fight Loma Chanko, and they're going to
Speaker 1: try to bring the fight where they're going to make
Speaker 1: the most money. And if that means that the fight
Speaker 1: is going to be admit what I would say to
Speaker 1: try to appease Devon Haney because he's their fighter. Whether
Speaker 1: he remains with top rank there after is anyone's guests,
Speaker 1: but he is their fighter, um as is Loma Chenko.
Speaker 1: He feels because loma Chenko has been with them longer,
Speaker 1: that they're showing preferential treatment. All I would say to
Speaker 1: that is, well, who do you think top rank? They're
Speaker 1: never gonna say this out loud, but who would they
Speaker 1: rather win the fight? The twenty four year old, undefeated,
Speaker 1: fully unified lightweight champion or the thirty four year old
Speaker 1: guy who's at the back end of his career and
Speaker 1: you're not going to really be able to do much
Speaker 1: with moving forward. I'm not saying that they want loma
Speaker 1: Chenko to lose. I'm just saying from a business perspective,
Speaker 1: it would make more sense for him want to want
Speaker 1: Devon Haney to win. Now of course you think that,
Speaker 1: do you think that's true? Because I mean, I get
Speaker 1: what you're saying, But like, there's gonna be competition for
Speaker 1: Haney after this fight. I think Eddie Hearn is gonna
Speaker 1: go back at him and try to resign him. And
Speaker 1: there's some fondness there between the Haneys and Eddie Hearn
Speaker 1: And if Loma Chenko were to win, it would set
Speaker 1: up a pretty big fight between Loma Chanco, which of
Speaker 1: course the Evenson before the end of the year. Like that,
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you get that if if
Speaker 1: you certainly don't get you of course Stevenson, But I
Speaker 1: don't know what the relationship would be with Devin Haney
Speaker 1: regardless of the outcome, despite moving forward, Well, they have
Speaker 1: to be wary, of course, or mindful that he might leave,
Speaker 1: of course, But there are other big fights if if
Speaker 1: Haney wins, there are other big fights in the top
Speaker 1: rank universe for him. You know. Obviously, Devin Haney against
Speaker 1: cour Stevenson's a fight people would want to see. And
Speaker 1: eventually they'll catch up to each other and being or
Speaker 1: Stevenson will catch up to him and be in the
Speaker 1: same weight class he goes to one forty. T Lopez
Speaker 1: is still there, Josh Taylor still you know, there are
Speaker 1: fights there for Devin Haney to be made UM if
Speaker 1: he remains with if he beats them Cheko and remains
Speaker 1: at Top Rank. And the one thing you'd have to
Speaker 1: say is he has been compensated. Well. Now, he was
Speaker 1: being overcompensated uh by match Room in his own because
Speaker 1: they had to. They had to pay the price to
Speaker 1: do business with him and to get a young talented
Speaker 1: fighter like him on that platform and with match Room,
Speaker 1: so they overpaid to some degree. But he's been you know,
Speaker 1: Chris Hill have made somewhere By the time his first
Speaker 1: three fights with Top Rank will be completed, he'll have
Speaker 1: made somewhere around eleven million dollars. I mean, he's been
Speaker 1: treated pretty well. He's of course been exposed to a
Speaker 1: much greater audience on ESPN UM and they're hoping to
Speaker 1: put the Hany Lomachenko fight on ESPN, not on ESPN
Speaker 1: pay per view. I think, you know, that's the kind
Speaker 1: of fight that could draw between two and three million viewers,
Speaker 1: so you know his profile would expand in that way.
Speaker 1: But but you're right, Chris, and that it's always lurking
Speaker 1: in the back of their minds that Handy could leave
Speaker 1: top rank after he does have a good relationship with
Speaker 1: Eddie Um and he was treated well by his own
Speaker 1: to financially and otherwise. So it's always a possibility that
Speaker 1: he would leave. But I don't think there's I guess
Speaker 1: what I'm saying ultimately is I don't think there's some
Speaker 1: plot to wrong Devon Haney here. And then if you're
Speaker 1: going to be paid that kind of money, there are
Speaker 1: some things that you're gonna What I would say to
Speaker 1: just resolve all of this, Okay, if you feel like
Speaker 1: the fight being in May is not fair to you,
Speaker 1: well and you'll fight in June or July, well, tell
Speaker 1: tell us what's fair and what to train in the
Speaker 1: right way, and we'll do that problem right. There are
Speaker 1: no other restrictions later in the year. Now he can't
Speaker 1: come back and complain and say, oh, I want to
Speaker 1: fight to happen sooner. Look, look, they're making concessions on
Speaker 1: your behalf to to make sure that you feel completely
Speaker 1: comfortable training for the fight and being as fully prepared
Speaker 1: as you can. You then can't complain that the fight's
Speaker 1: happening too late. You can't have it both ways. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I think with what I think about Hainey in his future,
Speaker 1: one of the things I think about is Pro Gray
Speaker 1: and what comes up next for him. Um, if that
Speaker 1: fight goes to a purse bid, I would expect match
Speaker 1: Room to bid on it. I would Um. You know,
Speaker 1: match Room has had an interest in Progray perfectly, they
Speaker 1: were trying to do the program Hooker fight in the past.
Speaker 1: I would expect match Room to bid on a Pro
Speaker 1: Gray Ramirez fight if that fight went to a purse bid,
Speaker 1: and that to me would be a sign that match Room,
Speaker 1: which doesn't really have a U S footprint anymore, do
Speaker 1: you think about it like that? Their top fighters in
Speaker 1: the US right now are women. Frankly, you've got Katie Taylor,
Speaker 1: who was still part of match Room USA. You've got
Speaker 1: Alicia baum Gardner who's there. They're gonna wind up doing
Speaker 1: a deal with the Manda Serranto for a fight in
Speaker 1: early February. They don't have a lot of male fighters.
Speaker 1: They've got bamb Rodriguez, They've got some of the smaller guys.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna get in the mix for for
Speaker 1: a pro Gray Ramires fight. I don't have any that's
Speaker 1: not based on anything I'm being told directly, but I
Speaker 1: think that if that went to a perse but it
Speaker 1: wouldn't surprise me to see match Room jump in and
Speaker 1: then like, if you're in the program business and if
Speaker 1: you can beat Ramirez, all of a sudden, you're talking
Speaker 1: about a landscape at one forty at at the Zone,
Speaker 1: match Room, Golden Ball Universe, that makes sense to go
Speaker 1: out and and get Devon Hany because you can do
Speaker 1: a Devin Haney Reis Progray fight, you can do a
Speaker 1: Devon Haney Ryan Garcia fight. Um, there are some other
Speaker 1: lesser known names might be available with the right price
Speaker 1: at one forty. So I just think that Program Ramirez
Speaker 1: fight is one to watch. Who walks away with the
Speaker 1: promotional rights for it? Because I had assumed when I
Speaker 1: was hearing that Ramire is going to take that fight
Speaker 1: that it would be definitely a top rank fight. I
Speaker 1: have been led to believe that's not necessarily the case
Speaker 1: moving forward, Keith, I think that there's a possibility somebody
Speaker 1: else jumps in and wins promotional rights for that fight,
Speaker 1: and Chris, as we've seen in the past top rank
Speaker 1: is more than willing to allow the zone to out
Speaker 1: either outfit. However, we'll let Jose Ramirez do that is
Speaker 1: benefited from that. No, that's exactly what I mean. Jose
Speaker 1: Ramirez when he was an undefeated world champion, they allowed
Speaker 1: him to go fight on his own, no questions asked
Speaker 1: against Maurice Hooker, and he made a lot of money.
Speaker 1: They might be more than willing to do that in
Speaker 1: this case as well. And then they had that frees
Speaker 1: up more money for them to make other good fights
Speaker 1: on ESPN within their budget. So yeah, I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised by that at all. Jose has got I think
Speaker 1: he's got a pretty big minimum. He's got a lot
Speaker 1: of he's own a lot of money. I think he
Speaker 1: said as much. I think he said Mattam was surprised
Speaker 1: at how much, uh how much he was gonna he
Speaker 1: was getting paid um from top ranks. So we'll see that.
Speaker 1: That's an excellent fight, and I think I think anyone
Speaker 1: should want to get in on that fight, especially someone
Speaker 1: like Eddie Hern who wants to make a name at
Speaker 1: one forty or start to get into one forty, because
Speaker 1: that's that's pretty much can't miss progreg at Samiras two
Speaker 1: elite guys. That's gonna be a fun fight one way
Speaker 1: or the other. Keith, enjoy your fun fight this weekend.
Speaker 1: Rivera against Martin terrific fight on showtime. I will not
Speaker 1: be there. I know you're shocked and disappointed. Won't be
Speaker 1: too out. The last three weeks will be side buddies.
Speaker 1: We'll take what we can get. Man, come on, you know.
Speaker 1: Good to see you my friend. Same here, Chris. I'll
Speaker 1: talk to you soon. Man, Thanks dude, appreciate it. See
Speaker 1: you soon. Thanks when we come back. My conversation with
Speaker 1: John Ennis. So if you're looking to get more out
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Speaker 1: official sports betting partner of the NFL. Alright Geron Boots
Speaker 1: Ennis is an undefeated hundred forty seven pound contender. On
Speaker 1: January seven, he will attempt to win an interim title
Speaker 1: when he takes on Karen shook Agen. I hope I
Speaker 1: said that close to correctly. That's a fight that will
Speaker 1: take place on the undercard of Javante Davis's lightweight fight
Speaker 1: against Tector Luis Garcia, and Boots Ennis joins me on
Speaker 1: the show. For the uninitiated, Boots the nickname where does
Speaker 1: it come from Uh, my nickname was originally books b
Speaker 1: O O P S. My My mom give me their
Speaker 1: nickname when I was little, and you know, when I
Speaker 1: was going to the gym, you know, playing around, everybody
Speaker 1: thought my dad was like saying, like boots like these shoes.
Speaker 1: We just kept stuck with it, so you know, I
Speaker 1: wanted up wind up turning out good? Little Did your
Speaker 1: mom know she was giving you your boxing nickname for
Speaker 1: life at that time? Um? Not your first time training
Speaker 1: for a fight over the holidays, and you did it
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago for a January fight. Uh.
Speaker 1: How do you feel though about having to kind of
Speaker 1: watch your weight over Christmas? I mean I feel agree.
Speaker 1: I'm still eating. I'm still eating and everything I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to be doing and nothing change. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: know how to give my weed all right, you know
Speaker 1: the right way, So you know, I'm not too worried
Speaker 1: about the howdy I still eat? Is there something though
Speaker 1: on the Christmas dinner table that you're like, you know,
Speaker 1: if I wasn't training, I would have this. I'm I'm eating.
Speaker 1: I'm eating. I gotta eat, you gotta eat lose weight.
Speaker 1: I'm eating. It's nice to be in your mid twenties.
Speaker 1: That because nice, but everything off. I'm curious for a
Speaker 1: guy like you favorite Christmas movie to watch over the holidays.
Speaker 1: M h and any Home Alone that's good. That's good. Good.
Speaker 1: That's a different generation. That's even a generation almost before
Speaker 1: me like that. That goes way back. Yeah, all the
Speaker 1: Home Alone, I think they're good. I love him. What
Speaker 1: got you into Home Alone? Uh? Oh? I think one
Speaker 1: day I just turned it on. It was on, and
Speaker 1: I ever said, I've just been watching all the Home
Speaker 1: Alone for them? Oh no, not all four. You watched
Speaker 1: two and then stop like once colleague Bulking exits, then
Speaker 1: you're you're out. Now watch I still like the other
Speaker 1: ones too, They're not too bad. That's that's dedication. Man.
Speaker 1: I can't bring myself to watch one of them without Macaulaum.
Speaker 1: That's tough. That's tough for me. Um. We're wrapping up
Speaker 1: two and you'll only have one fight this calendar. The year, Uh,
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty you had three two one you had
Speaker 1: to this year you were down to one. What has
Speaker 1: this year been like for you? How would you describe
Speaker 1: what it's been? I mean, this year, this year have
Speaker 1: been great, even though I only got you know, I
Speaker 1: won't fight in because you know, you know Crawford and
Speaker 1: we we're trying to figure out what Crawford and Especial
Speaker 1: was gonna do. You know, it was holding it up
Speaker 1: a little bit. So I mean, but it is what
Speaker 1: it is. You know, I won't fight this year, but
Speaker 1: we're gonna be able for three next year. So that's
Speaker 1: the google. So you know I've heard you say that
Speaker 1: before the Crawford Spence held things up for your father
Speaker 1: say it before? What does that really mean? Has it
Speaker 1: been like you know, if you were kind of hoping
Speaker 1: it either happened or one of them would vacated title?
Speaker 1: What were how did it hold up your career? Like
Speaker 1: just basically hoping they would they would fight or whatever. See,
Speaker 1: you know, see what was going on. That's everybody, you know,
Speaker 1: all the three seven founders was waiting around to see
Speaker 1: what they was gonna do. So nobody really wanted to
Speaker 1: engage anything until they found out what Crawford and Spencer
Speaker 1: was gonna do. So once they figured out what what
Speaker 1: they was gonna do, everybody started going in different ways
Speaker 1: and different things like that. So and that's originally was
Speaker 1: supposed to fight in like November or something like that,
Speaker 1: and then I was supposed to fight in December. Then
Speaker 1: we wanted up be in a call for the pay review,
Speaker 1: so I was like, I was like, well not that's
Speaker 1: that's even better, you know, uh. And he was trying
Speaker 1: to get a solid opponent, you know, a great opponent,
Speaker 1: and originally, hey, stand you onis like then and I
Speaker 1: think the w W a mind up making a like
Speaker 1: a order or something like that for him or ties.
Speaker 1: So you know, they gotta fight now. But you know,
Speaker 1: hopefully we get the winner winner that you know, or
Speaker 1: or or or or or but in uh spence too,
Speaker 1: so we don't still matter why. You know, I've heard
Speaker 1: you say before that you wanted Standing on Us wasn't
Speaker 1: about fighting an opponent. The caliber of standing Onus was
Speaker 1: the fact that he had a secondary title. Why did
Speaker 1: you want that fight specifically? I feel like that was
Speaker 1: the best next option because he was trying to get
Speaker 1: keep Derman and he wasn't available. You know, Stanton is
Speaker 1: a great fight, you know, why not fighting youness? You
Speaker 1: got about you know, uh, you know, and been on
Speaker 1: a beautiful show you know for the fans, you know,
Speaker 1: and shine and show these guys that I'm gona real
Speaker 1: do Yeah, I'm sure, like like most of us, you
Speaker 1: started to believe for a while the Crawford Spence was
Speaker 1: going to get done. When it fell apart in late October,
Speaker 1: what was your reaction, Uh, I was, I didn't know,
Speaker 1: I didn't know what this but honestly, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Like I was like, they probably will never fight if
Speaker 1: they didn't fight this year, but I don't know. Hopefully
Speaker 1: do fight next year, and I mean, if not, you know,
Speaker 1: as an opportunity for me to fight one of them,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, you know, hopefully you know we can
Speaker 1: make it heaven? What do you think deep down though?
Speaker 1: Like I you know, you're fighting for the ib F
Speaker 1: interim title, which presumably would mean that, you know, Errol Spence,
Speaker 1: if he doesn't fight Crawford, would have to fight you
Speaker 1: in order to maintain that title. I personally, Boots, don't
Speaker 1: don't really believe either of those guys will you, because
Speaker 1: you're You're too talented and the risk is not worth
Speaker 1: the reward. I think Spence and or Crofford were more
Speaker 1: likely move up before they face you. Is realistically, do
Speaker 1: you think either one of those guys would get in
Speaker 1: the ring with you. I mean they two grow them
Speaker 1: in and he's getting nobody, and I feel like they
Speaker 1: both would get in the ring with me. You know,
Speaker 1: it's only it's only a matter of you know, making
Speaker 1: an amount if they want to fight me or not,
Speaker 1: like you know, right after it. So you know, I
Speaker 1: feel like specified me and I feel like if I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully we can make if I haven't, you know,
Speaker 1: take them boat from them. Yeah, look it's it's a
Speaker 1: great fight. Um, you know. I I do find interesting
Speaker 1: the IBF is ordering an interim title when technically Spence
Speaker 1: doesn't even have a fight yet. We haven't even like that.
Speaker 1: Was there a part of you that, you know, thought
Speaker 1: that maybe you would get a mandatory order to fight
Speaker 1: Errol Spence? What what what the interim boat not without
Speaker 1: like even with because you know Spence, we all think
Speaker 1: he's gonna fight Keith thurmant we assume he's gonna fight
Speaker 1: Keith Thurman. But yeah, it's still not done yet. And
Speaker 1: I just found an interest in the ib F created
Speaker 1: an interim title when their actual title holder didn't have
Speaker 1: a fight book yet. You know, I mean, I definitely
Speaker 1: I do think this. I think they're gonna fight. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna keep them in, gonna fight, and uh, I mean,
Speaker 1: and I feel like I'll be next in line. You know,
Speaker 1: there's boats gonna put me right there where I need
Speaker 1: to be. You know, it's giving me that extra boost,
Speaker 1: you know, hit me right there. You know, I fight
Speaker 1: any any any guy that got about next after this.
Speaker 1: If it's not Aero Spence, it'd be you know, Crawford
Speaker 1: standing honest or whoever when I standing est or tease,
Speaker 1: you know, any one of those guys. It certainly makes
Speaker 1: you unavoidable and puts you in a position soon to
Speaker 1: have the full version exactly that is falling right and
Speaker 1: right in the place, right in the line. You know,
Speaker 1: everything going I was supposed to be going. All I
Speaker 1: gotta do is handle handled business Jenry seven, which y'all
Speaker 1: will do. Um, let me ask you first, how does
Speaker 1: how do you see these standing owners Ortisse fight going? Um,
Speaker 1: that's a great fight. That's a fight, you know, Uh,
Speaker 1: two great fighters. You know, need want to have them
Speaker 1: gonna back up. I feel like they're gonna be in
Speaker 1: in the pocket the whole time. You know, whoever gonna
Speaker 1: be in the best shape, that's who gonna win. It
Speaker 1: is a great fight. Um yeah, I probably favor Ortiz
Speaker 1: a little bit that maybe because I see a lot
Speaker 1: more of his fights than I do with standy Onis,
Speaker 1: with him fighting so often on his own. But you know,
Speaker 1: welterweight Geron has been it's one of those divisions that
Speaker 1: has not given us kind of what we wanted in
Speaker 1: the last ten or fifteen years. We did get Patiel
Speaker 1: Mayweather eventually, but it was past it's kind of sell
Speaker 1: by date. We still haven't golf and gotten Crawford versuspense
Speaker 1: like can you sit there right now? And if Ortiz wins,
Speaker 1: like can you are you? Are you sure that you
Speaker 1: will get a fight against Virgil Lorties? Not next maybe,
Speaker 1: but in the next eighteen months of next year most definitely.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's the that's one of the biggest
Speaker 1: fights in boxing. Whoever went out of you know or
Speaker 1: tease or so you know that that's definitely one of
Speaker 1: the biggest fighting boxing. I feel like that can definitely
Speaker 1: hap within the year or six months that it happened next.
Speaker 1: For it was up to me, it will happen next.
Speaker 1: But you know, people gonna go different ways and try
Speaker 1: to move around. But I feel like it was up
Speaker 1: to me. You know, I make anything happen, the best
Speaker 1: fights possible. Yeah, and you've created it seems like some
Speaker 1: flexibility there. You've you've taken some risks in your career
Speaker 1: by going somewhat independent. You've got a Showtime deal, which
Speaker 1: has been great for you, I'm sure, but do you
Speaker 1: feel like you're you have a level of independence to
Speaker 1: kind of push for certain fights to happen. I feel
Speaker 1: like it was definitely a shout out the Showtime appreciated them,
Speaker 1: you know, they always you know, looking out for me
Speaker 1: and put me in right position things like that, and
Speaker 1: I feel like they banging me. I'd never sent whatever
Speaker 1: fight that I want. Once I, you know, get a
Speaker 1: vote or or anybody else that I want to fight,
Speaker 1: they will beg me and you know, let me get
Speaker 1: those fights and things like that whoever I want. I'm already.
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you like I'm you know, after January seventh,
Speaker 1: and then if Orties beat Dandy Onis in February March,
Speaker 1: I am just gonna lead the bandwagon for Ennis Orties
Speaker 1: in that. Like I'm telling you, man, I've been like
Speaker 1: peeking for that fight a little bit over the last
Speaker 1: year year and a half. But if both of you
Speaker 1: guys are either a title holder like you will be
Speaker 1: on some level in January and Ortiz will be a
Speaker 1: secondary title holder. But I don't look, I don't think
Speaker 1: either Crawford Orpense is gonna fight or Tse either. Frankly,
Speaker 1: but if you two guys are suddenly the men in
Speaker 1: a hundred seven pound division, that can't be a fight
Speaker 1: we wait like five years for in a different weight class.
Speaker 1: It just can't be. It's too good a fight between
Speaker 1: two fighters that are just too talented, who can draw crowd,
Speaker 1: who can you know, put butts in seats in Texas
Speaker 1: or California or the Northeast wherever you decide all the
Speaker 1: fight like that. I mean, that's just a massive show, right.
Speaker 1: I think it's big show, a great show, you know. Uh,
Speaker 1: I feel like that that make a lot of money.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of people will be excited to
Speaker 1: see that. You know. Yeah, last question for you, what
Speaker 1: what what do you what do you kind of trying
Speaker 1: to show in this fight coming up on January seven?
Speaker 1: You're fighting guy's pretty good but relatively unknown, but you're
Speaker 1: fighting on a big stage. I mean, Geronte Davis that
Speaker 1: that building is probably gonna be sold out. It's gonna
Speaker 1: do a decent number, I'm sure on pay per view.
Speaker 1: This feels like a good opportunity for you to show
Speaker 1: out in a fight like this. How do you feel
Speaker 1: going into this fight? I feel I feel great. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's only and watch it. Watch it the DC,
Speaker 1: so you know that's that's right down the roof for
Speaker 1: the Philly you know, the hopefully gonna be in the
Speaker 1: building in Jersey Delaware. Everybody's gonna be in the building.
Speaker 1: So you're just gonna be like me fighting at home basically,
Speaker 1: you know, and I can't wait, you know, if you're
Speaker 1: on a beautiful show, you know, getting get a beautiful knockout,
Speaker 1: you know, in front of my friends and family. You know,
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm gonna go out there and show me,
Speaker 1: you know, just me being me, you know, being being smart,
Speaker 1: you know, picking my shots, putting their pressure on, you know,
Speaker 1: getting that knock out, looking good, showing my defense a
Speaker 1: little bit, you know, uh, having fun and become a
Speaker 1: victorious with a knockout. But I'm glad to see it
Speaker 1: back in the mixture on. You're one of the biggest
Speaker 1: best young stars at all of boxing, And I apologize
Speaker 1: in advance for filling up your timeline with like ortiz Ennis,
Speaker 1: like hashtags and ship like that, because that's just that's
Speaker 1: just gonna be me for most of three If I
Speaker 1: don't if that fight is on the table, I don't
Speaker 1: mind it. I'm retreated. Good to talk to you, man.
Speaker 1: Good luck going on January seven. All right, thank appreciate it.
Speaker 1: When we come back. This week's picks brought to you
Speaker 1: by Fan Duel. Alright, time now for this week's picks,
Speaker 1: brought to you by our friends over at fan Duel.
Speaker 1: This week, I am looking at a very competitive fight
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas, Frank Martin Michelle rivera hundred thirty five
Speaker 1: pound fight, great matchup between two of the better young
Speaker 1: fighters in the lightweight division, and a fight where the
Speaker 1: winner will absolutely take a big step forward and be
Speaker 1: looking at a world title shot sometime in two thousand
Speaker 1: and twenty three. Frank Martin is favored in this fight
Speaker 1: minus two eighty right now over at Fan Duel. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't take that bet, that's not Those are great odds
Speaker 1: minus two eighty for Frank Martins almost three to one
Speaker 1: at this point. I like Frank Martin to win. But
Speaker 1: the best bet I like in this fight is Frank
Speaker 1: Martin by knockout. He's got two straight knockouts, including one
Speaker 1: over Jackson Marinez, who is a solid fighter. A very
Speaker 1: good win, a very good knockout win for Frank Martin.
Speaker 1: I think Frank Martin is the real deal. He's twenty
Speaker 1: four years old, he's been part of Errol Spence's stable
Speaker 1: for some time. He's trained by Derrick James. I think
Speaker 1: he's got that knockout power in him, and I think
Speaker 1: he wins this fight by knockout. So take Frank Martin
Speaker 1: by knockout plus one over at fan Duel. That's the
Speaker 1: pick I like. That's the method of victory that I like.
Speaker 1: Frank Martin by knockout. That's my pick. Brought to you
Speaker 1: by fan Duel. That's it for this week's episode. My
Speaker 1: thanks to Keith Idec and Jeron Enis for joining the show.
Speaker 1: As always, subscribe, rate review this podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify,
Speaker 1: wherever you download podcast, and I'll see you next week.