Discipline, Evolution & Insider Stories with Steve Kim | Tengoose Boxing Talks Podcast Ep. 1

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Wassup peeps it’s your boy Ricky Funez. Welcome to another episode of Tengoose Boxing Talks. Today we have a special guest and a good friend of mine, Steve Kim. And if you don’t know who Steve Kim is, Steve Kim is a long time boxing journalist and he

Also is a writer for Snac dot com and he also has a podcast with my boy Mario Lopez called the Three Knockdown Rule. And he’s the panelist on Fearless with Jason Whitlock. Steve I am. You know, I’m honored to be here. You put the money into this. This is impressive.

I got the sign. You get all this other stuff, Got the equipment. I’m impressed. I’m not. I haven’t finished, Steve. You know, I started this about a year ago, and. And I kind of got discouraged and like, well, what am I going to do, man?

So I got to fill it up with boxing memorabilia and all of that. I had, you know, someone to sponsor me with. This is good, you know? I mean, and I said, Who am I going to have? And it’s so hard to let go.

I’m against Steve because it’s so hard to get you on any platform I hear. So I said, so I said, I’m not asking you, Steve. I was going to be my first guest. Stay for all the years you guys have allowed me to use the gym, even during the lockdown.

We’ll keep that undercover. That’s the least I could do it. So I love this gym. You know what I love about this gym? It’s not a celebrity gym, contrary to what some people say. Yeah, I love the fact that it’s clean, but not too clean. It’s got everything you need.

Although the philosophical difference, Joe Goosen does not believe in air bags. Everything is hard sand. And he’s going to toughen up your hands. He’s going to he’s going to condition those shoulders and back. Well, you know, that that I learned all of that from Joe. Yeah.

So and sometimes going well, sometimes I see Joe and or Joe. 00:01:43:06 – 00:01:56:07 Unknown You getting weak on me, man? You being soft with these fighters. Because before, when we go to camp with Joe, he wouldn’t put up with nobody. No fighter. And I don’t know how you.

Joe, you taught me something. Record breaking, relaxed and also this gym and Joe, there is no gym and trainer that puts his emphasis on the double in back. And I love to double in back because if you want to learn how to punch with your knuckles

Clean and have all the drills go, certain punches you can’t do on the on the heavy bag. I don’t can’t such as the uppercut. Correct. And also to come across the Hulk all the time. And I you know, it’s funny, when I first got into this business in the late nineties, one

Of the first gyms I wanted to go to was this gym. Was it really? yeah, it’s like the Mecca, because for years, if you’re a kid growing up in the eighties and your love of boxing developed in the nineties, you always saw Joe Goosen with the great hair, the fanciest sweatsuits.

Those were clean. yeah, he was clean. He was the white Armenian guy, right? And it was a mercedes Benz or something. Right. And so then you like I love Michael. None. The ruthless brothers and back then fighters fought a lot more.

Feel like every, every decade or every five years, ten years, there’s a gym that’s popping. And I remember that in the nineties, Joe’s gym was popular because we had Lionel Butler, we have Marquee soul star Frankie Lyle gave them, I feel as well as we had a someone. Nelson I remember that.

And it was popping in the desert. It was the gym to go to. And then wow, car came in and boom. Walker was popping Robert Garcia’s popping Big Bear, big, big ball. And then, you know, the thing is about Joe, though, he’s so welcoming that if you are

Sincere in your efforts to learn boxing because he didn’t know who the hell I was, I was just like some Asian guy. 00:03:30:22 – 00:03:49:12 Unknown And he’s like, okay, you don’t see a lot of you guys, but he was nice and like, he would

Actually like I actually when I wrap my hands, there’s something I do at the end from years of watching Joe Goosen wrap handed. I’m not a lot. There’s times I watch Joe rap hands. I’m just messing sized because he always does the one thing, the Vaseline, Vaseline and then the toilet paper.

And I’ve had to explain to people, folks, he doesn’t actually wrap their hands. And by night, it’s just really a wrapping for the abrasions right there. You and all of a sudden, in like 10 minutes, this thing is like a piece of art. And I’m like, wow, how did you do that?

But at the end, he always scrunches it up. 00:04:05:11 – 00:04:22:07 Unknown So you have your fist curled correctly and it, man, you’re able to grab with it. And I always make sure I do that and I always think of Joe, no matter where I wrap my hand,

No matter how I deal with just my regular gauze. But I’ve learned a lot. And that’s one thing that I tell young writers or people that want to cover the sport. You actually have to go to the gyms, not just enough to go to the fights.

You actually have to go to a gym and get this learn how to shut up. Because for as much as I talk, there are times you just have to watch and observe, ask a question and get out of the way. And Joe has been instrumental.

He’s one of the more influential trainers that I’ve been around. I remember one time he was training Riddick Bowe, if that didn’t really work out, but I was Riddick Bowe and they all these kind of sparring and there was this L.A. Daily News.

I was kind of reading this article, but Bowe had been gone and he acted like one of my high school teachers. 00:04:58:06 – 00:05:18:08 Unknown He looks like, Steve, get the newspaper. Just watch this last Calvin Harris. I felt like I was back in Montebello High School. Wow.

And but that’s how you have to actually make the rounds to the gym. Like, I know, like Eli setback. A lot of people get on his butt, right? Yeah, Whether you like him or not. You know what I like about Ali? 00:05:18:08 – 00:05:38:07 Unknown He’s in the gym. He’s in the gym.

Like I saw him on Saturday. I didn’t know he was here. Yeah. God. I was hitting the heavy bag. He was waiting for somebody that never came. We talked about the business for about 45 minutes, but I respect the guys that not only

Go to the fights because that’s the fun or that they just call you say, Hey, can you just call me and let me know? And so on and so on. So yeah, yeah. You know, talking about that. Eli there day night, right? It’s an investment that he makes.

And I don’t go as much as I did because I have to do other things now. Yeah, but it is an important part that if you really want to learn boxing and learn about the fighters themselves, that you’re only getting a two dimensional look at the guys.

If you’re only going to the fights or the press conferences, you have to get them in a natural setting. Yeah, Beyond the media day is beyond the press conferences, but it is an investment in time because, you know, we’re funny, you say that because talking about Joker’s Joe will get angry and mad.

Yeah, because when we’re in the locker room in the early nineties when the fights and we had a commissioner come out, now you can’t do that because the fuck you telling me fucking about my head. 00:06:27:02 – 00:06:44:05 Unknown I go, Have you been to a boxing ring?

What do you do for a living? Was I’m a police officer, I’m a fireman. Was I’m a paramedic. Have you been to a boxing gym? How the fuck are you going to tell me how to do my job? Right. Well, this is the way.

No, you have to be in the fucking gym and learn how to do this shit. Well, go fighters go through. Right. So, you know, and it’s funny that you say that because I see you in the gym all the time. I see you a wild card.

I see you at my gym and you put in the work. So you know what fighters go to. Another thing that I would do, 00:06:58:17 – 00:07:11:02 Unknown and I don’t think you even have to spar because getting hits different ways they work out,

Learn how it is to put on a pair of hand wraps correctly, put on a pair of gloves and hit a heavy back jumper. All right. Do the do the work and you’ll get an idea of how difficult this is to to work. The Mets my met guy was Mack a Foley.

God rest. He was he was my favorite guy. I love Mack as a stuff we used to talk about in between me huffing and puffing it while he was in his story. 00:07:25:12 – 00:07:40:21 Unknown He knew his man, he was an old school guy and I loved him.

But learn what it’s like to actually know what, 3 minutes, how long that is when you have to have a proper boxing form, elbows up, hands high, chin tucked in with the proper stance on your shoulders. Yeah. You don’t understand how tough it is.

And I, you know, while at this gym, I’ve seen world class athletes that we watch on TV and they come here and they get humbled that this is a really tough thing, but you have to learn that. Yeah.

And that’s one of the things that that being in L.A., if you want to cover boxing full time or you want to make a few bucks, I think it’s the best place to do it. 00:07:59:16 – 00:08:13:11 Unknown

Because in one way, what intriguing insight to what intrigued you in boxing that you say, okay, in the ninth, man, this is bad ass because you hardly see aging guys. Well, you have to understand, as a child of the eighties, you grew up watching boxing on CBS, ABC, NBC.

So like naturally, every kid nowadays on TV watches the NFL, NBA and some baseball, right? Yeah. You know, and when I grew up in the eighties, when Hagler Hearns, Leonard Duran fought or Mike Tyson a little bit after they were featured, and I talk about this in one of my video shorts

For Fearless what Cosell is watching. And I talked about the Kings on Showtime about thought that quartet of fighters led by Ray Leonard Hagler, Hearns Duran, back when they fought Ricky, most of those fights wrong, like a monday night because it was closer. There was no pay per view.

And what would happen was Good Morning America or today’s show, they used to actually like do the shows from the fights in Vegas. They’d bring on Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, and they would talk about the fights and say, All right, they would do remote from there or send special correspondence.

When Dolph Lundgren played Ivan Drago for Rocky, for he they actually sent him to cover the Mugabe Hagler fight, really interviewing both trainers and both fighters. 00:09:18:17 – 00:09:38:22 Unknown And that was like a big thing. Yeah, yeah, it doesn’t happen like that anymore.

But growing up in the eighties, you were going to be more naturally inclined to, to like boxing people that don’t know boxing. Steve Or they are into watching this. Why do you think they had those fights on Monday so they understand why they wanted to as long time ago.

One day I was looking at the schedule and I said to Kathy, Do I say, Kathy, you guys have these things on like Mondays, Tuesdays? And she said, Yes. Steve Because back before everyone had cable ready TVs or the capabilities to do pay per

View through the cable or satellite box where you press a button right. Very few people could actually watch the fights at home unless you had like on TV or select TV and you had to get to the cable company and buy a special box or an adapter that gave you the capabilities.

00:10:08:14 – 00:10:29:07 Unknown But most of the times you had to go to the L.A. Sports Arena with the big movie. yeah, yeah. Or a lot of tourism. They would put four screens around the ring and you’d watch the fight.

The movie theater operators across America used to tell everybody, Yeah, you can have every night except Friday, Saturday, because we’re all we’re showing Gone with the Wind or whatever movie. 00:10:29:07 – 00:10:53:12 Unknown But they would not give you those particular nights. Yeah. Yeah.

So I think it’s interesting that boxing is the only major sport in America, basically that like Saturday outside of college football because in television, Ricky and I had this discussion with Bob Arum, Todd the buff and other people. Have you ever guys thought about going on regular weeknights because the Dodgers play

Every day and they just did one. 00:10:53:13 – 00:11:13:18 Unknown They did one round because ESPN wanted it. Yeah. Either because it’s another event like the Super Bowl or the F one. But think about this. The Dodgers play every day of the week the way you watches and most television shows,

When you get moved to Saturday night, you know what the next move is and cancellation, it’s actually the worst viewing night. 00:11:13:20 – 00:11:29:13 Unknown But boxing fans and I think a lot of this is tied into the casino business. No one wants to go to a casino on a Tuesday through Thursday.

You want to go through Friday through Sunday and you spend also the whole boxing culture. But I don’t know if you change that nowadays, but that’s what I grew up in. 00:11:29:13 – 00:11:34:20 Unknown I mean, I remember as a kid, I remember Tuesday night fights. I used to love that.

I look, I remember that country club with Dan Gorman promoting Nice to watch those on Channel 13. You know, 00:11:39:14 – 00:11:49:15 Unknown I remember. See, I moved to Montebello East L.A. in 1986. I used to live in Valencia, California, which was like 99% white. 00:11:49:17 – 00:12:21:10 Unknown

So I got to Montebello. I have never seen so many Mexicans and Asians in my life. I was like, Wow, I’m like, You blended and you, you’re a chameleon. I don’t know what I was. I was like, That’s like Mexico City, China here.

But but that’s when in that era from 86 to 90, which is basically my last few months, that Lamar said Intermediate went there for four months and then Montebello High School, when Mike Tyson and especially when Chavez fought all the guys that I was on, like the

Baseball team with or that I hung out with, yeah, they cared about boxing. 00:12:21:10 – 00:12:23:07 Unknown It was a thing, you know, And talking 00:12:23:06 – 00:12:46:00 Unknown about that, I think at that time the best promoter for me was besides Dan Goose was a Soviet American.

You know, You know, you Don King, you know why? man. Before the fight it was like that. Mayweather 24 seven Yeah, they had the background. What they then sold for it was beautiful gold and it will lead up to the fight. 00:12:46:01 – 00:13:01:17 Unknown

Don King Sort of the best lunches if you’re a medium, you’re and if it was the worst fight in the world, you’re like, no, no, we’re going to get a good lunch, though. And the media were ready to go on was a sharp mind. I was like 500 or something. Right.

But also this thought, it’s a shame that Don King does not get the credit now. 00:13:01:17 – 00:13:20:16 Unknown And you could talk about how he treated fighters, the loss of talking, putting all that aside, his cards top to bottom.

Yeah, from the main event all the way to the stuff that really wasn’t televised. Yeah, he’d have seven or eight title fights. Guys like Ricardo Lopez wouldn’t even make the broadcast. Yeah, And one of the most memorable days that really shaped me as a boxing fan. 00:13:20:16 – 00:13:45:07 Unknown

It was May 7th, 1994. Revenge. The rematches I remember was Chavez against Frankie Randall. Okay, Frank, you’re all you’re right. And then it was a Zuma Nelson fight. Jesse James Later, Simon Brown fought somebody very, very nasty. And then it was another fight. General McClellan Against Julian. Jack Wow, that was right.

And so that’s again, remember what led up to it, though? 00:13:45:08 – 00:14:07:18 Unknown It was the Saturday before the Super Bowl when the Cowboys played the Bills for the second time in Atlanta. I’m at this place in Montebello.

My friend invited me to a friend of theirs was like 25 Mexicans, all very friendly people. When Frankie Randall first fought Chavez and he dropped them, I still remember I was kind of drunk, but I’m like, Wow, this Frankie Randall is doing pretty good. 00:14:07:20 – 00:14:27:04 Unknown He was a surgeon, right?

The surgeon came in with the mask and everything, so the funny thing was, I remember the first three rounds, I said, not everyone wins the first three rounds against each other. He just by the eighth round, I’m like, You know what? It’s a pretty good bye. The 10th round.

The tension in that room from all these people was palpable. 00:14:27:06 – 00:14:47:18 Unknown And then in the 11th, when he kid him with that little and he just broke down, there was a audible shriek. And I remember thinking with that point deduction and the knockdown, I said, Randall won the fight.

When they announced the winner as Frankie Randall. I’ve never seen so much depression in one room. Said it hurt people, that that’s what I grew up on. 00:14:47:18 – 00:15:07:19 Unknown It was a big deal. Boxing was much bigger then It it is now. That’s the that’s the reality. I love boxing, man.

I you know, boxing has changed my life, thanks to Joe, you know. I mean, but you brought up earlier Fearless. What is fearless? Fearless is a show that I am a contributor, regular contributor, anywhere from 1 to 4 to five times a week. 00:15:07:21 – 00:15:16:07 Unknown

Jason Whitlock, who’s a very controversial figure. I’m sure a lot of your audience probably hates him, which is fine. And why? Why? Why? Because he’s a black 00:15:16:06 – 00:15:30:00 Unknown guy that is conservative. I love it. And he is very old school values and he’s not what you’d call pro-black.

He actually knows those words. Right. Right. And he has a sensibility that’s very old fashioned. 00:15:30:02 – 00:15:49:00 Unknown And we talk about issues and we’re not going to be doing this. The blame white guy thing, blame America. We hate America. We’re not doing any of that.

It look, it’s alienated me from a lot of people, people in. But also, I tell you what’s interesting, when I first started doing the show, people were like, my God, you know, Jake Leo Jason was famous enough as a columnist. 00:15:49:05 – 00:16:11:21 Unknown You know, he’s been on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

I seen I mean, when I saw you do I saw a clip of you and him of, okay, who’s this guy? And I go, okay, this guy is not just a little fish. He’s big. He’s big and straightforward, which I just like you. Yeah.

You just see, like, the audience and you look, we’re in an era now that people get offended for any little thing. 00:16:11:23 – 00:16:21:17 Unknown Yes, they. You say something that’s. That’s. You can say that you are not you do not give a crap what you say, Steve.

Well, you know, you’re sweet, honest. I do 00:16:21:16 – 00:16:29:09 Unknown want a sense that I want to be factually correct and honest. Yeah. Say what you want about me and those people that don’t like me, which is absolutely fine. 00:16:29:11 – 00:17:04:21 Unknown

But what I say, I mean, yeah, and I’m not going to pander. I’m not going to virtue signal and I can back it up with facts. Yeah. AAM you know the thing with Whitlock is when you’re around him you have to have a tough

Skin because you’re going to catch the shrapnel you will catch a few strays and no one has a tougher skin than Jason because every time he tweets and I retweeted some of the reactions of people Jason doesn’t care he really doesn’t and is expanding my reach by tell you what’s

Interesting Ricky I’ve had a few people or more than a few people in boxing who are minorities, people of color, as 00:17:04:21 – 00:17:27:02 Unknown they say, come up to me like, Hey, Steve, man, I really like that stuff. Like, they’re really whispering, though. They’re like, Can you say it out loud?

No, no, no, no. I like, you know what? I appreciate the support. So it’s expanded. Like, I don’t cover boxing solely as I once did. And to be frank, and I think I’ve told you and Joe this, I worry about the overall future of the sport. 00:17:27:07 – 00:17:43:03 Unknown

It kind of bores me because I’ve been told this to Doug Fisher two years ago. We go to Phil trainings out in Long Beach once a month, bunch of boxing people. We got to come out there with this one. Phil Trainees in Long Beach. Okay.

It’s a very, very popular historic restaurant where a lot of athletes have go. 00:17:43:03 – 00:17:59:02 Unknown Yet the famous like the touch shore of the West Coast. Yeah, and I said that and this was kind of during the pandemic, the lockout, things were going on. I said, Doug, this is the reality.

We began this 96 to 98. We’ve already seen the best boxing we’ve already going to see ever going. It’s not going to get better. 00:17:59:04 – 00:18:18:15 Unknown What do you think? Look, we get to we got to see a Prime Floyd Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, Oscar de La Hoya, the Bells, the Klitschko’s.

We got to see Winky Wright. We got to see a young Floyd Mayweather. I got to see Carlos Castillo, the greatest fight I’ve ever been at. I got to see Borrero. Morales We don’t even get rivalries in now. 00:18:18:19 – 00:18:19:01 Unknown And 00:18:19:00 – 00:18:37:14 Unknown

They talk with respect, you know, now it’s just talking trash behind these fighters. They’re great on social media. And the thing is, the fighters do not fight as much. And I know me and Joe and you agree about this. You guys train, you’re better off fighting more and training less. Correct.

And it helps you in so many ways. 00:18:37:14 – 00:18:53:22 Unknown Number one, in a niche sport, which boxing is, if you’re going to only fight every eight months, by the time you fight again, no one’s going to remember what you did eight months ago. Right.

Number two, and you know this, when fighters take off these long time in between camp, what do you do in the first month? They’re cutting weight. 00:18:54:02 – 00:19:16:16 Unknown It’s their camp. It’s a fat camp, and then they don’t get sharpened in the skills. You’re better off fighting.

And Joe has told me this a million times. He said, Steve, when I had the raw Wallace brothers, look how often they fought in the late eighties and it is amazing how active they were. Even Michael Nunn what I see fighters now and I’ve talked about this with every old

School trainer, Rudy Hernandez. 00:19:16:16 – 00:19:36:01 Unknown Great. By the way, the Frenchman, Rudy Rudy’s what goes on on Facebook. They’re actually friends. we’re really friends. We talk a lot of smack. But I love the body. McGurk went through this. All these guys will tell you, Steve, it’s much easier fighting.

Freddie Roach told me a story. He said, Steve, 1980, I fought 11 times at the Silver Slipper, the only successful club show in Vegas. 00:19:36:03 – 00:19:58:03 Unknown I fought 11 times in 1989, he said. The easiest year I had in boxing.

Yeah, because you’re you’re just going there, warm up in the gym, and then boom, you fight, fight night, boom guy like on a fight night and you don’t. And I see these camps where guys are in heavy plastics for six weeks microwaving their bodies,

What they’re doing to their inside, and then they have to spar 180 rounds. 00:19:58:03 – 00:20:15:08 Unknown I’m think myself, you’re better off fighting in between and not going through all this. When you said that right now about sparring, you know, it’s funny that you said because I would I would watch Floyd.

Floyd will call me Ricky. Can you open up the gym? And he just wraps up. He doesn’t jump up no more. He just get in there right away. 00:20:15:13 – 00:20:36:22 Unknown He starts six rounds. I mean, 6 minutes, one round.

And what I notice and I learn and I’m trying to observe him in the years that he used to come to my gym and he’s always sparring. Small guys. Right. And maybe I want to ask you this before I tell you my answer. Why do you think he will spar small guys?

00:20:36:23 – 00:20:56:01 Unknown Well, because, number one, I think it’s the pounding. I think a lot of fighters wear themselves out. They want to make this a macho thing 100%. And you know what? He he’ll put a woman on these guys.

Not that he’s going to abuse him, but I see that he’s to this day, he’s fresh. He’s not like, well, again, a word down fighter. 00:20:56:02 – 00:21:13:13 Unknown His number one skill and it is a skill is discipline. Bernard Hopkins is the best lifestyle fighter I’ve ever seen.

I actually had lunch one time with Bernard Hopkins isn’t even able he was like 49 years old. Nothing was on the table. And we’re at a Canelo fight. So he’s with Golden Boy? Yeah, we saw each other to see. 00:21:13:13 – 00:21:32:17 Unknown Let’s have breakfast.

So it’s me, him and his assistant at that point. Malik. Great guy. And I’ll never forget he doesn’t have a fight on the table, but he had not been retired yet. So the Joe Smith fight was long into the long down the road.

So we’re at the Mandalay Bay, we’re at the cafe, and he orders a chicken sandwich real quick. 00:21:32:17 – 00:21:48:11 Unknown And he didn’t know it was breaded. It was fried. So he gets the sandwich, goes, Archie’s hated that. You know what he did?

He got this knife in his fork and he just starts like, I mean, it’s almost like it. Although all the crust, like, I mean, he’s, like, spackling this thing off. He, like, he’s meticulous about it. 00:21:48:13 – 00:22:03:17 Unknown And he had one French fry. Wow. That was his cheek. Yeah.

And I’ve always said, if you want to see Bernard Hopkins as a fight fan on Fight Week, go to the fitness center about 8:00 in the morning, working out because the whole week he will be there. Yeah, because I know for a fact he’s going to be there. 00:22:03:17 – 00:22:19:13 Unknown

Yeah, discipline is a skill. But here’s the problem. And you you, you see this a lot dealing with younger men when you tell a fight or after a fight, hey, you’re not going to have anything for at least four months.

How many kids today are going to say, No, Ricky, I’ll see you in two weeks. You don’t see that. 00:22:19:17 – 00:22:35:12 Unknown So I don’t know if the kids are the perpetrators or the victims of the particular boxing culture, which is discipline.

You know what I knew Bernard was going to be special was when I first got on the beat. It was in 1998. He had this really tough fight with Antoine Echols, God rest his soul. It was a great fight. 00:22:35:12 – 00:22:55:00 Unknown He used to train in my right.

Antoine was a crazy guy, lovable, but he had like ten kids. Great guy, though. And he was a tough fight. Yeah, it was on Fox Sports on a Sunday night. I remember one day and Dan Goosen had the deal right?

So I had somehow met Bernard at a fight in Vegas against Robert Allen when he sprained his ankle. 00:22:55:00 – 00:23:11:23 Unknown And he said, All right, I’ll give you my number. Keep in touch if you ever need me. We had just begun our relationship with with Bernard or not.

So I called Bernard Hopkins on the Tuesday after that Sunday fight. This is literally 48 hours. And his wife at the time was Janette. She goes, hey, yeah, I’m Mr. Kimmel. 00:23:12:01 – 00:23:30:17 Unknown Bernard’s already back. Bernard’s at the gym. You may want to call back later.

I said, Well, what’s he doing at the gym? well, he’s working out. He just said he had to get ready for the next one. I said, This guy’s going to be special. I said, This guy’s going to be tough.

Today’s fighter, I don’t think, has the pressure to even have that level of discipline. 00:23:30:17 – 00:23:55:18 Unknown So here’s what happens. They abuse that privilege. It’s the truth with that mentality. I’m training a young fighter from England. you’re doing a hell of a job, Hamza. Yeah. I’m serious.

I’m training this young kid, 24 years old. He’s six, four, £160. When I really got him, he came in really heavy. He was fighting. I want 54. 00:23:55:18 – 00:24:18:02 Unknown So I didn’t think he want to struggle. 154 normal because he’s the big kid.

And we started training and I go, Hey, he says, I think I’m gonna go up to one six. Okay, fine. That’s cool for Hamza. When you finish a fight, don’t let yourself go. Right? You came in £205. yeah. I go, Please don’t do that again. 00:24:18:04 – 00:24:43:06 Unknown But now he comes.

I want 75. Right. 180. But 175 is the max that he’s that threshold. Yeah. Because we’re here seven a weeks, we’re training and I’m focusing the first two three weeks we’re losing weight because I like what you said earlier. A lot of fighters would will spend the whole time in losing weight.

And I go, we can’t be doing this. 00:24:43:07 – 00:25:11:21 Unknown Let’s just spend one week, two weeks dropping weight. But we do it the smart way. We try, we do it. I turn on the heat all the time.

I turn on the heat and we get to training and we we absorb are what I tell Hamza. Hamza, this is your life, right? Boxing is a short time career. And if you want to be in this in this sport a long time, you have to be disciplined. 00:25:11:21 – 00:25:34:16 Unknown

And what you brought up with Burning Man, I want to this day, I see him cut. he is young. He’ll have a good looking corpse, man. Just telling you. And the thing is with Hamza, is he? I would tell him, Hamza, you’re really lucky you don’t fight in the air.

Well, he had the way in the morning of the fight because the when Pete did it one time, he told me he did it one time, the day of the fight. 00:25:34:18 – 00:25:50:20 Unknown They didn’t know anything else.

I don’t know why they did it, but we had to weigh in the same day. If they did that, they went back and that would be great. I actually wouldn’t mind. I think it would force fighters to go back to their natural weight class.

Good friend of mine, Ray Boom-Boom Mancini. he says, Steve, can I say something? 00:25:50:21 – 00:26:07:12 Unknown You allowed me to weigh in the way they do today. I could have been a three division world champion.

He told me one time he had to weigh in at 7:00 in the morning to fight at 2:00 on CBS. Wow. Rudy Hernandez tells me the exact same thing. You’ll see, when I was fighting at the forum, when I was winning the tournament, he won the first tournament at the forum.

00:26:07:14 – 00:26:23:01 Unknown Yeah. Rudy was really saying how good Rudy was his game. But Rudy, Rudy said, Steve, you know, my weakness was I said, What’s that? Because I love to eat. He was the most undisciplined fighter, he said in that.

But he said, Steve, I would I would like weigh in at eight nine in the morning. I go home, take a nap. 00:26:23:01 – 00:26:38:13 Unknown But I had to fight to be back at the arena by six. Wow. Nowadays, what they’re doing is they’re weaponizing weigh ins.

Sometimes they have it a little bit early, a little bit late, depending on who you’re well, like what they did. The Ryan Garcia would tank his team, let him down. Let’s just leave it at that. But 00:26:38:12 – 00:26:43:13 Unknown Hamza has to realize your height and your range is a weapon.

00:26:43:15 – 00:26:59:15 Unknown But here’s the problem. You got to hone that weapon. I personally would tell Hamza all the time, I want to give you a week off, but when I’m not here with you in the UK, you better get your ass to an L.A. Fitness and you better be sweating.

I don’t want you even putting on a glove. But there’s no reason why you can’t do physical exercise. 00:26:59:15 – 00:27:20:13 Unknown Not now. So we just fought two weeks ago right here. And I think after the fight, it was the interview so far. He was in the gym right away, right?

Not not in the boxing gym, but he’s doing his running, which he goes before the fight before the fight that we had. And he goes, Ricky, I hate running ago. 00:27:20:13 – 00:27:40:13 Unknown Let me tell you something. You hate it running right now, but is very is very important for you.

But when you get a little bit older, you’re going to want to run Claremore, give a relative and Rafael, they hated running. Now they’re running on the treadmill. They’re running the shit that they didn’t like. Right? So arms I to This is the best thing. 00:27:40:18 – 00:27:57:09 Unknown I will.

You don’t have to go crazy. Just 40, 25 minutes so that you stay maintain your body up. So after the interview, he flew out to Dubai and he’s out there working out in the gym then. Okay. Okay, I’ll go. Okay, good. At least he’s doing he’s not you know, he’s he’s enjoying himself.

But at the same time, you’re staying in the gym. 00:27:57:13 – 00:27:59:12 Unknown Some guys just blow up this 00:27:59:11 – 00:28:19:05 Unknown system that we have created where fighters now become twice a year, four formers, and even the preliminary fighters are not as active as they once were.

It really to me, I’m a hard liner. I am absolutely that old guy that tells kids to get off my lawn and I’m proud of it. I’m not changing that, trying to be young and hip. 00:28:19:07 – 00:28:40:10 Unknown I just hate that. Keyshawn Davis is a very talented young fighter.

He is our best 2021 Olympian from that team. Okay. I think he’s got a lot of talent. Keyshawn Davis fought Jose Pedro’s a couple of weeks ago, right? Got to 10.0. So that’s about two and a half, three years as a pro because he had to go back to the

Olympics, as you have now. 00:28:40:10 – 00:28:55:19 Unknown He has ten Tino okay, so keep this in mind. So he’s ten. Tino And he turned pro in 2021, right? Do you know that De La Hoya was ten? And in his first 12 months Mayweather was 11?

You know, and I tell people all the time they agree with me. I said, So you’re saying that Keyshawn is better? 00:28:55:19 – 00:29:13:22 Unknown They said, no, no, they know the system is broken. Yeah. I don’t know how you get that back, but I see certain fighters and I just tell them

All the time, you’re not fighting enough. And then they start the people are now starting to realize a thing that I have now. I need to trade more activity matters because last year, look at this. 00:29:14:00 – 00:29:36:19 Unknown

When you look at the fights that the big fights that we were looking forward to when a fighter was coming off more than a year layoff, they got thrashed. Josh Taylor was not competitive against Teofimo Lopez at all. Stephen Fulton was never in the fight with Inoue.

Errol Spence had a long layoff against Terence Crawford. Then Charlo was really inactive coming in against Canelo. 00:29:37:00 – 00:30:03:05 Unknown Guys, it’s not just a coincidence. The blade either gets sharp or it gets dull. There is no in between. Not in this game, I think.

Dan Goossen said it right and he goes, I think he told Michael, Don’t you rather make $1,000,000 for one fight or 100,000 for the whole year? Meaning that you keep them active, right. Because exposure is very important or fighting once a year. 00:30:03:07 – 00:30:05:01 Unknown You know, I a test

00:30:05:00 – 00:30:19:17 Unknown when and I’ve told this to young managers who love giving money and they think they need to sign all these fighters and they make a lot of mistakes. I told a young manager one time I was getting into the business. I’ve done just a couple of people.

I said, especially with the father, because a lot of these fathers hate to say it. 00:30:19:17 – 00:30:41:00 Unknown They look at their kids as an ATM. Let’s be on Hubbard’s horse. And I said, Here’s what you should do.

If you’re at a meeting with the kid and his father, I would tell them, I want to give you two choices here. Would you rather fight ten times for $10,000 a fight in the first year? Or what if I just give you one fight for 100,000? 00:30:41:02 – 00:30:58:19 Unknown

I said, I’ll tell you this. If they take the second offer for one fight, don’t give him a dime. Get the guy out of there because they’re not serious. Yeah, there has to be some experience, you know. Do you want succession? Rikki have nine on HBO.

There’s a great actor by the name of Brian Cox. He played the old crotchety CEO. 00:30:58:19 – 00:31:17:12 Unknown Great guy. You got to watch this. And Brian Cox, I had no idea because I’m not really into Hollywood, but I love the show. He was a great actor. He’s a Hall of Famer.

Basically, succession on HBO just ended and he did an interview as a show was in its last year. Yeah, the last season. People were really looking forward to it. 00:31:17:14 – 00:31:37:04 Unknown And he said he’s in his eighties and he goes, you know, I don’t understand these young actors.

He goes, They they do one role for like a lot of money. And I get it. He goes me. He goes, I got to keep acting to stay sharp. He calls it the turn down role. If it’s a good role, he goes and I always say this, I don’t care from the star.

00:31:37:05 – 00:31:53:07 Unknown I always say, I don’t care if it’s a big role or a small role. I always look at it, No, no. Sometimes I just have more lines in some other roles. And what I want to do it and I find the same thing in writing.

Ricky One of the reasons why I’m writing for Snack dot com is number one. 00:31:53:07 – 00:31:56:09 Unknown I love Victor Conte. He offered me a great gig, 00:31:56:08 – 00:32:23:07 Unknown but what is next? And for scientific, nutritional athletic company, it’s just this line of supplements and treatment of fighters.

And I find that if I don’t write a little bit consistently, I get dull too. Honestly. Look. Look like what you’re doing here is my first time and I feel like, okay, how right. 00:32:23:09 – 00:32:39:04 Unknown I’m sure as I do it often, I’m a gift shopper.

The best thing you can be like, Rick, if I were you, I would start to do this regularly. Yeah, because in five podcast, you’re going to bang. Yeah. Then ten, you’ll be better. There’s nothing in life that you do less that you get better at. I don’t understand. 00:32:39:09 – 00:33:02:13 Unknown

That’s what frustrates me about the game of boxing because I see what happens. Ricky The best way to become comfortable in front of the camera is to be on front of the camera. Seriously? Yeah. Like, you know, sometimes they interview me enough that I kind of mumble or a stutter

Right now, speaking with you, I feel right. And you’ll get more comfortable in a month if you keep doing it. 00:33:02:13 – 00:33:16:21 Unknown That’s the whole thing. Remember the knife? It only gets sharpened or dulled and there’s no in between. But I’ll tell you a story how different it was.

The mindset of the fighters. Buddy McGarrett was telling me who that brick house buddy tells the story. But he once took a fight on six days notice. 00:33:16:20 – 00:33:20:10 Unknown Like Jerry White Boy. Remember that white boy would take any fight on any notice? 00:33:20:10 – 00:33:40:21 Unknown

Okay, You come under different. More than that. Well, wait, wait, wait. What’s great, Jerry? He’s been kicked out of every gym, but he comes back to the gym a year later. He has great rehabilitation. So he was telling me, he said, See, I’ll never forget, babe. He goes, I had a fight.

He had gone to the movies on a Sunday and he was already into his career and. 00:33:40:21 – 00:34:00:11 Unknown They offered him a fight, I think the next Saturday against Gary Jacobs, a guy from the UK almost famous for fighting and getting knocked out by Pernell Whitaker in the mid-nineties on HBO.

See the solid guy? Yeah. So I’ll throw that to the tailor, to the to the mob, to them. Yeah. He actually did the suits for, like, God. 00:34:00:14 – 00:34:18:20 Unknown Really? Really, Really? Yeah. I thought it was great. Boxing got so easy. He calls them. He goes, Hey, buddy, the garden.

They offered you this five blah, blah, blah, What’s the money? And they go like 125,000. And he goes, Well, you know, I’ve been running, but I better go. What do you think? And Al was kind of like, I don’t know. 00:34:18:22 – 00:34:36:11 Unknown

Well, maybe I think I want to do this fight. NICHOLS I don’t know. It’s a risk. And he goes, we got two choices because what’s that? But he goes, We can make $125,000 in six days or $50,000 in about six weeks. He could all go see the gym one day.

125,000 was a lot of money back then. 00:34:36:11 – 00:34:56:16 Unknown Yeah, but he knew that I’m already sharp. See how different the game is When Buddy McGirt won his first world title? I think it was 38. Fight against Bad Boy against. I don’t know.

It was a Harold Warren on NBC, I think. Okay. This is what I’m saying. He’s a historian right so far. And he had actually, I think had lost him was a rematch. 00:34:56:16 – 00:35:15:12 Unknown But he wins. The title was 38 pro Fight a Fight or two later.

And this how tough it was. His mandatory was a very talented young, fresh man by the name of Meldrick Taylor, who preach Chavez was special. He had no choice but to take it. So they fight on ABC. I remember watching it as a kid. I love the 84 Olympians. 00:35:15:18 – 00:35:39:18 Unknown

They were always on TV or bad and got swarmed. He just could not handle the hand speed. So his 40 fights in seven years in, he loses his title that next year. Autumn Elder Taylor Okay, so the next year he fought eight times in our back.

I it drives me nuts and me and buddy laugh about this but you don’t find that no more stuff like that. 00:35:39:18 – 00:36:01:21 Unknown You find where are the opportunities of the game were I feel well as I if you look at

Gable’s record as well yeah he fought twice or three times a month and I saw his record what I finally did. You know, when Hearns lost to Ray Leonard in the 14th round of one of the greatest fights ever, 1981, September 16th, 1981 was the December six, 16th, 1981. 00:36:01:21 – 00:36:19:07 Unknown

Wow. That’s a 14 round fight in the Vegas heat. So let’s put it like 105 degrees. A cool down by 8:00, right? Yeah. Do you know Hearns actually fought two three months later in the Bahamas on the Muhammad

Ali undercard I asked Emmanuel Stewart about he said, we got to get back out there. I said, Tommy, let’s get a la. 00:36:19:11 – 00:36:37:10 Unknown I don’t give a fuck. Yeah, y’all got to get out there. Marvin.

But that was the mindset now and it just tells me so a guy will fight in like February, right? Yeah. Decent fight. So then you’ll fight in August, Maybe July at the earliest, right? Yeah. And if the fight goes more than six, seven rounds, he gets hit more than three times the announcer.

00:36:37:13 – 00:36:48:14 Unknown All right, good. Solid win. What’s next? And the guy says, I need a long rest. Long rest. How do you just have you get more vacation than a schoolteacher? But that’s 00:36:48:13 – 00:36:59:05 Unknown the mindset. Like Muhammad Ali.

Now again, we can talk about how damaging it was and maybe again, different time and place. Yeah, and I know the way he ended up did. 00:36:59:05 – 00:37:17:11 Unknown You know, the year after the Thrilla in Manila, the most gruesome, vicious, violent, physically

Taxing, heavyweight fight of all the next year, all he had four title defenses. Wow. You can’t even guess. You can’t even get most ten rounders to get four fights nowadays. Why do you think that is? The money? Well, the money is a part of it. 00:37:17:11 – 00:37:41:00 Unknown

But also what happens is and you know this because you’ve dealt with different companies, every company basically has a network or a platform, Right. And they have a budget. So then they have a roster. So every single fight, based on what their minimums are, are basically slotted for certain dates.

Yeah, that’s the unfortunate place. Yeah, it is. It is sad because you want to stay active. 00:37:41:02 – 00:37:45:21 Unknown I would say if I have a world champion, you know, he okay, you’re not going to start. Let’s get you on on the you know what I 00:37:45:20 – 00:37:56:01 Unknown

Would do and I’ve talked to young managers about this, but again, it’s hard to tell people that are paying you money to do something different that I would try to create the option of, okay, how about this? 00:37:56:03 – 00:38:15:17 Unknown

If you don’t have enough slots for us to get extra fights outside the contract, can we find other shows and we’ll let you do the matchmaking. Yeah. And then we’ll fight for a little bit below our minimum. You know, one thing I liked about the old days?

Well, the other thing you talk about the money and you’ve seen the contracts because you’ve done it. 00:38:15:19 – 00:38:47:11 Unknown Sometimes when your fighter has a minimum of $250,000 per fight, the problem is that promoter may say, God, we’re not going to give you an extra fight at 250.

And I don’t see enough managers saying, hold on, hold on, let us fight someone very safe and we’ll take 150. So you need to stay active because back in the old days, I did a story when I was at

ESPN in 1997, Oscar De La Hoya, as the biggest name in the sport, had just been Chavez for the first time. 00:38:47:14 – 00:39:05:09 Unknown I was there. I was there. The first fight. It was 120 degrees. yeah, I remember. Okay, We had a fight. We had a fight.

And you see Al Roker, right? I remember I had to buy a soda and I had bought one of the one of the things I said, you know, I’ll buy two sodas. I want one of the holders, the the aluminum bleachers. 00:39:05:09 – 00:39:23:22 Unknown

I felt like a piece of grilled chicken breast because remember, the old Caesar’s Palace had like, the moment I was like, my gosh, all the way to the top. I remember he takes the rest of the year off because that fight was like in June 7th of 97. Correct.

So the next year, as the most popular fighter in the sport, De La Hoya had five 00:39:23:21 – 00:39:25:05 Unknown championship fights. 00:39:25:06 – 00:39:48:16 Unknown He fought Miguel Gonzalez, Pernell Whitaker, David Camacho, Hector Camacho, Wilfredo Rivera. And you know what’s funny about that?

Because I asked both Bob and Oscar, you know, every fight they had a different pay scale. Yeah, They figured out what this fight was worth. What did it do on pay per view in bobsled? Steve Oscar a couple of times took a lower guarantee and said, Let me work off the upside

Of the pay per view. 00:39:48:19 – 00:40:06:07 Unknown And he got me. And was Robert little man still no Robert at that point was gone. Robert only lasted a year or two. Okay, but see, here’s the problem. Today’s contracts, if it’s a hard for him, 8 million minimum already off the bat.

These promoters like there’s no way. Yeah, we’re going to give you the minimum amount of fights because we’re going to bleed. 00:40:06:08 – 00:40:07:21 Unknown That’s the reality. And 00:40:07:20 – 00:40:13:05 Unknown this stuff is so, so, so grimy, man, 00:40:13:04 – 00:40:31:18 Unknown because I want to see him.

And like me, I want to be dealing with one fighter right now. And I got two offers to work with. If I’m lucky you. I really I really don’t want to work with the fighters because my main focus is Hamzah,

Because I want him to be my first world champion, you know, cause I got I got him at 12 fights. 00:40:31:20 – 00:40:34:22 Unknown But this kid is developing into something very little about him. 00:40:34:21 – 00:40:50:07 Unknown

He’s willing to make not to sacrifice the investment to take time out of his life to come over here 6 to 8 weeks. Yeah, I respect that so much. Yeah, He comes here already. I just spoke to the dad and Taz yesterday. We spoke. They’re ready to come here in half of Ramadan.

00:40:50:07 – 00:41:00:10 Unknown Normally they take the whole month off. He’s coming March 15. I’ll go. We got to get ready and get back on the God willing. June 1st in Saudi Arabia. I think it’s good for 00:41:00:09 – 00:41:12:07 Unknown

Fighters from other countries to come to America, because I think we still have the widest variety of sparring. The most different styles. Yeah, and there is a different style to each country. 00:41:12:11 – 00:41:34:01 Unknown Yeah. Junto, Nakatani, I’ve seen him grow right in front of my eyes. Rudy’s fighter.

I remember him seven or eight years ago. Jiu jitsu became a three time world champion. But I’ve seen him become a better fighter working with all these tough mets. Yeah, and look, in a way, last spent time at Wild Card invited a bunch of American different

Styles and they said, I want to learn something. 00:41:34:05 – 00:41:49:07 Unknown Did he learn something? Yes, he did. Doug Fisher will tell you some great about what he would love to get give because don’t don’t get that the special gold pass. There’s not they didn’t allow a lot of people in there.

Yeah. Doug wrote a whole story on it. Really. They fought guys like that the next. Yeah. yeah. 00:41:49:08 – 00:41:59:07 Unknown They fought like blue nose and Lopez. Yeah. You couldn’t get that in Japan. You cannot. And so just the act alone of Hamza coming out here saying, you know what?

00:41:59:06 – 00:42:06:17 Unknown I need to be an adult. And that says a lot because one thing about Hamza, when I talk to him, he’s a bright guy. You can tell he gets it. 00:42:06:19 – 00:42:29:04 Unknown But I just think the American fighters today, they’re a little bit spoiled.

And Rudy Rudy Hernandez, I’ll tell you about this. He has no star after spending time with Japanese fighters who are always on time. In fact, they get to the gym early. That’s the God’s honest truth. I’ve never been gentle to the gym. What really you know, if you as you got comfortable.

00:42:29:08 – 00:42:34:10 Unknown Well, here’s the thing. If Joe is supposed to start at 930 with Rudy, Joe 00:42:34:09 – 00:42:47:11 Unknown will always be there at nine, because I know that for a fact. I’ve walked in at 910 knockouts with Manny Robles. He has a great gym there.

Now, every time I go there to see him judo, I’m always 20 minutes before Rudy. But I’m always there. 00:42:47:14 – 00:43:08:04 Unknown After June two and one time, June two only came 15 minutes early. And Rudy said, Did you to June two, You are late in being early C4. He spoils them.

And the American fighters have to understand, bro, nowhere in in real world would you be allowed to show up to the to your job late every single day. Rudy talking about Rudy. 00:43:08:04 – 00:43:32:09 Unknown Rudy told me a story. He goes, Ricky, I was waiting for a certain fighter in the gym.

You know, he goes, He shows up like I won. We had an appointment at 1230, shows up at one 130 something. He goes, okay, yeah, go ahead. Put on yourself. And then Rudy is working with on a fighter. And the fighter goes, Hey, I will your late brother, your time is over.

00:43:32:11 – 00:43:49:21 Unknown And I go, Wow. And so the guy yeah. The thing with Rudy is he told me a story. You got to get Rudy on here because he’s another guy. He told me a story that they tried to bring Giunta over to a local gym.

Want to save the names, to protect the innocent? I don’t anyone pissed off at me or you and the guy who was at that gym. 00:43:49:21 – 00:44:06:08 Unknown That’s his home. Gym? Yeah. Is not a champion. Joe is a two time soon to be three champion Rudy.

So this pissed me off so bad that we’re there early again. He’s on Japanese time. This guy just walks in like we’re doing him the favor. Yeah, Yeah. And I’m thinking, here’s the thing. If I’m that guy’s trainer, I’m like, Hey, get here early. 00:44:06:08 – 00:44:22:09 Unknown You’re the world champion.

You can sharpen the knife. And he said, Steve, I got so sick of him lollygagging, taking time. I said, You know what? You until get in. And the guy had the nerve to say, What are you guys doing? And Rudy said to this guy, Hey, bro, you’re not that important.

Yeah, this can happen with or without you. 00:44:22:09 – 00:44:26:12 Unknown Yeah. And the guy got upset, and Rudy said, I don’t give a shit. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. 00:44:26:11 – 00:44:42:10 Unknown Punctuality is my main thing. I hate being late on when someone’s late on me. I hate it.

I took first camp when I had with him, so I had to break him in and take him to different gym. I took a wild card, but one time I took him to Robert Garcia’s. 00:44:42:12 – 00:45:07:09 Unknown We drove an hour away to. Yeah.

And each of you know, I mean, where Robert is, he’s heading somewhere in Riverside. And we put him against an Olympian from Top Rank, the South Pole year. Martinez And Hamza. Hamza was kind of uncomfortable, you know, because I just feel I’m so being uncomfortable is the best thing.

Have to learn how to do that. 00:45:07:11 – 00:45:25:08 Unknown And he’d understand that. And of course, you’re going to have to learn a dad being uncomfortable is the best. I go, You have to feel uncomfortable. If you’re comfortable, that means you. There’s no point.

You have to get them to be uncomfortable to get comfortable. That’s the game. Yeah, that is the game. And this is this is such a valuable experience. 00:45:25:08 – 00:45:46:19 Unknown You know, I remember a couple about seven or eight years ago, Joe Gallagher, when he all the Smith Brothers.

Yeah he would once a year come to Southern California and go all around the gym. I first met Joe, I first met him and Liam. Paul Smith the guys. Yeah. Scott Quigg. I met him for first time. It is just telling you it is an advantage to be here. 00:45:46:21 – 00:46:11:05 Unknown

It really is because you find all kinds of fighters, all kinds, all kinds from different just draw and styles, different styles. You get your ass beat or you’re going to do good as beating. You know, you’re talking about only training one guy. I think that’s a very smart move.

In one sense, I my favorite people in the sport of boxing are the trainers. 00:46:11:05 – 00:46:26:01 Unknown It’s not the fighters. Fighters come and go, managers. I really get along with a lot of managers, but the trainers are the ones You guys are in there with the fighters more than anybody.

Day to day, you can make the most amount of commitment. And the thing that I hate and me and Joe have talked about this, I’ve written about as much as anybody and spoken about it. 00:46:26:03 – 00:46:48:12 Unknown The ones that get screwed, they’re the ones that get screwed the most.

And it’s a shame they’re not protected under contract state laws and punished for doing a good job. Yeah. Abel Sanchez, I think he’s the only trainer that had a contract with Triple Jean. Yeah, and he would not take less than what his percentage was.

And look, I remember he told me a story that first happened with Terry Norris. 00:46:48:14 – 00:47:05:07 Unknown With Terry. I’ve never understood this. Why should trainers be punished for doing a great job? Because think about it.

If you take in a full round kid who makes $500 his first fight and you get 50 bucks, that’s really think about this. It’s not that. It’s not the six weeks you prepare. You may have prepared that kid for eight years as an amateur. 00:47:05:07 – 00:47:24:14 Unknown You never got paid.

You paid for all this? Yeah, exactly. Amateur tournament. You’re driving him. You’re picking him up. Whatever stuff else he gets into, you may have bailed them out of jail. You may have helped fund an abortion. I’ve heard every story. And then we get $50. So they’re all quit that. Then they make $5,000.

You’re good at 500, you make $50,000. 00:47:24:14 – 00:47:43:02 Unknown Like, okay, now we’re rolling. Now I’m starting to make at least minimum wage on the hours that I’ve put in previously. All right. But now you start getting up to about $500,000, man. 50,000. But then you start making seven figures.

Then it’s like we need to put you on a cap. Can you believe that? Hate that hate that you work your whole life. 00:47:43:02 – 00:47:59:08 Unknown And this is what I do. And I always tell a fighter and I tell this to any fighter that I work with.

I don’t care about the money. The money’s going to come. Just don’t cut me off. Well, there’s no principle. And as sucks, I’ve often said the reason why Marvin Hagler is my favorite. One of my favorite athletes. 00:47:59:08 – 00:48:16:02 Unknown

And he told me a story and I want you to tell the Petronelli were great. They actually were like his white fathers in Brockton, and they gave him a job on the construction yard. Just how hard of a man Marvin was for seven and a half years, his strength and conditioning

Program was a 9 to 5 job working construction. 00:48:16:04 – 00:48:35:22 Unknown That’s the type of man he was. Okay, So he’s finally starts making money and then he, you know, everything happens and you would always pay them. And Bob Arum said, Steve, I don’t think you understand this.

He was with me for 17 fights handshake. That’s when Top Rank was in New York. They’d have a meeting before the fights. 00:48:35:22 – 00:48:55:06 Unknown Everything. And the Petronelli would be there. And Marvin said, okay, this is the money. All right. Thanks, Bob. I’m going to get ready. Never had a contract.

And trust me, guys like Don King were trying to poach. Don tried to hire his mom. Yeah He said, No, get the hell out of here. So finally, Marvin, finally a star. 00:48:55:08 – 00:49:19:09 Unknown Everything is happening. He’s in commercials. He’s in this.

They had to kind of talk him into doing the Leonard fight because the Mugabe fight was very tough. And I think even Marvin had gotten sick of the grind. From what I’ve read. So the petronelli, I think one of them was with Bob and they were in Vermont or somewhere

In New England, and they met and they met Bob and they said, This is what they’re offering, this and that. 00:49:19:13 – 00:49:43:10 Unknown my God. And then I think it was goody goody, said, Marvin, if it’s about the money being part of talked about it, we’re going to take less than 33%.

And Bob, I’ll never get Bob with you. I’ll never forget it. Marvin slammed his hand on the table. God damn it. It’s not about that. And he said, if you ever make that offer again, you’re fired. 00:49:43:10 – 00:50:03:21 Unknown Yeah.

And he walks, and finally it goes, Okay, all right, all right, all right. I’m taking this fight and you guys are getting your 33%. And just and that was the deal. And here’s the thing. He paid back Arum, too, because my trainer was the attorney for Ray Leonard. wow. He hated Bob.

They hated each other. You told me. 00:50:03:21 – 00:50:23:05 Unknown That’s the story I want to hear. So this is the funniest part, though. Trainer and Carl Marvin thinking he’s going to take this fight. They’re going to give him 12 million guaranteed in 87. That’s like 35 million today.

That’s before upside So and so they explain to Hagler okay we’ll get Bob because I know there’s no Bob. What do you mean? 00:50:23:05 – 00:50:40:07 Unknown Bob’s my promoter. Yeah, he was not going to He goes, Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. He goes, hold on.

He goes, I’ve had a good run with Bob. I can’t do this for him. Trainer goes, Wait a minute, Are you really telling me you’re going to. Yeah, He goes without Bob. I’m just you’ve got to make a deal with Bob. 00:50:40:07 – 00:50:45:05 Unknown

So I get the chills because that’s a good trainer off Bob because. Okay, you asshole, 00:50:45:04 – 00:51:03:17 Unknown you need to put up $25 million in credit and you’re Bob. Okay. And so here’s the funniest thing. So Bob tells Marvin, Marvin, you got 12, Ray’s getting 11.

That was the way they really helped grease the skids because Rate said, Hey, give me the ring. 00:51:03:17 – 00:51:26:14 Unknown Sighs Give me the glove. Sighs You know, So my story is that Bob told Marvin. Marvin this could be a big one with close circuit and whatever pay per view, this could

Be a big one. Yeah, I don’t know. What do you think? He goes, Okay, we’ll take the lower guarantee. Let’s work out. He made 19 million. That’s the star guitar. 00:51:26:17 – 00:51:41:07 Unknown And Ray Leonard said, No, no, no, just give me my 11. Yeah. So here’s the point.

And I love Ray. Ray, He took last year. Ray, actually, every time he comes out of like. Of Bob, listen to you, like, he laughs about it. Cause I’ve seen Ray’s house. I’ve been there one time, all right? He doesn’t miss the Pacific. 00:51:41:09 – 00:51:55:07 Unknown He’s a very smart. my God.

Ray’s the best, right, Ray? You know, it’s funny about Ray, which I really love about him, is that he’s aged a well, he’ll tell you. Back in the eighties, he was an asshole Well, if you read his book, he’ll tell you. He said 50 times his book. I was a terrible human being.

00:51:55:09 – 00:52:15:12 Unknown He could I really was the way he treated his wife the it but he exactly as humble as you be for for the stature that he has like he’ll tell you like man that Camacho a Steve Paul

He told me one time on a chemical Steve that’s the worst because I made a fool out of myself and he has no problems telling people this. 00:52:15:13 – 00:52:20:13 Unknown Like, like you say, he’ll admit. Leonard He goes, Eagles. Hearns beat me in the rematch. 00:52:20:12 – 00:52:36:07 Unknown

You know, he kicked me out of a bar. Ray Why would he do so? We were so. So we were in Palm Springs. Gabriel is. We had just finished training camp. We were fighting a Sumo Nelson And for the rematch? Yeah. So I was in the bar. 00:52:36:08 – 00:52:58:12 Unknown

I don’t drink. I never drank. And I don’t. I don’t like drinking. So I was in the bar drinking a Coke, and I saw Ray, and I went up to him and I said, Yeah, I’m a big fan. He shook my hand, everything, and I went to sit down and I’m eating peanuts.

And with a coke, you know, he gets up and I lie to you, he gets up, he goes, because you say, Yo, you in boxing? 00:52:58:14 – 00:53:15:06 Unknown Because I have brought up the courage. And he goes, Why are you doing in the bar?

Because I was trying to be a fighter myself, you know, because I was trying to be a fighter that was sparring. Gaber And then back in the days with What are you doing in the bar? If you want to be a fighter, you, you get the heck out of here.

00:53:15:07 – 00:53:32:23 Unknown If I just got my shot and I left like, like a go with my telling you, buddy is right, you know, he was, he was already retired and everything, you know, that reminds me of a story.

We’re at the Mandalay Bay just about 20 years ago, Rudy had a fight with Rudy Hernandez. And we see Jameel McClain. He was still fighting. 00:53:33:04 – 00:53:47:22 Unknown yeah. Jamal McClain was a mountain of a man. Very nice guy. Had a pretty good relationship with him. So, yeah.

So them promoting him, right? So we’re near the elevators. And that one coffee shop that had the bar on the other side. So Rudy and I were talking throughout the night. Doug was around a couple other people. 00:53:47:22 – 00:54:06:03 Unknown

Jamal MacLean I struck up a conversation with them and Jamal was a very personable guy and he bit a beer in his hand. Yeah, yeah. So we’re all kind of talking. And Rudy, yesterday, you’re a fighter, right? Okay, Emmanuel, what are you doing with that?

Jimi was like, Well, bro, let me just tell you something that should not be in your end. 00:54:06:06 – 00:54:24:22 Unknown Jamal You know what? You’re right. But come on. But tomorrow, Rudy. Tonight Rudy is straight out. You know, I love Rudy. I love people that are straight out in this business.

Just because you don’t find it no more, no integrity. No. And like I said earlier, people get offended by you. Just they don’t want to hear pointing out the obvious. 00:54:24:22 – 00:54:35:15 Unknown You know what is interesting? You’re right about that.

And I am not the most popular guy with the fighters, especially the current crop. The truth because I tell the truth, 00:54:35:14 – 00:54:49:02 Unknown like it’s just they don’t want to hear You want they want to hear. They want a publicist. Yeah. Yeah.

If you look a lot of these kids today and I think it is a generational thing, which I’m fine with. 00:54:49:03 – 00:55:09:01 Unknown I have enough friends. Yeah, I’ve already met fighters. Much better than you that like me. So I’m good with that. James Toney no longer cusses me out.

Junior was I worked for him for almost two years. He is the crazy is funny, is God and honest. And I love James. James is great. Yeah that’s another guy I was lucky to see. 00:55:09:03 – 00:55:24:11 Unknown I was lucky to see him at Wild Card.

The stuff he used to do in sparring. Unbelievable. Used to come in with the cigar in his mouth and then. And he should tell people, Whose ass am I going to beat? And it would do it. I mean, did you ever see him work out at at Billy Blanks?

No, that was before my time. 00:55:24:13 – 00:55:40:01 Unknown A little before I was on the beat. So I was with him and Billy Blanks. And I was trying to be a fighter at the time. You know, I had a couple professional fights. I had one win, three losses. I tried it.

It wasn’t for me. So I went into sparring because can you stuff on and I’m not lying to you. 00:55:40:06 – 00:55:59:03 Unknown The ring that they had there, it was from right there to your corner to hear, hear sparring games. Tony. He will, my ass. So what year is that?

This is 2009. You just used your time. really? Yeah. That’s When he’s like a cruiserweight, right? Yeah. This is before. No, he was a heavyweight already. we have fought. 00:55:59:07 – 00:56:24:17 Unknown He had just finished fighting the biggest fight of his career at that.

No, he had big, big fights, but he had fought. Holyfield was giraffe. that was a cruiserweight. That Cruiserweight 23 Fight of the year. Correct. That was a bad that, by the way. I still say that’s that’s Dan Goossens, best job of rebuilding a fight.

People left him for dead because his career was over before that, you know, and he revived and he got him the whole year. 00:56:24:21 – 00:56:43:10 Unknown I started working with him after the Holyfield fight. Yeah. You know, but the thing is, there was a generation of fight.

And I look, I was a pretty harsh critic of Oscar at times, but he’d still talk to you. Oscar. Look, Oscar was my favorite fighter. Really? My favorite fighter. And I’ll tell you why. Because he was so slick. 00:56:43:14 – 00:57:00:22 Unknown He was consistent and fighting.

Yeah, And he’s a converted softball, just like my fighter is. That’s why my thing, my fighter and I tell Hamza, How does that look? Look, Oscar, I send him videos of Oscar all the time, and I see Ben with Oscar Mario out,

But I don’t have, like, a groupie, you know, because he’s a nice guy. 00:57:01:00 – 00:57:23:03 Unknown very cool. Got an Oscar for an hour. Sign autographs after. Weigh in. Oscar’s on me yelling hell Gonzalez. Yeah. That the Caesars Palace Forum shops and he sign autographs for an hour.

My friend actually went to the gift shop to buy a pair of, like, boxing gloves. I Yes, go ahead. He’ll be here, trust me. But that generation of fighters could at least take fair criticism. 00:57:23:04 – 00:57:45:02 Unknown

Why did you criticize Oscar? because sometimes he the way he fought, sometimes I just being a dick, I just going against him. Yeah, because he’s just, like, controversial set out. He was an L.A. guy that didn’t like Oscar’s more Fernando Vargas guy. When me and Oscar get along great.

Now, I like the fact that back in that era, they could actually roll with the punches. 00:57:45:04 – 00:58:14:18 Unknown Nowadays, with today’s fighters, especially with social media, if you happen to tweet, you know what? I think such and such struggle didn’t look good.

They’ll block you or I’m not going to do it. They don’t they can’t take criticism at all. At all. They cannot take constructive criticism. And so many of these younger kids have a sense of entitlement and an attitude that it’s actually

Very refreshing to see a kid like Bruce Carrington, who we had on the show last week, Myanmar, yo, that reminds me of a lot of those good fighters in the eighties and nineties. 00:58:14:18 – 00:58:35:16 Unknown

I love he has the look the way he fights, but just his attitude and the fact that you can actually have a real conversation with them and talk boxing or whatever. But he’s a very respectful young man.

His parents did a great job with him and Bruce is a guy that I root for. I think he’s got all the tools, but there’s other guys and we know which ones are like, Good God, I just you know which ones. 00:58:35:16 – 00:59:01:15 Unknown But have you ever sat down with Usher?

I mean, I mean, yeah, we we’ve had Oscar in studio and he’s we talk once in a while. The thing about Oscar and I’ve criticized him for this he doesn’t show up to enough of his own companies events like for a press conference because he’s busy and I don’t think

He’s as committed as an Eddie Hearn or a Bob and I and I say that as a compliment because when he’s there, he’s good. 00:59:01:15 – 00:59:20:06 Unknown I said this, I think is that you think that will be the downfall of golden boy that well

It almost was his own apathy for a few years he was asleep at the wheel. I remember being his first show. Do you remember his first show? Which one was that when he had Jose Navarro? No, that’s not how they started his first golden Boy show. 00:59:20:06 – 00:59:37:11 Unknown

Do you remember where it was? Was it at the Olympic Auditorium? Yeah, because he’s have a series from 2000 to about 2004. Yeah, I remember that. So I said this. Eric Gomez is a really good friend of mine. I love Eric. Very earnest, honest, honorable guy.

I said, Eric, because this publicist used to tell me, are you coming to this press conference? 00:59:37:13 – 00:59:55:12 Unknown And I used to tell you they really wanted you there. And then Gabe Rivas I said, Gabe, well, here’s the thing is we’re going to be like, well,

I got Gabe and he’s all he’s got meeting. I said, Gabe, let me just tell you something. Bob Arum never has meetings when it comes to his business. Eddie Hearn Dan Goosen never had I go, I will be there and steak or whatever. 00:59:55:13 – 01:00:01:19 Unknown

And I had similar conversations with Eric and I said, Eric, I’m just telling you, I’m not trying to be a dick about it. But if someone has to tell you this, 01:00:01:18 – 01:00:16:21 Unknown Oscar needs to be there as the face and the logo of the company.

And I must just show you something. If I do a two minute clip on Twitter or Instagram with Ray Vargas, I’ll probably get 58 views. 01:00:16:23 – 01:00:36:09 Unknown But I did one with Oscar when he actually showed up. That thing had like 38,000 views in two days.

I set it with the little circle. Yeah. And they said, We get it because it matters. Yeah, Yeah. The one thing with Eddie Hearn, I’ve had my battles. I respect Eddie. The great work ethic. That guy can. He can sell snow to an Eskimo. 01:00:36:11 – 01:00:55:17 Unknown He’s a hustler.

I’ve gotten into it with. really? I remember Scott Quigg didn’t make weight against Oscar Valdez. I don’t remember. I remember that night. He just rained the whole night at the StubHub Center. Okay, we call it we call it Waterworld 2018. I mean, there was nobody there. Really? Yeah, even the media.

Most of the media went into the media room to watch it on TV. 01:00:55:19 – 01:01:16:07 Unknown And I have been outside and I said, Bullshit, I’ve been there. I had glossies, pictures of me as the only guy. And I mean like that area that I’ll show you that’s been there.

I wanted to be there. Plus I didn’t have my computer. So it’s different. Yeah. So I believe that they pulled a fast one on Oscar Valdez because generally and you’ve been on both sides, when a fighter doesn’t make weight, what do you do? 01:01:16:08 – 01:01:31:20 Unknown

You say, okay, yeah, let us come in at this weight. But the next morning we’ll do another weight where we can’t come in above this. All right. So there’s a sense of fairness. None of that happened. And Frank Espinosa, who’s a dear friend of mine, I’ve never seen him so pissed off.

Yeah, he’s a very cool kid. Still manages him to this day. 01:01:32:00 – 01:01:40:22 Unknown And Frank said, Steve, I actually did not want the fight to happen. Oscar said, No, no, no, I want to fight. And also, the $700,000 came into play. Money matters for us. 01:01:40:21 – 01:01:50:11 Unknown

So the bigger guy breaks his jaw. I mean, he’s bleeding. The whole time I was only guy. And you can ask people like little Tino because they were in all. 01:01:50:16 – 01:02:12:09 Unknown I said, Hey, guys, Finally, they’re like, What’s up? I said, Hey guys.

I asked this of both Todd and Eddie Hearn, Why wasn’t there a second day when? Well, what do you mean? I said, Look, guys have missed weight. Before I get it, you’re not going to cancel this event.

But don’t you think our sense of fairness like every other fight you do a morning weigh in to make sure that at least one guy and they were, my God, everyone’s like looking at me. 01:02:12:11 – 01:02:34:03 Unknown And I said, Eddie, I don’t think that’s fair. Well, what do you mean?

What do you mean? They do it all the time. How many how many pounds was the over by three or four. And it made a difference. But it was funny because when it broke up, people. my God, Steve, I can’t believe it.

People in England that hate Eddie because there’s a fact they were tweeting me saying, Mate, you you gave him the stick. 01:02:34:08 – 01:02:52:22 Unknown Like, a hero from Deli. Yeah, that’s Tino for that tape, because that was like, this asshole. I’m just being me.

Because my view is, if you don’t make weight, I get it. It’s hard to cancel fights, but if you were Oscar Valdez’s trainer, if that other guy didn’t even do a morning weigh in, wouldn’t you be pissed? 01:02:52:23 – 01:02:55:16 Unknown Yeah. Yeah, of course. Of course. 01:02:55:15 – 01:03:14:01 Unknown

Broke his jaw May have never been the same again. That’s the thing. That’s our job as the media. Yeah. You know, my view is as the media. If no one is ever pissed off at you or if everyone likes you, you’re not doing your job, is what I’m trying to say.

Even guys in the media like yourself, a lot of guys do not spend time in the gym. 01:03:14:01 – 01:03:33:14 Unknown A lot of media people don’t spend time. They don’t at all. They don’t have time or they don’t have the interest and they have interest to criticize it, to write about fighters.

Yeah, they do the research and all that, but you literally are in the gym, you’re training you, you don’t work with me. I remember doing that work with you, but you’re in there hitting that banging speed bag. 01:03:33:16 – 01:03:50:08 Unknown You’re working out. I go in there, I go function.

I talk to Steven right now that I see where the headphones with, you know. No, no, no, no, I to take off the earbuds. Yeah, yeah. Because we’re talking shop. Yeah. Yeah, I, I’ve told this to young reporters and I’ve tweeted it.

Hey guys, sometimes not everything has to be an on the record interview. 01:03:50:10 – 01:04:09:10 Unknown Yeah, sometimes just hang out at the gym, talk shit. Yeah but get opinions or. Yeah, and just keep it all off the record. Don’t be like secretly recording it.

Just put it right here in the main frame. Some of the funniest conversations are completely off the record. All right. And that’s one of the facts. You got that on video you got. 01:04:09:12 – 01:04:27:20 Unknown

But you could use that down the line because you have to always build your level of knowledge. That’s why, like one of the things that I love to do sometimes, Ricky, at my private office in Montebello, I call it the little Orange Bowl of Montebello, has all my stuff in there.

Miami Hurricanes, stuff all my career. But there are days I’m just I’m just going to read it. 01:04:27:20 – 01:04:44:13 Unknown I’ll read a book. Yeah. Or I’m going to watch documentaries. Or I’ll watch a fight. But just like, don’t talk to anybody. Don’t check your phone too much, but just actually read.

Just lay out and read in silence. And generally it’s about sports or boxing, Right? Okay. Because there’s a couple of things you’ll notice. And then you could bring it up and you never like all. 01:04:44:13 – 01:05:02:08 Unknown Got that Steve Kim still smart, not something to read.

It’s really just because you could go here Steve you could talk a lot about stuff from the eighties that I don’t even know. Sometimes you talk about like, you know, it’s funny that the Hagler Hearns, Leonard Duran, you got to watch this. This called the Kings.

It was on Showtime, came out three years ago. 01:05:02:08 – 01:05:18:21 Unknown It’s about that whole rivalry. Okay. And even though I had seen it, I decided to rewatch it last week because there’s no fights on that Saturday. So I said, I want to watch.

You know, it’s funny, I learned a few things because you can watch a thing ten times, like a great movie and one day. But I never notice that about the Titanic. 01:05:19:01 – 01:05:34:07 Unknown Like it is kind of like I like reading the book.

It’s like when I read the Bible, you re one verse and then you read it again. It means something else. Yes. And then you read it again is something else. There are things that I learned from the king. I’m like, I get it I see that. It’s more crystal clear.

01:05:34:12 – 01:05:58:19 Unknown Did you ever did you ever meet Hagler? No. But when he died, I’m not going to it. It was the Saturday of the chocolate Tito Estrada rematch. I was there March of 2021. And it’s the most emotional I’ve gotten over a man’s death since my father.

Because there was rumors that went on. There’s a Hagler Facebook group run by the wife. 01:05:58:21 – 01:06:19:04 Unknown Rumors started circulating and someone from top ranks it see but I don’t want to alarm you. But I think this may be true. I mean, thinking of part of my childhood died.

It was really sad. I started going back through all the things with Hagler. I remember the happiest moments of my childhood in Valencia, California, when Hagler would fight, and this one, Sports Illustrated, was number one magazine for sports. 01:06:19:06 – 01:06:37:22 Unknown

And whoever made the cover like that meant going viral because that was that. That’s how important I know athletes that have made the cover of Sports Illustrated, they’ve blown up those things. They have it in their house. It’s like a big thing.

And when Hagler beat Hearns, there was a great action shot and the title was just marvelous. 01:06:38:00 – 01:06:57:06 Unknown I still remember just getting it, looking at it going, my God, do you have a lot of memorabilia of him? Not of him. I really don’t. I actually only have my credentials.

I don’t really have that much boxing memorabilia outside of that. But when it comes to Hagler, I’ve gotten books. He’s the one guy in boxing I wish I would have interview. 01:06:57:06 – 01:07:16:03 Unknown That’s why I love talking to Arum, because Arum will tell you great Hagler stories because

He was forced to have Hagler. He will you still Bob Arum store in this? You know what Bob Arum teaches me and I spoke to him last week and I got to call him. If you love your job, just keep doing it. Because retirement has killed more people than work.

01:07:16:03 – 01:07:37:08 Unknown I love Steve. Some trainers. Some people are in boxing for the money, right? I love what I do. Be honest. Yeah, Like they say. What are you going to do? I’m about. I go. That’s the most to me is the broker’s job. For a trainer it is.

We don’t make a lot of money, but I enjoy. I love coming to the gym. 01:07:37:10 – 01:07:55:23 Unknown I love it. Be honest with you. I have my private clients. I have my celebrities. And that’s where you actually that’s another secret.

John Bray taught me this, and he was taught this by Mac a Foley. This was just like Tony. I love Johnny Bray. Yeah. Tom Brady. He used to be my coach. He had just kind of retired and so he starts training, right? 01:07:55:23 – 01:08:14:21 Unknown Wild card. So We’re talking.

John goes, Hey, Steve, man, I’m never getting a real job because I’m glad Mac Foley taught me this. I go, What’s that? He goes, Your son learn how to work. You never have to get a real job.

And that’s another thing that I would tell young trainers, If you want to do the real fighters, I get it. 01:08:14:23 – 01:08:32:13 Unknown Here’s a problem. They don’t pay you hourly. No, you make a lot of sacrifice. You get a couple of housewives and doctors and lawyers. They’ll pay you a lot.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so that that’s the secret. You got to have that balance because you got to be able to pay rent and that’s it. Yeah, exactly. I maintain the gym, the barbershop, my house memorial, my kids, my ex. 01:08:32:14 – 01:08:57:12 Unknown

You know, I love what I do, to be honest with you. And I love it with a lot of passion because I’m like, you just said, Cory, I watch I sometimes just watch them. I just watch. And I go, Okay, cool. What can I use?

Remember this Also, when I learn and I study these fights or watch fighters and I bring it into my fighter, that doesn’t mean I have to change my fighters now because each fighter has their own way of fighting. 01:08:57:14 – 01:09:08:05 Unknown But I pick on a little thing.

We could do this better. Okay, let’s add this on to your show where you find out if you watch tape with your fighters ever See, that’s the funniest thing about every. And I wonder, 01:09:08:04 – 01:09:17:13 Unknown you know, can I tell you why?

The only reason why I don’t do that, because every fight and fighters are way different like, say, right now. 01:09:17:15 – 01:09:35:10 Unknown Humsafar, Liam’s man. I was watching someone fight and I try not to get stuck on what can we do? What can we do?

Because once we go in, there is a whole different thing. He could be southpaw, correct? Correct. So I got located walk ins for work. He steps in when he throws about an Oklahoma. Let’s just play by here. 01:09:35:13 – 01:09:53:09 Unknown Right.

Let’s see what he brings the first round a first go out there, usually jam, keep them away. And if he’s brought in first and if something changes right second round, we’ll figure out and we’ll go from there. We play as we go because I and a lot of trainers have done that.

They sit down to watch. What can you do? 01:09:53:11 – 01:10:18:14 Unknown I seen that. I seen a lot of fighters try to do that. But when it comes to fighting out, nothing comes out right. You know, it is interesting, like if Bob Arum were to retire, I think he’ll die within a

Week. Bear Bryant, all time great coach at Alabama, said he died about a month after he retired or so because he had no spring practice or a team to coach up. 01:10:18:14 – 01:10:34:15 Unknown Same thing with Joe Paterno. When I called Bob, who was Joe Paterno?

So a lot of people, Penn State, Penn State head coach for about 30 some odd years, but one that just passed about eight, nine years ago. A lot of controversy at the end, but he was an all time great when I talked to Bob. It’s the funniest thing. 01:10:34:17 – 01:10:54:20 Unknown

I can tell it in 2 seconds. Keep it long or keep it short. But when he’s like, Hey, hey, Steve, I’m going, hey, Steve. Okay, keep it short. Yeah, but he’ll get hits me, you know, already. The funny thing about Bob is it’s amazing.

His recall and this is what this is the professionalism of Bob. If he’s had a day. 01:10:54:20 – 01:11:13:07 Unknown Steve, I’m at a doctor’s. I’ll call you back. He has never not call me back. He always calls what he says.

Or if I remember one time I called him in like mid-December because he always went back brained Manny Pacquiao’s birthday, you know, just like about ten years ago. And I didn’t know this, but I say, Bob, Steve, come call me back. 01:11:13:07 – 01:11:28:05 Unknown

So he doesn’t call me back for a day or two. So then a couple of days later, Steve, it’s Bob. Bob, what happened? I just got back from the Philippines. It was man, I was like this.

I go, Fuck, man, Bob is a pro cause I don’t know if I would have called me back. Yeah, yeah, but. 01:11:28:05 – 01:11:52:10 Unknown Well, you talk. He remembers you that like, he’s old school, right? And so. Bob, look, Bob has cost me out a few times. It’s great.

It’s actually kind of like a badge of honor, but that’s. That’s how you like Bob shows you that if you have a passion in life, don’t give it up. I used to see Bob when we used to go to the office a lot because was vice president of Top Rank.

01:11:52:12 – 01:12:13:20 Unknown And we’ll go in the office and a Bob Howard. Eric Al Right. But if I see and I even fucking will remember me you know, the thing that I love about Bob is he gets excited for these young kids like that just to this day. He loves the development.

Yeah, he actually has said in interviews to see a young man grow and just the professionalism of Bob. 01:12:13:20 – 01:12:34:07 Unknown Right. And I told this to Eric that Oscar’s got to be at the fights earlier. I watched these things on ESPN plus the undercard before ESPN. So it’s like 330. Yeah.

And you know, you’ll always see camera side with no one else. Derek Harmon, his bodyguard, chauffeur, Love Dara. You know, Derek used to. We went to Germany. I was in Germany with Derek. 01:12:34:07 – 01:12:53:03 Unknown We’ve great guy when he was sparring. Michael Now we fought Rocky. Johnny the Von.

He’s the coolest dude. He’s a great guy. And so it’s him and Bob. There’s no one else there except the commissioners and the referee. And Bob must have, like, iron bladder. He never moves. I take five pitches. He’s just there the whole time, and he. 01:12:53:03 – 01:13:14:19 Unknown

And I ask why he’s like this, you know, and he’s watching intently. You imagine if you’re a young four round kid to have that guy watching not only the pressure but thinking, Hey, this guy gives a shit.

And he told me one time he goes as the leader, if I tell a kid, I’m going to develop and be with you, I just can’t show up when you’re a ten round fighter. 01:13:14:20 – 01:13:35:08 Unknown And so that division, I think top rank, that’s where they’re really good at the development

Stage. Yeah. And I think with Oscar being Oscar de La Hoya, he would make such an impression on these young kids if you would just be there. Yeah. Eddie Hearns there. I give Eddie a lot of credit.

I mean, Eddie had a lot of things to do and he’s been there 230, 3:00, watching four rounders. 01:13:35:08 – 01:13:51:12 Unknown I’m like, Eddie, you’re a pro. I give him lot of credit for that. But if you’re Oscar and you’re a Hall of Fame fighter watching some kid, imagine the type

Of hold and the loyalty you could foster if you do that, those little things, you know, there’s that And I know you know Tom Brown top, right? No, no. 01:13:51:12 – 01:14:07:20 Unknown Tom from Brown. You know, he’s not one of the best Matchmaker is a boxing guy. yeah.

Mom is a boxing guy. That’s right. To me, it’s like Ella. There used to be a time I’d be there for every fight. As I’ve gotten a little bit more cynical and older, I get there a little bit closer to the, you know, to the television. 01:14:07:22 – 01:14:27:19 Unknown

But every once in a while there’s a young kid that I think like, Well, I’m going to be there like a couple of weeks ago. There’s a kid out of Cleveland, Ohio, that I think is going to be a star if he can take from Abdullah Mason.

I keep hearing you keep hearing that easy, that he’s only 19 years old, a very nice young kid. 01:14:27:21 – 01:14:50:10 Unknown Dad has raised him. Well. There’s a little bit of Super Judah, a little bit of Shakur Stevenson. I mean, he he he runs into punches once in a while.

He’s like a sports car without brakes. But it just goes. But I’m just telling you, you look at the tools. I’m sure I’m sure he’s going to. Yeah. When Top Rank first signed him, someone at Top Rank said, Steve, this kid, we’re going to announce it. 01:14:50:12 – 01:15:11:17 Unknown

That’s one of the special ones. I said, What goes? James Prince thinks this could be the best young guy. And that’s James Prince For better. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Well, if Jay Prince see something. Yeah. You know, this is the money.

This is what I. You’re in the boxing boxing game for a long time. So when you see this promoter, what do you think they’re looking for when they see a young star, a four rounder, what are they looking for? 01:15:11:17 – 01:15:27:15 Unknown What was that special team?

Well, I think one thing, what they look for, the art of doing this is you got to be able to project 5 to 10 years ahead. Because I know, look, we’ve seen a lot of amateurs. They peak at age 17. Yeah, a lot of Cubans, right.

They’re good at the headgear, the big gloves, three round fights. 01:15:27:16 – 01:15:45:00 Unknown When it comes to pro, we have to understand, can this guy not only fight as a pro, what’s his upside? That’s why age is important, because you’re going to handle a 27 year old fighter a lot

Differently than a 17 year old, you know, So when you get like these guys, like egos climb, as has a lot of guys from Eastern Europe. 01:15:45:02 – 01:15:59:02 Unknown He’s on the fast track. He gave me one of the greatest quotes ever about Lomachenko because many of men, they

Wanted to fight right off the bat for a title. This is when I first met Angus. It was very intimidating cause I didn’t know what a nice guy he was like, come on, man, You guys all right? 01:15:59:02 – 01:16:15:10 Unknown Look, I hate to be wrong.

And he said, Look, look, I want to tell you something. I’m like, Yeah, what’s up because we have a saying in our country. I go, What’s that? You go, You can’t fight today. You can’t fight tomorrow. I like. But with Loma it was different.

I mean, Loma was like ready to be a ten round fighter. 01:16:15:12 – 01:16:37:02 Unknown But what you look for is a lot of variables. How does he look? This is going to be uncomfortable. What or nationality is he? Because that matters.

Because if you’re a mexican or a Puerto Rican, it’s a lot easier than. Let’s see if you’re Salvadorian. Yeah, right. Or A is Honduran for as good as he is, there’s not a lot of Hondurans. 01:16:37:04 – 01:17:01:20 Unknown Also, how much can you grow?

Because unfortunately, if you’re a 105 pounder you’re limited options like one of the best fighters I’ve ever seen. And one of my personal favorites, Mark, to Sharpe Johnson. it’s really too bad he wasn’t £30 because I think he’s one of the very short men. Sharp I mean that.

So all of those things come into play. 01:17:01:22 – 01:17:16:17 Unknown Carl Moretti So. Steve Every week or so, yeah, we’ll actually get together. And when we go to these amateur tournaments and we see kids are available, we actually have these discussions.

Well, yeah, to have a room like now, we like this guy. Now this guy’s a little young or this guy’s father’s an asshole. Like they have those discussions. 01:17:16:17 – 01:17:19:07 Unknown So yeah, this is like what, 01:17:19:06 – 01:17:38:21 Unknown

When you first, when you observing what is a you number one, are you good? Fundamentally, yeah. It’s like in baseball. I played baseball my whole life. I can immediately tell when guys were warming up, I got you could just just play the way they play.

There are certain guys that look so good in their uniform, and the first time I saw them swing a bat, I saw that guy can play. 01:17:39:02 – 01:17:59:22 Unknown You think that the Asian guy that brought from Japan for them, you think both of them are going to be?

Yeah, they’ve already proven it. They’re not prospects anymore, especially Shohei, that that dude’s a beast, right? But they’re a fan of them. I’m not a baseball guy anymore, but I mean, boxing. Yeah. Plus, you know, people understand with Asians, Japanese, Korean, China, we’ve had our rivalries. 01:18:00:03 – 01:18:24:03 Unknown

But in America we don’t give a shit. That’s all for the old contracts like 50 years ago. But when I look at a young boxer, number one is do you have good fundamentals? Are you taught well? Elbows tucked in, shin down? Also, I’ll be honest, I like certain styles. Yeah.

I’m not saying I didn’t like Pernell Whitaker, but in general I kind of like the guys that mix it up. 01:18:24:05 – 01:18:46:03 Unknown Those are the guys. And there’s certain guys I remember, like, the first time I saw Zab.

Dude, I thought I was gonna be the greatest fighter ever, and that was very, very good. But he’ll even tell you I could have been better. He could have been. Zab is is a very interesting guy when you when you speak to these guys and they say,

Well, I could have been better, what do you think changes their age and perspective? 01:18:46:03 – 01:19:01:17 Unknown You know what almost knocked me off my feet. This is like three ago where at Brickhouse Boxing during the lockdown. So there weren’t a lot of people.

But James Toney was had some white collar clients because he’s never train a fighter. He cuts them guys out. But any anyone that wants to pay him a couple hundred for an hour, he’ll do it. 01:19:01:17 – 01:19:22:03 Unknown Yeah.

So it was just me and him in the gym rat brick house and we’re talking and Uncle Steve, you know what? God, I could have been better. I was like, Wow. Like, if you said that to him before, he’d growl out. Yeah. So, you know, Steve, I only beat myself.

He goes, Well, I didn’t train. And he actually said, You know, Steve, because he’s the last full time American fighter. 01:19:22:03 – 01:19:38:14 Unknown He took non-title fights to an as a champion. He fight on HBO in April three weeks later, he’d be on like Fox Sports.

There’s like look at his record from 91 to 94. He said, As long as I got six figures, I didn’t care if I made a million. Just make sure I get six figures. I’ll take a tune up. 01:19:38:16 – 01:19:56:16 Unknown He said, Steve, I should have done it more. Yeah.

And and I said, Wow, I’m just looking at James going, you if you said that to him ten years ago, he would have called you out. Of course. But now he knows. See, now he knows. You know, there’s an old saying. Youth is wasted on the young. You know, I was.

01:19:56:16 – 01:20:26:15 Unknown I was, you know, I worked with them for two years. So we had a couple of fights with Samuel Peters. But one of the fights that I was allowed to work on the corner is Hasim Rahman.

So I’m with Freddie and we’re in Atlantic City, so we’re chit chatting, me and Freddie and everything. And then he has this friends around and that’s the downfall sometimes of fighter me, I learn how to read already, you know, so-called friends. 01:20:26:17 – 01:20:58:09 Unknown

So we’re chillin and and I see Ricky James calls me to his room and then I go, He’s smoking his cigars. Yeah. I go, Jay, why are you smoking? He goes, Shut the fuck up. And his friend I go, Broad? Yeah So this is what happens.

We’re in the fight and he keeps getting hitting in the back. He keeps getting in that bag back of his kidneys and I think, James, we should have beat Rock, man that night. 01:20:58:10 – 01:21:17:07 Unknown If he did not smoke, the cigar was the problem.

From that time, cigars his friends kept bringing smoke and even put one of his friends at the cycle. Bro, you want to see him become fucking world champion again? Was? Yeah. Then why you giving his fucking cigar the enabling. The enabling, Yeah. So 01:21:17:06 – 01:21:32:19 Unknown

This story, when you say he could have been better, he I think he could have been heavyweight champion again that night talking about that boom after the fire we get, we get to the airport and then we’re in the airplane and I hear this become of our people. 01:21:32:21 – 01:21:57:15 Unknown

James Toney fainting in the airplane because he got his so much in the kidneys and he was dehydrated. When we landed, the ambulance was waiting for James. One thing that’s never been reported between and I now you know but but it was crazy because

The next day he called me Ricky can come to my house and just talk to him and ask him because thank you for being there, you know? 01:21:57:18 – 01:22:15:03 Unknown Well, there’s nobody else around, James. This is what I’ve been in my whole life with these fighters, with Gabriel.

I remember Gabriel when he Fogarty we flew out to and he has a plan. He had that fight, man. It was a good fight. He had a fight over a lot of Lennox Lewis undercard in 1998. October. Yeah. Great fight. 01:22:15:03 – 01:22:40:11 Unknown You know, Bruce Trampoline.

When he gives you a compliment, you better keep it. It’s valuable. He says Steve James. Tony should have been one of the all time. All time? Great. Yeah. I mean, we’re talking about the like, as are Charles Archie Moore. You know, he had the old school style.

You know, one thing about James, he really appreciate people that know the game, Bruce Carrington told me and Mario, because Mario said, hey, that was like a James Tony like combination. 01:22:40:11 – 01:23:00:19 Unknown You’d go, you flipped role and you counter.

And Bruce Carrington said, yeah, no, no, no, James, one of my top ten fighters. So I sent that clip over to James. James was very flattered. He said, Hey, you tell that young man thank you. Like it something to him. Like, even, like, no matter what anyone thinks. James.

Tony, he loves the adulation. 01:23:00:21 – 01:23:19:10 Unknown I think he misses it. And he said he was so intimidating. my God. He went in the gym. Every name I would see him. Are you with Paul Richardson? What time? At Wild Card? And they were going at it.

I go, Who’s going to stop? Who’s going to stop? They wouldn’t stop. I remember one time member, Ola. 01:23:19:12 – 01:23:42:02 Unknown Yes. So all I was the one guy that got under James Tony’s skin like a mile because all I was

Funny and he didn’t give in, but he knew how to protect himself. this is like 2003. All I says something that James goes nuts on and James starts throwing everything in the gym chairs all, and he almost hit his wife, Angela. 01:23:42:02 – 01:24:08:05 Unknown And Angela, you mother fainted.

And so it looked like a hurricane when really all the stuff is thrown all throughout the gym. And Michael Moore happens to walk in as they’re trying to shove James into the shower. And Michael has no idea what’s going on. You, JT and James get this fuck. And James. Michael is just stunned.

It’s like he lost his dog and, like, we had to, like, make sure James Angelo was, like, just. 01:24:08:06 – 01:24:29:17 Unknown We’re like, like, get out of here. I think that’s fine. Yeah, Well, that was a great sparring partner, but he was a funny guy. He became world champion. Yeah, he did.

But James will tell you, with. With age comes wisdom. He has a different view of it. Because it’s really a shame, because I don’t think he gave himself the best shot to win against Roy Jones. 01:24:29:19 – 01:24:36:01 Unknown Now, I heard things about that camp where he started living the good life.

Everything was about making the weight. Yeah, 01:24:36:00 – 01:24:48:00 Unknown and it’s a shame because that was a tough style to begin with. Because of the movement. Yeah, but I’ve always said if James had those three months back, he would have lived his life completely different. 01:24:47:23 – 01:24:52:00 Unknown

And I always say this, and I bring this as an example to my fighters. 01:24:52:02 – 01:25:10:07 Unknown Bro. Experience is the best thing. It is wisdom. Like me, I learned this from my fighter. You haven’t wrong people wrong.

As you get bigger and more famous, you’re going to start getting one guy and another guy and then you’re just small group that you have before it’s going to start getting bigger and bigger. Well, you better cut that now down. 01:25:10:09 – 01:25:33:22 Unknown

There’s a great story, and I know this to be true because it involves Bill Kaplan. Well, I love Bill. Bill is the best of the best. So when George Foreman had his last fight before he retired, before coming back was against Jimmy Young in Puerto Rico, and he had like he got dehydrated.

He he thought he died and he thought he saw God. 01:25:33:22 – 01:25:56:04 Unknown And it changed his life. But in that locker room, he came in with a lot of people and everyone was gone after the fight except one guy.

And George Foreman looks over at Bill Kaplan and he goes, I just found out you’re the only friend I have. It was really that simple. So then this is all true because there’s it’s in the movie. 01:25:56:04 – 01:26:20:14 Unknown But they didn’t really put him in the movie, which is disappointing, Yeah.

So George comes back, it’s like 86, 87. And back then there was no cell phones so you could lose a guy. So Bill just takes a flight out to Houston and flies over, takes a kid. There’s a cab that comes by and George is sitting on the porch and he goes, It’s Bill

Kaplan as like, he just waddles up there. 01:26:20:19 – 01:26:42:14 Unknown And George goes, Yeah, I’ve been waiting for you. And they’re back in business. Wow. It’s the best. He’s an historian. my God, Bill’s the best. Well, one time told me so. They’re doing a fight. This Korean guy against the Mexican champion.

And they did this fight the press conference at a restaurant. So the Korean challenger is late. 01:26:42:14 – 01:27:00:07 Unknown They don’t know where the hell he is. There’s no cell phones are call in the hotel. And this Mexican champion is so pissed off. How dare you disrespect me?

I’m that so you wait about half hour. That’s it. I’m out of here. So he comes at this. There’s friends. This old junky car, and. And Bill’s like, No, no, no. 01:27:00:07 – 01:27:21:09 Unknown All the media is here. Hold on, hold on. Wait a minute. The Koreans are coming. Okay?

You know, give us 20 minute the kids like a boy. We’re out of here. You don’t treat us like that. So they start getting out, they start driving off and they’re in the parking lot. And Bill goes, if going to leave, you gonna run me over like Bill lays on the ground.

01:27:21:10 – 01:27:42:23 Unknown wow. Like, and like the champion starts looking out the window like one off and he starts laughing. He’s getting closer, getting close. And Bill’s like, I’m just telling you, you can have that over my dead body. And the check is, okay, stop, stop. It is like it goes.

If you’re willing to get run over for this press conference, I will say that Korean guys showed up 5 minutes. 01:27:43:04 – 01:28:09:01 Unknown Wow. That’s old school boss. Yeah, that’s what people are committed to. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we were.

It was myself, Joe McLaren, Derek Harmon, Gabriel Rafael and Jeremy Williams and Bill Kaplan. so we’re in Germany, We’re fighting Rocky. Johnny and I still have footage of I used to carry camera back in the days I was my own YouTuber back then. 01:28:09:06 – 01:28:34:17 Unknown Kevin Hello, my friend.

Every time you see Bill Where’s that from? Bill Hello, my friend. So we became friends and one day it was after the fight. The fight didn’t happen because, yeah, I remember Johnny. Johnny was sick and Bill Kaplan myself were sitting down and there were some goons from the other side.

And Ellen, I don’t know you on high heels. 01:28:34:17 – 01:28:59:19 Unknown I remember him. So Eli Haim was there, and he had a Jewish chain and a big chain of Jeremy Williams. So Bill Kaplan and myself, Jeremy. And then Ellen comes running.

All Mac and the Mykonos guys were kind of punked them. And he got in a scuffle and took the chain off of Ellen. And he comes running and he comes running crying to join me. 01:28:59:19 – 01:29:23:20 Unknown They took my chain and Bill Kamen goes, What are you going to do?

So Jeremy gets up, gets up, goes, and we’re in the bathroom with these two big moral men. When I say big, Jimmy, look, and you know Jimmy’s. Yeah, bad as a heavyweight at that time. No chance, right? And we go in the bathroom, and of you fucking started. 01:29:23:23 – 01:29:48:06 Unknown

Bill, come look. What are you starting after Bill at all? What are you going to do? Jeremy knocks these guys out. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And he gets his fucking chain back. And he goes back to sit down with and myself. It just like nothing happened, because that’s what I did.

That’s boxing. That’s. That’s the greatest lot. 01:29:48:06 – 01:29:52:07 Unknown Bill Kaplan is the bass man. He has seen it all. Yeah. 01:29:52:06 – 01:30:10:23 Unknown He like, he’ll tell you stories. He was at the first fight. The L.A. Sports Arena. That’s no longer around. Yeah, Yeah. Bill.

Bill has some of the funniest stories on, but he really is one of the trusted people in the inner circle of George Foreman. And I was very disappointed last year. 01:30:11:02 – 01:30:25:14 Unknown I remember coming home from the theater and I called Blessed Bill. Where were you in this movie?

Yeah, and they offered him a role, but it didn’t and it didn’t work out. But it movie felt a little bit incomplete. But those are the characters. But people that don’t but people that don’t know boxing don’t know, they wouldn’t have known it. 01:30:25:14 – 01:30:43:18 Unknown Yeah, you’re right.

But I mean, and that’s the whole thing. I mean, boxing to me is a very it’ll always be a part of my career, I think, no matter what I say, because I put so many years into it. Yeah. You know, and people say, do you want to talk about other things? Not really.

I mean, I mean the general sports, the nostalgia. 01:30:43:18 – 01:31:06:03 Unknown I will. But if people said, Steve, you can cover the NFL right now, I’d be like, pass. It’s not my thing. From 1990 to 2024, going from 90 to 2000, 2010 to 20, Which are your favorite fighters? All right, watch.

Okay. So my favorite fighter as a child growing up in the eighties, Marvin Hagler. Okay, No doubt about it. 01:31:06:04 – 01:31:27:19 Unknown I’m your number one in the eighties. I guess I still remember guys like the guys are on ESPN, but I used to love Top Rank boxing.

Karen Sally, Tyrone the Butterfly Crawly. Dana Roston, John Wesley Meekins I remember all those, but Tommy Hearns, Ray Leonard, Larry Holmes I certainly respect him because he saw them on TV and Larry Holmes had the last heavyweight title fight on NBC. 01:31:27:21 – 01:31:44:00 Unknown

Khalil Truth Williams very controversial decision, Car of the Tooth winner. Yeah. Remember Carr That whole truth. The truth is on living through it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. in the nineties, my favorite fighter. Is that the same guy with a Jerry Crow? He didn’t have the Jerry curl.

Carl did Not that I think that may have been Tony Tucker. 01:31:44:01 – 01:32:01:21 Unknown Okay. There was another guy named Carr that you could remember Jimmy Jimmy font in the curly hair. He might have had it but Carl the truth was good and had a very good jab in the nineties.

There’s no doubt. My favorite fighter was James Toney because I thought he was the precursor or the natural successor to Marvin Hagler. 01:32:01:22 – 01:32:17:08 Unknown Yeah, I had a lot of respect for Bernard Hopkins because I got to know him.

I was one of the few people thought he was going to beat Trinidad, really. And he did beat Trinidad and it’d be not. No one thought he was dying. I was there at the fight, actually. I was flicking away on the beach, you know, at that time. 01:32:17:08 – 01:32:39:00 Unknown Yeah.

We’ll give you binocular. Yeah. I was like but in the eighties and nineties because they seeped in. Yeah. Anyone from the 84 Olympic team, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, Evander Holyfield, Virgil Hill, that whole team I loved, the one that didn’t. That was a badass in the amateurs but didn’t make it.

Gonzalez Now, Brett, Mark Brandi Breland Right. 01:32:39:02 – 01:32:58:10 Unknown They didn’t live up to man hand, great amateur. But I loved that whole team. When Myanmar you argued about to this day, I don’t think Richard Steele made the right call. Yeah, against together and I think that killed his whole.

Yeah, it’s it Well look he was already banned. Yeah, but it killed his spirit. You know, That was true. 01:32:58:15 – 01:33:20:21 Unknown That fight reminded me kind of giggle corral. Still best fight ever, because that was like 30 fights. One. Yeah, in one night. They were never the same.

They were never going to be the same. And you know Bob Arum, right? Bob Arum wanted that fight right away. Yes. He hated to lose. Yeah. You know, so that’s funny you say that because Jose Luis Castillo had a great relationship with him. 01:33:21:03 – 01:33:43:00 Unknown He was cool.

Get some of my favorite interviews with a man that is no longer with us, I think is the best translator ever. Ricardo Jiménez. God bless Ricardo. He met Hall. He was great. Mr. La Pinon. And then Bob Arum hired him and he would whatever a guy said, he would not hold back.

And he was meticulous with his word to how to translate the right way. 01:33:43:00 – 01:34:01:20 Unknown And there’s some translator in Arizona. my God. He didn’t say that. Yeah, You’re supposed to translate what he said. Yes. Not what you want to say. Jose Luis Castillo was certainly one of my fighters.

I was very close with the Margarito camp. Sergio Diaz, one of my great friends. I love Margarito. I know there a lot of controversy over him. 01:34:01:22 – 01:34:20:14 Unknown Those are probably in 2000/10. I really like Golovkin.

I thought he had a really good run when he was young and in his prime I thought he was a really, really tough out right now. My favorite current fighters. I tell you, a guy that I like and I want to see him get Deron Boots Ennis who he’s he’s back.

01:34:20:14 – 01:34:39:04 Unknown You know what’s funny when you guys face them with Lippe and yet Jonathan Walley, one of your trainers. Yeah. He didn’t really know who he was. And I said and I said to him, Joe, you’re in trouble. I said, Hey, this guy’s good.

And I’ll remember when I was at ESPN, they had me do a top 25 fighters under the age of 25, and they wanted me to ask people who your top. 01:34:39:06 – 01:35:00:19 Unknown So I help Joe with this list. So Joe had a list and he put Gerren like really low.

And I said, I said, Joe, you’re I think Jaron watch this on Jaron. So Joe called me a day. Steve put that boots guy like number one. You go, Steve, where has he been? I go, Well, Cameron Duncan has them. 01:35:00:19 – 01:35:23:21 Unknown He’s been out of Philadelphia.

He’s kind of an eagle. Steve That guy is going to be tough after the fight. Jonathan Wiley leaves me a message, a voice, because Steve and I just we just got done here. This guy is a combination of Leonard and Hagler so I can’t go with it.

Leonard and Hagler, he go, Steve, I never thought that because yes, both. 01:35:23:21 – 01:35:44:12 Unknown I said, He’s that good in your view? Yes. So Jaron going to be a spectacular fighter. Crawford in him, What do you think? I would still favor Crawford, but Crawford’s a guy I respect.

That’s a that guy could fight in any era. In a way. He’s a guy that could fight in any era. I like him. Bam! Rodriguez, I think, is a really good young fighter. 01:35:44:14 – 01:36:00:09 Unknown Bruce Carrington. I just like personally, and I think he can really fight. Watch him at featherweight.

He’s going to be a good fighter here. So my other fighters of the past I’ve missed out on Floyd. Do you like Glory? Not really, but I don’t hate him either. Yeah. Okay like Pacquiao. I had a good run with Pacquiao. Manny. 01:36:00:10 – 01:36:07:00 Unknown

I was lucky enough to get some of the footage no one else can get. Me and Brian Hardy and Max boxing. Really, for anyone knew who he was. 01:36:06:23 – 01:36:20:13 Unknown Dean, you know that Joe was going to train. What happened?

The story is that what I know so far is that he was introduced to Tom Brown, right? Was the matchmaker through Samson? 01:36:20:18 – 01:36:43:19 Unknown Through Samson, and I think was acquiring something. And he didn’t end up taking it. And they took him to Freddie. Why?

But I always say what Manny would have become, right? What he was with Freddie if you came with Joe? Yeah. You don’t know. You never know. But. But Freddie did an amazing, great job with him. I look up to Freddie. 01:36:43:19 – 01:37:03:02 Unknown Yeah.

I like, you know, the what he did with Matt and other fighters. You know, a fighter that I respect. And I’m biased. I really like him as a person. You were great. Tim Bradley. Tim Bradley had wars. I mean, and Tim Bradley unify titles. They had a fight against.

And of course, one of the best five I’ve ever seen. 01:37:03:04 – 01:37:24:07 Unknown I mean, honestly or another fighters that I really like from the nineties to 2000 and I’m biased because I was there from the very last run of form boxing.

So anyone from Mark to Sharpe Johnson was absolutely one of my top ten favorites regardless. But Kevin Kelly Love, Kevin, Ken Flushing Flash, another guy, but the Marquez Brothers. both Barrera love them. 01:37:24:13 – 01:37:46:00 Unknown Vasquez Israel Vasquez role is right.

Frank Espinosa and the Vasquez Marquez Third fight, one of the top five fights ever. And going back to to Sharpe the greatest compliment or honor that I’ve ever gotten as a writer happened when Mark Johnson, this is about eight, seven, eight years ago calls me and

He said, Steve, can you do me a favor? 01:37:46:00 – 01:38:02:00 Unknown And goes, Can you write an article saying why I should be in the hall of fame? Because he’s one of those guys. I was kind of like because he’s a flyweight didn’t make the big money and he wasn’t on

Like the Super Fly series. So you had to be hardcore fans. Know who he was. And I said, Mark, here’s what I’m going to do. 01:38:02:00 – 01:38:19:01 Unknown I’m going to write the truth. I think you actually deserve it. I’m going to state the case Why?

But I’m not just writing it to write it. I’m writing it because I believe it. If I didn’t believe it, it’d be a very awkward conversation. So I wrote an article saying, Hey, if I had a vote, because I didn’t at that time. 01:38:19:01 – 01:38:36:16 Unknown

This is why he said, See, if if I make it in there, man, I’m going to give you a call because you’re you’re helping to make this happen. So a couple of months go by. Often they get a call Legal’s Kim, I go, What’s up? I’m in. Thank you.

Because you helped me call two guys hit me. And Liam Satterfield was his Baltimore Sun guy. 01:38:36:20 – 01:39:05:02 Unknown He was in that beltway area. It was a great honor for a guy like him who’s often forgotten about. He’s a black flyweight fighting for foreign boxing. Then he went to Kushner.

This means everything to him because he wasn’t Mexican, so he was never going to get the accolades of a Tapia Chiquito or a Ricardo Lopez. Yeah. So he was kind of like literally the black sheep of the flyweight division. 01:39:05:02 – 01:39:27:09 Unknown I once called him the Jackie Robinson of Flyweight.

He’s the first black flyweight over a hundred years went for him. He did something I’ve never forgotten. He fought. He fought Alejandro Montiel of the Montiel family. Why? That was the most commonly. Yeah. This thing was his last fight at the forum.

He had already put in five or six title defenses, and he was already I had him in my top £3 for pound. 01:39:27:09 – 01:39:39:18 Unknown I thought he was that good. In 9798, Montiel kept nailing him with like intentional fouls. Low blows, right?

It got really strong like a Riddick Bowe in LA and 01:39:39:17 – 01:39:53:08 Unknown the crowd was heavily pro Mexican. It got a little tense in there because you know who they were going for. Things were probably that people aren’t going to admit.

And the 12th round comes and you could look this up. 01:39:53:09 – 01:40:13:07 Unknown You’ll have tweeted it a few times. He to taunt Montiel by putting his hands by his side, standing right in front of him saying, Hit me, motherf. Montiel missed 50 punches. Wow. He just slipped every punch.

He was dancing, popping and locking. I was like, my. And even the Mexicans were like, they had they gave him a standing ovation like this kind of a plot. 01:40:13:09 – 01:40:37:00 Unknown And I’ve always said I never saw Willie Pep went around without throwing a punch, but

I saw that it’s amazing what he did. He took a pro fighter, stood right in front of him, and he said, Hit me. He could not do it. And I and when I look at to Sharp, it’s really a shame that the networks have like this glass ceiling for the lower weight.

01:40:37:02 – 01:40:58:15 Unknown You know, when Tom Loeffler created the Superfly series, he opened doors for everybody. A lot of people, including chocolate. Tito should thank Tom Loeffler because that was his vision and Tito’s great regard. But a guy like Bam Rodriguez, he’s reaping the rewards of his. He’s a great guy.

Another fighter, a young fighter. I like Raymond Tie. You watch him really hard. 01:40:58:15 – 01:41:15:12 Unknown This guy hits clean. This is a lightweight that I’m just telling you is maybe Shakoor who trains Robert. Ask Robert about motor tire. He’s the type of guy he has to be a mandatory.

There is no champion saying, I’ll voluntarily fight you. None, None at all. And I like Hamza. 01:41:15:11 – 01:41:18:20 Unknown Thank you. I think he’s a guy. He even got Mario’s attention. 01:41:18:22 – 01:41:39:21 Unknown Really? Yeah. Because I like to sometimes tell Mario if it’s not on TV right there.

I said, Mario. And he’s like, Mario. Mario moved around and he’s like, Wait, that’s Ricky’s guy? I said, yeah, I go for more than a half hour. Steve, you’re platforms. The audience right here, the my, my new platform here, Where do they follow you? 01:41:39:21 – 01:42:01:15 Unknown

How can you listen to you on snack? Talk about snack, talk about and your three knockdown rule? Yeah, the three knockdown rules with Mario Lopez. So that’s pretty easy to find. And you tweet that a lot.

And if I’m on Twitter, it’s Steve Kemp, 3 to 3 shout out to East L.A. out those 3 to 3 in my Instagram is Steve or Alec him darling. 01:42:01:15 – 01:42:20:15 Unknown Yeah there’s a lot of Steve camps.

What I tried to get the deal because every time I see him, my mother would say, darling, there was like 88 Steve kids. I had to throw something in there. And couple of times a week I’m on the show.

You can find it at YouTube and The Blaze Network Fearless with Jason Whitlock, and I’m usually on there at least two or three times a week. 01:42:20:17 – 01:42:38:20 Unknown And then the three knock down rule, you could find it on YouTube. The number three knockdown rule and then also snack dot com.

And you read all my stuff it’s canines corner where I basically piss people off with the things that I say canine. You say canine. What is canine? All right. So canine is a nickname that my friend. 01:42:38:22 – 01:42:59:19 Unknown

So when I first met Ilan Haim, him and his brother were part of the radio show. Dave Smith. I was an avid listener. Are you know, I ended up interning for them because I was like their most loyal caller. I became the Cal Ripken of callers.

It became a thing like, Where the hell is Steve from? Hollywood? And they finally won to L.A. If you want to get in this business, come to the station. 01:42:59:19 – 01:43:21:22 Unknown Why don’t you intern for us the summer of 95? That’s how it began without them.

You know, Joey, I know Joey very well. Yeah. Joey is amazing. So one time I think this is 1996, 97, there was a movie theater here where Best Buy is on Venice Boulevard. There was a theater there. And Joey goes, Come on, come on. 01:43:22:01 – 01:43:41:09 Unknown

We’re going to go inside the movies. And we just him and I were cool friends. He goes, No, bro. So he goes up into the to the window. He goes, Yeah, we have two tickets from Disneyland. And he was going home. Well, there’s nothing.

Here He goes, Well, you better check because I’m from Disneyland. I work for them and they have to take it from me. 01:43:41:11 – 01:44:08:21 Unknown And somehow, Well, we’re sorry, but you know what? We’re going to compel you to take it. That guy knew horror. It was a hustler. Hustler? Yeah.

And so he knows how to talk. Yeah. No, he’s Slick. And he. So I was on that show. And so one day, my friend, they would read messages on the air. And that show was very, very politically incorrect. 01:44:08:21 – 01:44:28:06 Unknown It was funny. So they knew I was Korean.

They used to call me like the dog eater. The funniest thing was all in good fun. And then finally someone, my friend Hugo Cortez, a high school classmate of mine. I’m still very close to them. Mexican? Yeah, he’s Mexican. And he said, And he dropped the name canine because.

Because I’m supposedly a dog eater. 01:44:28:08 – 01:44:47:21 Unknown And that’s. That’s working. Canine. Kim came in. So like I myself, I go, okay, now what do you fucking. I had something to do with something. the police dogs. Yeah. yeah.

So the funny thing is like literally for years, Joey and Dave and Ellen, they never called me Steve or Kim. It was canine. So they call me Steve. 01:44:47:21 – 01:45:01:16 Unknown I probably wouldn’t even turn my head if you stay in touch with Ellen. I have not talked to him in years.

Not talked to him in years. Good guy, though. He loved Jimmy Williams, so he’s like he was a Jeremy Williams loyalist. we used to argue about, you know, do you do you know how he got into boxing? 01:45:01:18 – 01:45:26:14 Unknown No. So Ellen called me one time.

Hey, you know, I want to come around the gym, and we’re fighting. Actually Jimmy Williams was fighting Andre at Q&A. that was a bad strength. So I go, you come down, stay in my room. And it’s a funny storyline on my teller right now. I love popping pimples.

I pop, you know, But other people know. 01:45:26:16 – 01:45:49:15 Unknown Ellen comes to my room one day and he goes, Really? Look, I have a big bump right here. Go sit down, I’ll wash my hands alcohol and I’m going fucking on this. You know, this is so hard.

So I’m pushing and pushing and boom, pop, it pops in my face. my God. that’s disgusting. Steve’s disgusting. And that’s how Ellen got introduced to coming in. 01:45:49:16 – 01:46:16:08 Unknown What an Internet, what an indoctrination. Right?

He came in and, you know, he met Joe and everything, and then he started coming around more. Ellen made possible corrals and Castle. Yeah, I remember writing a story on it. He he he brought in Corral is one of Joe’s greatest moments because he could take yours

And beat his and take his and beat yours. 01:46:16:08 – 01:46:35:16 Unknown Yeah. And he did that in talking about that. This is I don’t know if this a jinx for a lot of fighters but Joe has committed himself

To a lot of fighters that some of these fighters they’re never the same they once they leave Joe they lose. Look, Michael none was never the same. Lance Whittaker was never the same. 01:46:35:19 – 01:46:52:12 Unknown Diego. Carlos was never the same Somewhere was never the same. That’s what I’ve said about Joe.

I said, Joe Your greatest compliment is that you’ve gotten guys at a very high level that have never. I remember last Whittaker was a really, really good job by Joe. He was a project, though he needed to be pushed into the ring at times. 01:46:52:14 – 01:47:14:01 Unknown

And then suddenly one day he’s stolen away and he became goofy. Really goofy. He is really g o. I thought it was like a trademark thing. And he fought, I think, J.M. MacLean. And I’m thinking to myself, Lance, what are you doing? I was there from the beginning of Lance’s career. Yeah.

You know, six, six, eight Yeah. But he was a guy that needed Joe. 01:47:14:06 – 01:47:31:06 Unknown There’s a, there’s a theory that I have that you could be a great fighter, but you could only function best with the particular particular trainer. There’s no doubt. You have to have that chemistry. Yeah.

Like, and Wolf, James Kirkland needed, and whether he wanted to admit it or not, Tommy Hearns was always better with. The manual Stewart 01:47:31:06 – 01:47:40:22 Unknown stories that you heard in the past, why do you think these fighters or their managers or their advisors advised their fighters to leave?

01:47:41:00 – 01:48:08:16 Unknown money, money at home. Because if if if it becomes all about a bookkeeping venture, they’re like, Hey, you’re audience established fighter. You could train yourself and, look, this guy wants 100,000. He’s this guy. I’ll do it for 25. All of a sudden you’re like, we could save $75,000.

Stupid man. It’s amazing. This is like, Teddy Atlas is so sour, and I’ve known Teddy for years. 01:48:08:16 – 01:48:24:12 Unknown I think he’s a very principled individual. I have a lot of respect. Teddy wouldn’t take Teddy. Teddy was sickened by that whole thing that he said.

We get punished for doing our jobs correctly because he said, Steve, if I do my job well and I have a good enough fighter, eventually they will feel like I don’t need you. 01:48:24:12 – 01:48:47:11 Unknown Yeah, that’s sad. It happens. It’s sad.

Then you see the Foo Fighters careers go down, go down, and then they want to go back to the trainer. Right? Was it worth it? You saved 7%. Was it worth it? And that’s the sad part.

I’d like I enjoy seeing long unions in the state of the game of boxing, but I know how rare it is. 01:48:47:13 – 01:49:05:21 Unknown Varied It is. And but, you know, Joe has staying power. And the one thing about Joe is he’s. He’s gone through every state.

This is what is the mark of an elite trainer. Can you develop a guy from scratch? He’s done that. Can you take over a guy early on? Can you troubleshoot a guy? Can you resurrect a guy? 01:49:05:22 – 01:49:25:17 Unknown Can you done that? Joe’s done all that. It’s hard to do that.

He had Hall of Famers. He’s had that. I’m just telling you, Abel Sanchez has had that. Yeah, it’s very rare. Once you check off every box. I don’t want to hear any slander of you. Yeah, yeah, I love it. I love it.

Well, Steve, it was a pleasure having you on, man now, but knew we could. 01:49:25:18 – 01:49:47:01 Unknown We could continue and on and go on the next time. By the next time we do this again, you better have 15 other podcast locked in again. The blade. Yeah.

See the sharpened or it’s dulled. There’s no in-between. Now, I’m a vice because I’m here. Okay, What kind of questions? Because I wanted to play. Play as sweetheart. I don’t want to be one of those guys, and I want to learn. 01:49:47:06 – 01:50:05:17 Unknown I don’t want to have.

I’ll come out in this. You can just say I read sometimes my old stories on Jesus. Who? Really? Yes. If you’re the same writer, the I’m not Hemingway or Edgar Allan Poe, but if you’re the same person or the same thing that you were, let’s say 15 to 20 years down the line.

01:50:05:17 – 01:50:24:05 Unknown Yeah, you haven’t gotten better. You have not evolved. I want to get better. Right. And and I appreciate you your time. You come here, but yeah, I want to get better right? Because we can. We can continue, but. And I’ll have better.

I’m just telling you, there have been articles. I’m like, I’m glad no one has these archives got got really that bad? 01:50:24:05 – 01:50:44:18 Unknown Not bad, but it’s like two already. One thing I like about Victor Conte, he said, Steve and he pays me well you know, if you

Could keep it to 752, maybe I’m like, what? You want it? Short deal and let me right now I wanted my my mentally was 35 minutes Yeah. Because yeah, we could cut this up but yeah correct. 01:50:44:19 – 01:51:01:02 Unknown You have to be able to evolve.

Like, I’ll just leave you with this. If you look at Michael Jordan’s game, I believe the greatest athlete I’ve ever seen. Always. Okay. His game from his first year in 1984 85 to when he what he was his last year at the Bulls. It was a different game he’s still Michael Jordan.

01:51:01:02 – 01:51:20:23 Unknown Yeah but he had to evolve of course he had to go for like the ascension of the athleticism to the eventual decline. And that’s what like to me, I’m a much better columnist now than I was 20 years ago because you know why?

If I could say it in five words, I’ll try to say it in three. Yeah, Sometimes less is more, less is more. 01:51:20:23 – 01:51:43:14 Unknown Yeah, less is more. Perfect. Perfect. Well, I love your advice. Steve. Thank you so much for coming on. Tengoose boxing talks, something new, something new.

And I do this again, and I think we’re going to do it again in 1550 more. 50 more. Number 16. You said it was. You said it. No, you it you know, I’m I have and I’m I’m going to get better and better and better. 01:51:43:14 – 01:51:50:10 Unknown

But I might your advice like me, I like learning all the time. Thank you, Steve, for coming. Absolutely. Appreciate it. Thank you very much, brother.