Another week, another pod.
In this episode, we talk about Anthony Joshua knocking out Francis Ngannou, what does it mean for the sport as whole. We also talk about Joseph Parker, Rey Vargas-Nick Ball, Israil Madrimov and subtle observations of #knockoutchaos.
We have a brief discussion on the Eye of the Tiger card on ESPN+ and a sneaky great All-Star Boxing card that happened on Friday night on ESPN+.
This week we preview the following Radivoje Kalajdzic vs. Sullivan Barrera,
Luke Santamaria vs. Nicklaus Flaz, Marques Valle vs. Raul Garcia, Kelvin Davis vs. Danis Castillo, and Vershaun Lee vs. Luis Vega.
An Australian fight worth-noting Sam Goodman vs. Mark Schleibs.
360 Promotions will have a card on UFC Fight Pass headlined by Callum Walsh vs. Dauren Yeleussinov.
The biggest card of the week, William Zepeda vs. Maxi Hughes, an IBF/WBA lightweight eliminator, Floyd Schofield vs. Esteuri Suero and Marlen Esparza vs. Gabriela Alaniz, for Esparza’s WBC/WBO/WBA women’s flyweight title
Also, two fights in the Bay Area. G-Squad Entertainment will there promotion. They have a card headlined by Gabe Flores Jr versus Julian Rodarte, and Fernando Vargas Jr versus Brad Solomon.
We also talk about Westside Promotions card in Redwood City, California. That card will feature Vic Pasillas, Tommy Hyde, and Petr Khamukov vs. Vaughn Alexander.
Timestamps
0:00 Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou recap
15:21 Canelo vs Jaime Munguia preview
27:00 Joseph Parker, a great heavyweight
38:00 Rey Vargas vs. Nick Ball preview
44:30 Israil Madrimov new champion
49:55 Thoughts on the broadcast
59:00 Ryan Garcia’s meltdown
01:07:00 Eye of the Tiger and All Star Boxing ESPN+ cards
01:14:30 William Zepeda vs Maxi Hughes preview
01:24:00 undercard Floyd Schofield and Marlen Esparza
Podcast has started you know what it is no intros is needed I’m going to start with what I think is the biggest hot button issue the topic that some people might be watching this video for did Anthony Joshua save boxing by absolutely annihilating Francis andu I don’t know if he saved boxing but
He definitely confirmed something that we were all hoping that Tyson Fury would confirm which is that you can’t come over from an Sport and jump to the top and have success right so the surprising part of the fury fight was how well enanu did and sort of how um uncommitted
To the fight Fury looked and this was sort of what we were expecting the first time around and Joshua just delivered it in a very dominant and um fundamentally sound way and if he if he if he didn’t say boxing I think he certainly has put
His career back into a place where we can legitimately talk about him as one of the best if not the best guy at heavyweight I don’t think he’s the best guy at heavyweight but he’ll get the opportunity to prove that I think well I think that for Joshua it’s
Like how frustrating is it that Alexander usyk exists it’s like usk was his Pathway to being the great heavyweight in the modern era usyk kind of schools him twice it seems like unless usyk gets old overnight it’s just a bad matchup for Joshua because he struggles with fluidity he struggles
With guys that transition offense to defense thing I felt going into this fight was like you said Joshua takes the sport very serious that’s something that’s different between him and fury also the guys Joshua struggles with Joe Parker Franc um Joe Parker usyk Etc what do they do they’re fluid those are the
Guys that have always troubled even Andy Ruiz they’re fluid Fighters the guys that are very stiff and robotic that is always going to be the guy that you know my my man uh Anthony Joshua I feel like is going to look like a million trillion bucks when you get a
Guy who’s a bodybuilder a stiff fighter who’s just going to stand with you that’s when he looks like a generational great right even with Vladimir Klitschko as great as he was and being at the end of his career he never had the most fluid offense or fluid style and I think
That like you said those are the fights and the times even you know someone like Germaine Franklin right gave him a pretty tough fight Germaine’s got a more fluid offense than your your average heavyweight so I think clearly those are the kinds of guys that that
Give him problems which is also why I think Fury would give him so much problems right because Fury’s offense at its best is extremely unpredictable um and has a lot of variety to it probably more variety than Joshua’s okay Jesus we’re not ignoring you we’re going to do a Canelo
Talk after probably the top two fights on this card because top two fights deserve being talked about and then we’ll get there my good friend boxing writer Abe Gonzalez I guess he’s Abraham Gonzalez I can’t call him Abe that’s unprofessional luky looking like new money with his Super Cuts haircut I am
Um which is the reason why the Wilder fight is still money I think that the issue I have with Wilder versus Joshua at this point is Joshua seems like he really wants to be the best fighter in the world the best heavyweight Wilder just has a lot of
Strange stuff going around with him there’s now like a drama with his brother there’s a lot of like he enjoys being a star but in the wrong way um kind of disappears after fights I don’t see what is the what is the what is the brother issue so this brother released a disc
Song on the internet and said that Wilder was his biggest hater and release like voice memos that I ignored and didn’t but it’s just this weird internal beef it’s a family beef and I’m sure it’s G to get worked out or I hope it gets worked out but it’s just a weird
Thing that you don’t really see Tyson Fury as brothers and you don’t see them doing that publicly for as weird as his SOA is and it just feels like Wilder’s at a stage where he’s really enjoying being a celebrity he’s talking freely about doing experimental drugs like he’s
Joe Rogan but he’s in the middle or at the end of a prize fighting career it to me there’s a lot of red flags on the motivation of Wilder in terms of how much um he really wants to be a highlevel athlete whereas with Joshua I think there is a tentative
Nature to him when he fights a fluid fighter that limits him but I truly think he wants to be the greatest heavyweight of the modern era like I I don’t I think he’s willing to do those sacrifices I just think that there’s a limit to him whereas Wilder there’s a
Limit but he hits hard but I also think there’s a motivation issue so at this point I think it’s hard to not believe Joshua wouldn’t just beat him because you’re seeing two different mentalities of Fighters at the moment I think Joshua would knock him out um just and I think
Also to make the fight between um Joshua and Wilder you have to really Overlook these last two performances by Joseph Parker you gotta really be going out of your way to not notice that this guy’s doing some of the best work at he don’t don’t bury the lead we gotta answer a
Few more questions on this the business of Bo I’m not I’m just saying I gotta stand up for my guy no but like I agree what did I tell you on the phone last night I called you and I said Joseph Parker might be well on his way to being
Boxer of the year in 2024 that’s how I feel because basically like his last win over Wilder was basically 2024 it was like seven days before 2024 it was basically two wins this year the issue is people like this is what’s messed up about boxing right
We kind of see it in other sports the NBA I’m hearing all about Anthony Edwards right Anthony Edwards He’s looks like Michael Jordan he’s really good but if jokic is really good and he wins titles and he’s effective you get fair and adequate coverage about jokic
In boxing this is a circus sport so when Joe Parker does something and revives his career with a very good coach and Andy Lee you never hear the story arc of man this Joe Parker guy can really fight and we thought that he was done but now
He resurrected his career and he’s one it’s always like who’s the biggest names we can throw in together like who are the biggest names even if they’re not really relevant or it doesn’t make sense we need to make the money and I think that that’s kind of like the
Issue with boxing as the whole is we don’t think about what’s the most interesting fight it’s like who who has the most followers how can we pit these guys together even if one guy’s at the end and one guy’s in the beginning it’s this is this is uh epitomized by the
Possibility of Conor Ben fighting Manny Pacquiao uh which to me is just two guys at different stages in their life yeah yeah that that’s a fight that doesn’t make any sense and I I totally agree with everything that you’re saying we’re coming up against that time and time
Again right now right is like that um conflict of are we making fights with the most notable fighters and notability could be with or without boxing or are we making the best fights available and I think that’s sort of the identity that boxing is having a hard time finding
Because if it was just about that I feel like Joseph Parker would been would have been the story of the night I agree um also Abe G says in reality Joshua fights hergovich next for the ibf strap in the summer I mean that’s a great fight to me I think given kind of
The inconsistencies of hergovich over the past few years it’s hard for me to believe he beats a fighter like Joshua who if anything fighting in Saudi Arabia has kind of revived his career like he was in a very weird place in British boxing history and then he goes over
There annihilates Otto Valene in a fight that I think fans thought we thought could have been a 5050 fight then humiliates Francis enanu and kind of treats him the way as you said treats him the way you expect a professional athlete who’s spent his whole life
Boxing to do a guy who’s an MMA fighter you know he showed him zero respect highlight Reed him humiliated him and I mean to me I left this fight thinking in ganu is probably GNA fight Deontay Wilder at some point like I know that’s wrong but
That’s like I left this and I was like who’s the next bigname guy and I’m like okay Deontay but I mean Joshua went from me viewing him as a total headcase wondering what what was going on uh having honestly average performances against average fighters who felt like
They were being brought in to build his confidence to arguably being the as confident as probably before the Ruiz fight in this fight and honestly in the volen fight before we wrap up obviously Joshua is the most famous fighter we’re going to talk about today maybe outside
Of Canelo why don’t you give some final thoughts because I think there’s probably people that are working their local union shift or graveyard shift and they want a little bit more Joshua talk my hope for Joshua is that we do get a rematch between him and and Joseph
Parker I just think that that’s a a huge fight it’s not going to be the biggest fight in terms of sales and money that can be made at heavyweight but I think it’s a the first fight was very close and I think they’ve both really come
Into their own since the first time they fought and are sort of peing at this point in their careers and I think the significance of it um and the level of it will be higher than the first one was and I think the winner of that fight
Will truly deserve to fight the winner of uh Fury and usyk to me that first fight and you know I’ve said this forever Parker put a little doubt in Joshua’s uh main frame because I saw I saw that as like a seven5 fight I thought Joshua just barely won and I
Thought the jab of Joseph Parker in that fight really troubled AJ I don’t think that he liked the fact that if he came in recklessly Joe Parker stood his ground popped a jab had his right here and then would pivot off in an angle he Pro he produced him or he provided
Himself as a moving Target who was very comfortable standing in range to jab and I think Joshua likes two things guys that stand in front of you or guys that just move excessively and Parker was the happy medium like an usyk in many ways where he was willing to jab but he was
Also not willing to excessively move which is kind of the Kryptonite of Joshua when guys will stand in front of him hit him turn and now Joshua’s because the to me the issue with Joshua the reason why he’s so stiff and doesn’t punch in combination is there’s some technical
Flaws he loads up on punches he throws punches extremely hard for an extremely exciting finish but he can overcommit to a shot which can get him out of position where a guy like usyk or a guy like Joe Parker can touch touch turn and now he
Has to reset and they did a whole little and he did a whole lot and they came away with three points and he came away with nothing yeah yeah I I listen I I have a lot of respect for Anthony Joshua as a fighter
Man it takes a lot to to lose a couple and to get stopped and to lose to the same guy back to back it takes a lot of lot of heart and a lot of self-belief and a lot of digging deep to do what he’s doing at this point in his career
And I’ve been hard on him at points basically because like so much money was behind him right because it’s like he he l literally had like probably the most money of any modern fighter almost outside of Canelo so it was kind of hard to screw this up because there was a machine behind
Him but he this Final Chapter to me is showing that he really deserved that hey look L got knocked out twice right like it it all dep it all it’s corny right but it’s not over till it’s over like we we watch careers in their entirety and even in many of
The greats careers right there are moments of Doubt there are moments of questioning where they’re at any great fighter has gone through that Manny Pacquiao got knocked flat out on his face you know 15 12 years ago whatever in front of millions of people and came
And had a whole other chapter of his career so every Legend has to overcome these questions I think another part of his story that I’d like to add to this is he’s a British boxer who behaved like an American fighter in many ways where he distanced him self from the media
Whereas most British Fighters built a great relationship with the British media maybe not a great relationship with other media but they there was like a close-knit British Community he distanced himself um and I think that’s also an interesting element to the Joshua story is maybe some of the push back too is
That he wanted to be viewed as like a LeBron James who who does Lebron James turn to if he wants to get a story out like I don’t think LeBron builds those relationships with media people and I think Joshua was the first probably of many new British Fighters that didn’t build that
Relationship with the British media do you think that affects him negatively now I think just the way his career finishes will Define his legacy because I think what he is doing whether wants to or not is the narrative will be shaped on performance not based on him so I think like a guy
Like George Groves has achieved a lot less but being who George Groves is and the great personality he is and what he’s contributed to boxing after especially in a British context roves is a beloved figure that I think many fight fans will go to bat for because of the
Personality I think AJ is built like a Sugar Ray Leonard in terms of like he’s a high-profile do no wrong guy but he also wanted that exclusivity of a Floyd Mayweather right well and I think on some level he has achieved that successfully it’s interesting Final
Chapter um let’s let’s just hit on this Canelo mongia real quick before we shift gears to the Jo Joe Parker um it was announced last night uh canelo’s fighting mongia it’s May 4th uh it’s big fight you know obviously we’re going to be talking about it quite
A bit especially as it gets closer because people click on those type of videos we’re in the business of videos that get clicked on uh let’s look at what Jesus M asked uh BT Canelo was insisting Jal Charlo but the blacklash and not a profitable I’d assume he means
Fight uh didn’t make sense boxing business sense uh mongia versus Canelo on PBC and hisone so they can gauge the numbers for the Benitas versus Canelo I mean look this is all I’ve got to say about this fight is at least we’re getting an interesting Canelo fight I don’t think anyone’s
Going to favor mongia but we’re look mongia is a lot better than I think people give him credit because he basically went about seven years without fighting a guy that you cared about outside of Gabe Rosado and Rosado was a little older at that point but that was
Actually a tremendous fight given that he had knocked out Beck the bully prior um I mean this is this is a fight that I think when it comes around I think will be better than people think because Mia’s like you’ve said offensively Reckless and I think that that stylistically makes for an exciting
Fight with Canelo because a guy that’s willing to punch with him what is Canelo do he hits really hard and he punches when it when fights have not been good with Canelo is when guys are not going to stand and trade to me this has a chance of being a very exciting
Explosive fight I think the the disconnect like I’m seeing Jesus Sam is saying not really interesting fight essentially U mongia has not done anything at 168 I get that I don’t think people are going to favor mongia but I think when you look at the two Styles you can see
Maybe a potentially unhinged fight because neither guy I think is gonna go okay I’m gonna outc craft this guy I listen I think that mongia being a little bit offensively Reckless but also being fluid in his right we’re talking about guys who have fluid offenses like
He knows how to put him together he does things with a certain level of variety I don’t think he’s a predictable guy um I think he’s in his physical prime we’ve been seeing for the last couple years not bad performance performances from Canelo right but he’s just not as much
Of a freak of nature as he was in 2019 2020 2021 um and I think the the timing with which this fight’s being made I can’t hate on the fight bro I think it’s a good fight there’s a lot of times during uh during Floyd Mayweather’s career I felt that
Way about fights he was taking there was undeniable that he was taking a tough challenge that he was taking probably the third choice of the fans or for me um but that ultimately there was other fights that we wanted to see more and I think you know who I’m talking about if
It’s benav is if it’s Morel so I think it’s a it is a somewhat Mayweather and uh fight choice but I think it’s a legit fight and a legit challenge right like when Floyd fought Oscar was it the guy we all wanted to see no but was it a
Legit fight yeah I think that’s the kind of fight we’re getting here Jesus Sam says Canelo was never really a 160 or 68er I mean he’s definitely a 160 I was going to say golov fight Golovkin you’re legit a middleweight and I mean he unified he became Undisputed at 168 so
He fought the world champions at Super middleweight you could say it was a weak Division if you wanted to but he still beat every single champion of that era in that division so I mean I I just I find that factually hard like we love Yus but like the facts say that
He fought legitimate proven guys who spent their careers at those divisions I’m not sure how else we would Define it janc beats Canelo pretty easy I mean that I think I was telling someone the other day I think janb Beck’s not very long for the middleweight division given
How exciting super middleweight is and given the indecisive nature of Canelo like Jan indecisive and seemingly immovable nature of the middleweight division right there’s plenty of interesting guys for him to fight but we just are not getting those and it’s like if let’s say Canelo moves or an interim
Belt comes up imagine janc versus Christian MB Billy that’s a very makeable fight that’s a very exciting TV fight so I mean that’s a main event level fight and that fight could happen in Canada it could happen wherever I just don’t think Jan Beck’s going to be
A middleweight long but to me I don’t have an issue with this fight now I get where people are coming from in a golf reference because you know I like my golf maybe it’s like trying to say the PLAYERS Championship is a major it really isn’t a major but it’s still a
Really good tournament and if you want to turn on golf on the weekend you can watch a lot of the best players play in it but it’s not quite a major I get that this isn’t quite what you want but I think when the fight starts people are
Going to be surprised because they haven’t been really paying attention to mongia they’ve kind of made assumptions based on the Dennis Hogan fight they’ve been in and out on his career I think Mong is going to surprise people I think this is going to be an action-packed
Fight and not quite fully ready to say it but I think there’s a really good chance this could lead to a rematch because I think as long as mongia doesn’t allow it to be at that like arms distance where they’re kind of waiting and it becomes a timing fight if you can
Assert some sort of pace and physicality I think he’s got a real shot I think also like mongia is a pretty proud dude it seems and he’s not an idiot I think he realizes a lot of people think he’s been protected and he views himself as a real
Badass and I think that annoys him and he’s H if he beats Canelo or has a great performance with Canelo he becomes a Mexican superstar and I think that the undertone of this fight is who is the face of Mexican boxing this is the young Mexican Fighter versus The Legend and for
Fighters looking to fight for their country and be the face of a sport to a country I think this is going to be the best mongia and he’s working with a fantastic coach with Freddy roach an offensively gifted one a guy who you know he’s had experience going up against Canelo
So I mean I think that I think it’s an I’m the more I talk about it the more excited I get but I also understand that I don’t I don’t get excited by the sheer nature of ha me mongia versus Canelo the saying the names doesn’t excite me thinking
About how it could play out does right and that’s why I said it’s not a bad pick it’s just it is um the most lucrative famous fighter in the sport kind of taking all of our third choices you know Jesus Sam GGG let Canelo off the hook because Canelo was
Tired after the round five in the first fight um our good friend seev of Combat Sports media said good afternoon gentlemen good afternoon to you seev uh there is a reason mongia ducked janc well I mean mongia ducked also Demetrius he’s he’s had a very protected career
Right but I think the thing is what I think Golden Boy or anybody and this is me guessing this is my opinion they’d say yeah we probably built him to a certain point but now he’s ready to go like I think that would be the argument
Is don’t look at the past we did it for a reason to put him at this position and this is going to be the truth the truth chamber uh Canelo PBC Haymon is gifting mongia and a payday because he doesn’t have a future I mean hey suam we love
You it just sounds like Canelo rub rubs you the wrong way bub it sounds like canelo’s on the rubs you the wrong way list bub because I mean yeah like it just like I mean I get it there’s aspects of Canelo that are very unlikable especially if you’re a
Workingclass guy because he’s like extremely rich and he gets to kind of do whatever he wants and he kind of can just hold the sport hostage and I get how that could be annoying but he’s one of the greats of this era he’s accomplished a lot he’s a for sure Hall
Of Famer he if he’s not the face of boxing he’s definitely one of the four pillars of boxing right now that’s keeping the sport alive and him versus mongia is a fight that is really relevant and I think the other thing about this fight is it kind of sets the
Tone for how he might do with David benovitz it kind of gives us a hint at this is I don’t want to say a watered down version of David benovitz but mongia probably doesn’t quite hit as hard right because let’s say they made this fight in 2020 or 202 21 2021 really
In that when he’s fighting Billy Joe Saunders all those fights I I think Canelo stops him right and at that point in time I would have said that him and benovitz was a 50-50 fight at this point I I lean towards David and I think that
This fight has the potential to be very competitive um I also think Canelo could dominate it but I I I I if it had been made a few years ago I think it would have been no doubt that Canelo would have dominated to me there’s major Canelo slippage since the bivel
Performance and part of that slippage I think is he bought into his own hype and believed that he was in like Unstoppable and could go through weight classes and stop anyone and be a power puncher and load up on shots and I’m not fully convinced that that
We’ll ever see that run of Canelo again and I I kind of believe that we’re he’s telling us that by basically being like you know I would fight Benitas when I was on my run but now I’m being a little bit more careful because I’m getting older that’s what I’m interpreting right
Now sure I think that’s a fair interpretation so luk is gonna load up on his final cup of coffee we’re gonna let Mr Dakota cook on his favorite fight of the weekend Joseph Parker versus Big Bang Zang it’s the Dakota’s twominutetuesday@mainsequence.net was Joe Parker so outstanding to you well
Listen he’s coming off a win over Deontay Wilder there wasn’t really anybody giving him half a chance to win that fight and he swept it 120 and he made Deontay just look sort of unenthused and past his prime it’s an incredibly impressive performance that he then probably deserved the Joshua
Fight immediately after right the theory was that Wilder and Joshua were going to fight that’s not the fight that got made um um and so instead of getting a fight with Joshua as the reward for such a dominant performance he has to fight X Jong who just is coming off of two
Dominant knockout wins over the last guy that Parker lost to uh Joe Joyce obviously we know the triangle theory in boxing doesn’t always work right but Joseph Parker was physically overwhelmed by Joe Joyce in the context of when that fight happened and J completely uh I think altered the career
Of Joe Joyce so this was a truly 50-50 fight and on paper a potentially more dangerous fight not more dangerous fight but high risk low reward whereas fighting Joshua sort of is the big fight and listen he gets dropped twice um hard I think he was buzzed like
Legitimately buzzed the first time I think that julay Jang has incredible power and I think regardless of whether he was hurt or he got put down he stuck to his game plan he boxed a beautiful fight he’s much more athletic and fast uh than really anyone at
Heavyweight outside of maybe usyk and I think he was just a step ahead right we see every time guys would fight Mayweather I hate to use him all the time as the standard but I we used to watch guys fight Mayweather and we go why aren’t they letting their hands go
Why aren’t they letting their hands go and there was a reason right it’s like guys throw faints guys hands speed speed makes you keep your hands in your pocket because you’re concerned about um what’s coming back and whether or not you can even see it coming back
Um and so I think that’s really what made the win so special for Parker he had to you know recover from two different knockdowns against one of the two or three biggest punchers in in in the division um and ultimately kind of wound up giving him a boxing lesson even if
The cards were tight yeah I mean to me Joe Parker was always the Halla very good he was first ballot Halla very good he did everything well but it just felt like all the greats of the era kind of he just was missing one thing maybe he was missing
Andy Lee because it seems like since he’s made this shift to Andy Lee we might just have a Hall of Fame boxer in and Joe Parker he’s I guess technically you could call him a two-time heavyweight world champion now he seems more enthused than ever you know his body language
He’s I think he truly believes he’s one of the best of this era and it kind of reminds me of the resurrection of Tony bellu late in his career where bellu I had an assumption about where he was from the Donna Stevenson fight and then later in his
Career he just kind of be became a different guy maybe Carl frch is another guy like that where it’s like constantly the underdog late in his career constantly upsetting people but what’s different than like those two guys they had like a massive chip on their shoulder Joseph Parker does it a
Little differently he’s like extremely friendly the whole time it’s like he’s not phased by the doubt he’s not fueled by the doubt publicly he’s not ridiculing confidence though right like that’s what real confidence looks like like it doesn’t look like walking out with a circus it doesn’t look like
Walking out with 30 girls with hula hoops right it looks like Joseph Parker and I think that in the midst of his ups and downs in his career he found who he was as a prize fighter and I think that’s what the scariest thing is is he’s got all this
Experience and he knows who he is as a man he knows who he is as a fighter let’s look at some of these cont uh comments we got a we got a pop in comments we got a well I mean why wouldn’t we why wouldn’t we why wouldn’t we why wouldn’t we so
Um comments on this Jesus Sam more of Zang didn’t do much to be fair Zang is 40 years old as someone but I I think that is worth noting right like he did have Parker legitimately hurt the first time and there wasn’t a lot of followup
And I think that that was it he missed his opportunities when they were there and I think that Parker capitalized on his lack of engine also okay let’s let’s take it a step further bro let’s take it a step further cause Jan’s tough but that’s the criticism right is the
Engine let’s take it a step further is that Zang or is that Joe Parker also being a crafty veteran knowing that Zang is a guy that if you stand in front of him like Anthony Joshua likes guys to do he’s going to hit you really hard and
You’re out like I think a part of that too is he didn’t punch because Zang punches really hard and has to set his feet and even when Parker was hurt he knew if I move here I move there Zang has to take seven steps for my three
Steps because he he’s loading up so much and he’s so heavy on his feet I mean I get that he has to blame himself but I also kind of think like when every shot you throw is a power shot this can happen you can throw coming off of the
Two the two Joyce wins there I I somewhat agree with you Jesus because to me and this is just I’m watching it I’m giving Parker all the credit you’ve been hearing how I feel about him but if I’m in jong’s corner it’s like I got to see you working a
Little more bro like we’re at this level we’re one fight away from maybe being like one of the guys I just I got to see you wanted a little more and I think that there have been a few performances of late where guys just look uninfused
And this to me on some level was one of them and I I couldn’t tell you if it was physical there just wasn’t a whole lot of followup that showed an a sense of urgency well and I think that the other thing that comes into my mind is
Like does getting paid a lot of money is that the victory for some Fighters because like that that starts to because with wilder that came into my mind I guess Joe Parker’s two wins can I discredit them as much as possible like did the two guys that Joe Parker just
Had phenomenal performances about they listen I think if it’s not Joe Parker those guys are still knocking guys out right so Joe Parker is the the common factor here but I do think that there we we have seen in in recent times Jal Charlo against Canelo is a perfect
Example there’s been multiple of these Saudi performances where we’ve seen them where guys just don’t look look entirely engaged composed performance from Steve Steve the Zang kept uh Zang thought he won uh also a comment above people thought Zang had won the fight I think that goes into probably our next
Conversation with Nick ball and Ray Vargas like if a guy just gets knocked down I always feel like there’s going to be a subsection of fans we saw this also in the Kevin Lena justice hooney fight where if a guy gets knocked down people immediately forget everything else that
Happen in the fight and it’s like a street fight and they go well he got dropped so he should have lost that’s like I feel like there’s a subsection of fans that play street fight rules and not the unified rules uh great comment from Lionel Watson that says the three
Heavyweights who took their profession seriously are the three guys that are at the top usyk AJ and Joseph Parker I think there’s a lot of Truth to that and fury is there because he’s extraordinarily talented but it’s not necessarily because his work ethic I think equates to those guys and I think
If Fury had the work ethic he might be above those guys but what’s keeping him at that level is that he doesn’t have a work ethic and I think what we’re now waiting on is is Fury gonna get old overnight in the usyk fight because we
Just saw him struggle with an MMA guy that Anthony Joshua ran through rather e easily and fury kind of struggled with um Dakota when Zang hurt Parker he would just stare at him uh man K crazy said Shawn George the coach of Zang he would say he doesn’t like pressure Zang does
Nothing um was Parker hitting the gloves zang’s side felt they won uh I think people forgot Parker turned pro at 19 only 32 we that’s a great that’s a great Point Steve because I think if you put it into context it’s like when he was fighting Joshua and dillian white he was
About the same age as Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney right now right so that was was at that point in his career and now he’s a guy in his early 30s in his physical prime with a lot of experience and I think he’s really come come into
His own yeah by the way if we if we criticize Wilder or Jang like Parker showed up to do his job bro he deserves the big fight that’s the bottom line it doesn’t matter if if Wilder showed up and didn’t want to let his hands go Joe
Parker did the [ __ ] job so he deserves the fight Zang always gets tired since the start of his career says Jesus Sam Zang was about 290 in the ring I saw a lot of comments about that at 291 does Zang have a bad Camp why is he so heavy um
Zang’s team was telling him to finish but he could didn’t follow instructions I mean I always feel like when a guy comes in extremely heavy and then has a a bad performance you’re always going to wonder like did he like I wouldn’t say he had a bad camp but my Wonder is is
There a unknown injury that we don’t know about because typically through my experience especially with heavy weights which is very limited when guys come in heavy that means that they’re hurt typically it’s like knees they can’t run so the weight piles on because they’re injured and they’re big
Guys and they’re still training but they’re just not able to let the weight float off because they have to also kind of keep their body at Bay to make it to the the fight night right I mean I I don’t think I don’t think he look any different than he’s ever looked right
Like he’s just a really big dude he’s always kind of been pushing three hundo when he gets in the ring he’s 6 foot6 6 foot s whatever he is like he’s just a big [ __ ] guy bro yeah Ray Vargas Nick ball um I don’t what is it what is it about
Ray Vargas that makes people so like I feel like there’s a lot of guys that box and turn and look like kabad crane in the ring and there’s like a even guys complain right Ray Vargas at the end of this fight for people who didn’t watch
It Nick ball knocks him down he starts doing the complaining to the ref thing I feel like for a guy who held a belt for a presidential duration right he had like a belt for like four years a lot of people just don’t care you know and maybe that’s because Golden
Boy promotions at the time in a transitionary phase they were going from the PBC Fighters now PBC Fighters leaving Golden Boy and Golden Boy had to rebuild and they were on like Facebook watch and they had some HBO dates but it was a really weird time for Golden Boy
But to me I was kind of surprised at how little people cared about Ray Vargas and how much people wanted to see Nick ball win this fight because it led into a potential Ray Ford unification fight when to me it was like okay this is NI Nick Ball’s first chance against a world
Class competitor and does Ray Vargas still is he still able to compete at that level I would not like to believe that many of our fight fans left since 2017 but it sure feels that way because a lot of the people commenting on these things were saying this was the first or second
Time they had seen Ray Vargas who was a decorated world champion which might speak to his weight class of super bantamweight I don’t know what did what did you think of both Vargas leading in and of this fight I’ve always been a fan of his skill set I think his height um
And his style of boxing has always been interesting at the weight classes he fights at because he just looks like he doesn’t belong at those weight classes it’s sort of a lower weight fondor kind of situation um and he’s always been really difficult to hit and um I think
Like Combat Sports media says I think inactivity is a lot of that right like he he’s coming off that post HBO era and when you when you fight once a year man it’s tough for people to get attached to you and you just sort of become that
Champion on paper that’s like holding up fights and I think that there’s some of that sentiment um I mean I also have to be brutally honest bro I just feel like um when we have a British fighter with British commentary it’s very difficult for them to contain themselves and call
An unbiased fight it just becomes the British boxing hour and I don’t know if that’s a football culture or what the root of that is but they bring nationalism into their fight commentary and it doesn’t matter where the fight is or if they’re the only ones doing the
Commentary they bring that with them um and I think that it shapes weird narrative it makes uh world champions B sides in fights and uh I find it increasingly not fun to watch and I felt like Nick ball was the recipient of a lot of that Grace
Yesterday I also feel like Rays at the end of his career because he had um he had fought guys like Nick ball like Oscar nret ozat hovanesian and made those fights Rios Ronnie Rio so made those decisive victories this definitely feels like it’s closer to the end than the
Beginning and like Asus Sam left a comment Ray Vargas is horrible clumsy stumbling dropping hands just awfully hard to watch I think this kind of sums up a sentiment to his career which is to me a little unfortunate given that he fought the guys of his era he his style
Is his style it’s not necessarily an action-packed style but it it’s highly effective Ive when he beat mark magio what was it two years ago that was one of the best wins in that Division and yet inactivity along with I think fans just not really being interested in the
Way he fights has kind of gotten him written into a no man’s land in the featherweight division which is pretty much looking for someone to say I’m the guy I think it’s Luis Alberto Lopez right now but pretty much every dominant Champion has handed off the belt
Lee wood is no longer there Alberto Lopez is Rays coming from this previous era of featherweights that was chronically inactive bro Leo Santa Cruz Gary Russell that’s the era he’s coming from and so I think people just are indifferent to his career I think they didn’t watch his career I think the big
Problem was they don’t remember you know they don’t remember that he was a a dominant champion at 122 and I think a I think you’re right but I think also some of those fights were on Facebook like Golden Boy did those weird Facebook watch fights that I think didn’t get the
Viewership that a lot of people watched and I think that he fought in a division 122 which typically isn’t really watched if your name isn’t Nonito Donaire or Nao inaway these are guys these are divisions people don’t watch jesm once again uh Dakota who is to blame with
Rugged tactics ball charging in but Vargas was ducking his head to lean in to headbutt so Vargas is to blame as well our Guy s i i I thought that the first knockdown was not a legit knockdown it felt like he got pushed and then hit on the way down the second one
Was a little bit more of a gray area because I think their feet got tangled up there I think ball was rushing in because he felt like this is the only way that I can close distance and make Vargas uncom comfortable I’m not going to be able to do it with head movement
And slip in the jab I just have to kind of jump in and if I can push him to the floor if I can uh uh toss him around if I can make him feel the physicality that’s my best bet in the fight and he did that successfully down the stretch
Which was very impressive because he got completely outboxed for the first six rounds and then just rided the ship and I think he did it with dirty tactics um but that that’s also on the referee good points Israel madra mayoff what do you think of um what do you think of him
Winning a world title uh his career’s been weird man he turn pro against Vladimir Hernandez stops him in a scheduled 10 rounder that was his first fight and you could arguably say up until this point has been a gradual decline in competition he had those weird two fights with Michelle Soro Soro
Would inevitably lose to to the opponent I can’t pronounce his name who would he would fight on this card carbano corbano and um it’s it’s just a it’s an interesting situation because he went from being probably one of the most heavily hyped exciting emerging fighters to six to
Seven years later people being like Oh I kind of vaguely remember him whatever happened and him and bivel in particular feel like covid-19 really Dera derailed their career because it felt like there was momentum building CO hit and there just wasn’t fight dates for him and he’s never
Really gotten back to that activity since covid hit he has a title where do you see him in the division I think the division with Charlo vacating the belts is in flux I think Tim zuo is the obvious choice is sort of the top guy at the moment the
Thurman fight will help to determine that but I think mad dream is a victim of the same issues that Ray Vargas or Keith Thurman I’m maybe victim is the wrong word but when you aren’t fighting regularly right regardless of the reason the public becomes disengaged unless you’re already a superstar who can draw
Attention fighting once a year um and madof never got to that position in the sport and so I think it’s even if he’s fighting a a top 10 guy like Soro that’s not necessarily getting the attention of the fans in the way I just you activity or inactivity can be a
Killer I think it’s compelling matchups too and I think you just said that it’s like I’ve never I’ve always viewed him as a really talented fighter but he’s never had his Ray forward fight he’s never had his fight against Charles Conwell Tim zoo and for whatever reason and when you don’t have these
Interesting matchups and you’re a heavily favored fighter and then you become inactive I think enthusiasm starts to go because fans want exciting interesting matchups and when those don’t happen all of the sudden you get thrown to the back burner to either guys that are having more exciting performances or
Guys that are fighting more exciting matchups and I think he came because he’s a physical freak you saw it with the backflip he can do crazy gym videos but I think that the last few years has been a little bit of a wakeup call that just being talented just being
A guy that can do cool stuff in the gym there is a shelf life for that so hopefully with this title he can force some very compelling fights in the near future yeah and I think this was sort of that the the kind of performance you
Want to have to remind people right he fought an unbeaten guy who had 20s something fights who I think was good a good credible fighter right this was a legit title Eliminator um was title fight didn’t he win the belt title what was it an interim belt
Or was I think it’s the straight up I believe I can do research I think he’s a straightup champion WBA Champion now well that’s a beautiful thing and hopefully you know he can uh continue the momentum which has kind of been the thing that’s been lacking in his whole career is
Momentum and often I feel let me look at like the rankings of this um often I would like to believe yeah that was for the belt and then if you look who’s number three in the division we might have a great fight on the way Virgil Ortiz is magically number three
In that division so imagine if we could get Virgil Ortiz versus him later this year love it all of a sudden now we have a great fight love it that’s a great matchup that’s a great fight you know that’s a great fight um D Styles boxing
Our friend said new uh no I assume new means no uh didn’t save boxing but he established respect from boxing uh was lacking from casuals that thought MMA guys were better than boxers at their own sport he’s responding to our headline great comment uh Beck bully doesn’t fight as well that’s true he’s
Struggling with staying active they blame PBC Fighters not fighting but the Zone Fighters like Israel also fight once a year I think that chronic inactivity has spread across every promoter I think you can look through each promotion and find a fighter who we could argue just doesn’t fight enough I
Don’t think one promoter is to blame I think that we just don’t have enough fight dates for fighters to fight across any promotion or you got or you got a guy like Arnold Barbosa who’s been like oh the next fight’s a big one for seven
Fights in a row now you know and he’s just lives for five years yeah five year for half a decade he’s next fight’s a big fight um is there anything else we want to touch on on this card um I think just briefly like I I talked to to Jack and nibs a
Little bit about this yesterday but it’s just like to me it feels like there is a level of bias with some of the I’ll say matchroom specifically but it feels like it’s across British and UK boxing right now where there’s just no ability to separate themselves from their nationalist Pride towards their Fighters
And I think that that’s a beautiful thing but that’s for the fans when you get into commentary when you get into the people that are really operating the sport it’s like you can see these people openly rooting for people and even the sports Minister from Saudi Arabia they
Were openly saying on the air that he called Anthony Joshua and said I’m rooting for you and you know make make the sport look good this is these are the people that are operating our sport these are also supposed to be unbiased entities and I just think that um matchroom in particular is
Showing uh out in the open bias that I just don’t think is good for boxing um and while I don’t know where luky went maybe he’s on another espresso run um no I’m here Luke’s here he had to go to the bathroom L had to go to the
Bathroom because he drank coffee and then coffee comes right out of you um yeah I mean look boxing’s in a weird place boxing’s in a weird place we’re waiting for the next Floyd we’re waiting for the next Pacquiao and that person hasn’t arrived since it sort of was Canelo but
Then canelo’s also been like yeah I’m that guy and I’m not g to cater to boxing fans I want to be rich and I’m gonna do the Canelo thing um I think that by now is just going to be a part of boxing because the fact that the new
Model of boxing with that [ __ ] though bro no I I but what I’m saying is the bigger problem I have is networks are now going in with promoters they’re not buying content from boxing promoters and boxing promoters are competing to go to Networks inherently when you’re doing exclusive
Deals or semi-exclusive deals with one promoter there’s going to be a level of showing Showmanship there’s going to be a level of selling the product because now they’re all in on one product to build a fighter that’s business so I get what you’re saying about bias in British boxing but I think
It’s across the board now maybe not as apparent in some instances that each network has certain promoters they work with and I I think the point that I’m making is actually more so on a smaller scale than that what I’m saying is when you have an American commentator or you
Have a Mexican commentator or you have a commentator from almost any other part of the world I don’t feel like they default to rooting for the guy that’s from their region you know what I mean like there is still some and there look Tim Brad was very biased towards Ray
Ford these things happen but it doesn’t come with the same level of like ah he’s from the neighborhood how can I not you know I hear you but like we’re we’re heading into an area where boxing like boxing’s never fully been taken serious right if we’re going to be honest like there’s a
Level of circus that boxing operates it’s like why there’s a crossover for many people boxing and Pro wrestling right because there’s a there’s a lot of things in boxing that if a tennis player did it they would not be able to to get away with it like the it’s almost like a
Rapper a rapper can get away with things but then Taylor Swift can’t it’s like ah they’re a rapper we don’t take them serious they’re like cartoon characters there’s a level of boxer where there’s a little bit of a gray line that being said it’s really feeling like as as we’re getting away from
Network television and being View on a bigger platform on bigger stages we’re going more and more Niche which is allowing bias in commentary to happen more regularly in my opinion and more freely well and now we’re coming into an era of boxing where a country Sports Minister who is overseeing a fight is
Calling Fighters and saying they’re rooting for them that’s not an unbi that’s that’s theater yeah I mean it’s it’s just a really strange time and I don’t really want to touch on this subject but it’s like the I’m I’m not we don’t have to touch
On it f but we don’t you know the New York State athletic commission doesn’t call their favorite fighter before the fight that’s the point I’m making and I think that for that I guess the point is the defense would be I’m a boxing fan so Theory embarrassed boxing so I’m do I guess
That would probably be the theory for me there’s just a lot of there’s a I like my and this might sound offensive to some people I like my sports to be a retreat from the hardships of life I deal with a lot of sadness I deal with a lot of harsh
Realities in life as it is and the intersection of that into boxing is sometimes fascinating like right because like boxers fight for their paycheck literally we fight metaphorically for our paycheck there’s a level of the harder you work the more you become what you want to become
Etc but when we start to tie in things that I pick and choose what I want to know like politics when we start to bring in race relations it starts to complicate my relationship with this sport For Better or For Worse because I’m tuning into this sport often for what I want from
The world which is strict competition determining who’s the best you know not not all the other things that kind of corrupt the world it’s it’s seeing two athletes regardless of gender regardless of race compete to see who is the best on that given night that’s what motivates me that’s what uplifts me and
There there is an element of caution when I watch some of these events where I wonder are we entering a world in which we can’t talk boxing and we have to enter into conversations that I actually throughout all most of my adulthood have have tried to avoid I I
Read The Economist but I try to avoid getting Dakota on here and talk about economic theory I try to avoid sharing my political preference I try to avoid these things why because there are Republicans and Democrats that tune into this podcast and they like luky and Dakota and they enjoy our show my
Political opinions don’t matter I’m here to give people boxing content and my deeper concern and I’m going on a soapbox rant is I just hope we can stay within a boxing framework and get the good fights we want and I think the the hope I have is maybe boxing has an empowering feature
And it can Empower maybe conversations in the political landscape that are helpful to people like myself and others but I do have a fear that our sport at some point might turn into getting away from what I love which is talking about great and compelling matchups well and it it makes it really
Hard right it’s right in our face all the time there there are things about these Saudi events that are sort of right out in the open that are strange and different than any other boxing event we’ve ever seen and it puts us in this this position where we’re
Either talking about about it or we’re thinking about what a complicated issue it is and it’s in injected itself into the sport and I think that being right on the heels of what has been an incredibly strange meltdown from Ryan Garcia in the last week let’s get into
That too because that that actually is they tie into to each other because when you in the same week when there’s a a massive event in in Saudi Arabia where one of our biggest stars has a public meltdown and then one of our biggest stars who’s not athletically
Achieved anything is fighting a 60- year old man and those are the highlights of the week in a sense well and and obvious to me the the positive was the fight in Saudi because at least a sporting competition is coming forward and honestly it makes me
Think what’s wrong with it at some point because it’s like everything else I’m seeing I mean I don’t see anything inherently wrong with Paul versus Mike Tyson because that’s just theater that’s people have a deep relationship with Mike Tyson people find Jake Paul entertaining it’ll be probably sanctioned you know as an exhibition
Bout and it’ll be a money fight it’ll be a fight for just let’s make money everybody leads in a Lamborghini let’s go on for me the uncomfortable conversation is Ryan Garcia because none of the outcomes of what’s going on are good like there’s no outcome you could
Say okay he’s faking it for attention that’s not good uh you could say he’s really having a breakdown that’s not good you could say we’re going to take him at face value and someone’s kidnapped him at some Point that’s not there’s no I don’t see how you could
Look at this and go he’s doing all right and to me honestly I’m a little concerned leading into this fight I almost I don’t want to say I wish anyone did not fight in a fight but I have major reservations about him fighting a serious athlete like Devin Haney who’s taking this fight
Extremely serious he’s not buying into any of this stuff you’re only seeing him in the gym working extremely hard given how complicated life seems for Ryan Garcia it’s a little concerning it’s totally concerning and I think in any other era in boxing it would elicit a different kind of
Reaction than what we’re getting at the moment um and like you said any of the possible scenarios for why this is happening um for for why he’s behaving as strangely as he is none of them are good outcomes and I don’t think they are going to lead to a good performance and
He’s fighting you know one of the five sharpest guys in the game right now um so when you see somebody speaking in such an unhinged way it’s hard to see how they function as a person let alone fight the best man in their weight class it just I’m old
Dakota that’s what this makes me feel because I don’t speak social media anymore like we talked about you talked to me quite a bit on and off this telecast and you probably know about 70% of the stuff going on in my life that’s what you told me and I never once I’m
Like okay I’m in a public place let me go on social media and just share where I’m at like I have severe paranoia about that if I was having a mental breakdown which may or may not have had in the past um I would not gra go to my phone
And try to elicit emotions so like the other issue about this Ryan Garcia thing is it makes me feel old it makes me feel a little bit like I’m not youthful because there’s a level of I just don’t understand the language he speaks and it feels like a different language where
Well let’s talk about the language he speaks for a moment right because and again it’s not on luky and Dakota for talking about it Ryan Garcia put this on the internet and put that in all in all of our faces intentionally so that nobody’s picking on
Anybody the kid talked as if he’s been kidnapped as if he’s been forced to watch very disturbing things that I’m not going to repeat the kid speaks as if crimes have been committed against him and everyone goes ah he’s [ __ ] around and it’s in it’s insane it’s also in
Such an unhinged fashion that I think people are not taking it serious because nothing he’s saying makes any sense it’s coming off like a guy asking you for money on the corner not saying that’s what it is but it’s coming off as serious as I talk as a guy asking me for
A dollar and saying he just talked to God that is the way I’m interpreting it bro the the other and that’s a great point right I don’t at a certain point Devon Haney’s 25 years old too and I don’t feel like an alien when he opens
His mouth and also I don’t feel like an alien when I watch Devin Haney’s content it’s like oh I’m in the boxing gym oh I’m in front of a luxury car from the money I’ve made from my boxing career oh I’m with a famous celebrity that I want
His or her fans to see me with it doesn’t feel as it might not be what I would do but it feels like what a rich athlete who works hard would want to represent themselves in a social platform Ryan Garcia’s stuff is just flat out bizarre and it’s
And it’s newly Bizarre by the way th 10 the 10 months ago watch an interview of him from the tank fight completely different guy bro very likable different guy very likable thoughtful right like not my favorite but there was really nothing to dislike about the kid truly
It was like just a young guy pursuing tough fights and what’s not to like win lose a draw the kids got a set of balls on them and it’s in the last less literally last week after the it started with the LA press conference with Devin
Haney where the dad had a comment that was we’re not going to repeat but it was at worst at best ignorant it was at best ignorant and at worst you know we won’t say what it is but people can interpret how they want to interpret it Brian did
No media interviews from what I saw left that press conference from that press conference seemingly has had seven to 10 days of just really strange social media interactions and nothing to do with the fight everything to do with things that with him let’s keep it real it’s it’s it’s a
Very it’s like you’re not going to find a poor person typically posting this this is a very I don’t want to say narcissistic because he could be battling mental health but this is a very famous person issue kind of he’s facing well it’s it’s either that or there is
Something going on in his life that’s very dark that we don’t know anything about it’s just sad bro because it feels like we’re watching the decline of a very promising fighter and there’s not really anything any media member can do right because we’re not we don’t have access family it
Has to come from his family it has to come or the team or the the people around and I think the people in your life given how this fight plays out it could potentially shape how people look at many of the people around him in the
Short and long term that’s about as much as I want to talk about that because it just makes me sad um I do want to get back to boxing and actually talk about real fights for a second there were two Niche cards I’m sure not many people
Watched but this is we do this show more so for these type of fights than those clip clickbaity moments that we just had that more people probably skimm to watch but I the tiger ran a really interesting show on ESPN plus I was on coverage for boxing
Scene and it was a great card to be honest it was really interesting we had two first round knockouts uh alysius alius Inus stopped uh Marcelo careras who had dropped Edgar banga and deago Pacho had gone nine rounds with him he stopped him in one
Round and he looked like a capital G guy he’s one of these super middleweights who’s uh defected from Cuba and he holds a wind over Morell in the amers interesting guy to kind of watch because I expected that to be a pack of the lunch fight and settle down and get 10
Rounds in uh also on that card Steph bang bang Butler knocked out Steve rolls in one round landed a right hand stopped him on the ropes rolls was propped on the ropes he threw like three really hard left Hooks and they thankfully hit rs’s shoulder um because if they had to
Hit him on the chin it probably would have been like a really Sensational and scary type knockout kind of a yeah it was a really strange sequence to the end of that fight probably the end of Steve rolls’ career Steve is 39 years old he got brutally knocked out in that fight
I’m not sure I really want to see Steve back and then there was also a guy named John aario he’s I believe a 20-year-old fighter from Colombia training in Canada he’s a lightweight obviously he wasn’t in with the toughest composition he was in with a guy who basically was trying
To go rounds with him put poke and prod him not loading up and he found a way to stop him to the body it seems as though the promotion is very high on this John O bario guy and the hope is that he can do something uh exciting probably in the
Future the words that coach Mark Ramsey was was they want to challenge him but they don’t want to move him too quick which kind of tells you where they kind of see him I don’t think they see him as contending but they also want to kind of keep him
Engaged last night also watched the All-Star boxing card there was um there was actually a couple of notable fights that I thought stood out so let me let me just tell you about them uh because most people probably didn’t watch these this guy hyro Nora won the main event
He’s a light flyweight 108 pounds he’s from Spain he’s kind of got the sandor Martin style he’s able to box he’s able to bang good hand speed he’s going to be in a world title fight he’s good enough to be at that level he won a 12 rounder
Last night against a guy with a good record a puncher I believe that it was this guy’s Hometown as well he was undefeated but went in there interesting fighter who I wouldn’t be mad if you saw him in with the likes of Ken Shiro in with labomba Gonzalez in with uh the
Other Champion uh not ninga he’s an interesting guy who I I thought had world class attributes in the fight and then there was a guy who will totally get slept on because he’s 105 pounds but he was co-signed by uh Roman chocolatito Gales his name is Mike Michael Carmona the Assassin and
He was a fantastic fighter fighter and he stopped Thomas V in two rounds brutal puncher he was listed as an orthodox fighter came out Southpaw I think a if you want to see a sneaky good fight check out Edwin SoDo versus gardo Sanchez it was kind of a back and forth
Fight Canó not known for power stopped Sanchez these are kind of more purist fights that fight card on All-Star boxing on ESPN plus reminded me of my fond memories of coming home sitting down on Saturday nights watching tape delayed solo box AO cards from Mexico and for me I really enjoyed that
Experience as a boxing fan muting the volume watching some fights against guys who were probably going to come to America as a bside I remember I saw sa Roman in a great fight on solo boxo and they get sparked out by Curtis Stevens which kind of told me the level of the
Fights but with all the nonsense we just talked about those were two fight cards I thought were really compelling so I wanted to give those Fighters some shine because I think oftentimes people Overlook that type of Fight Card BR and shout out to to to Steven Butler for
Scoring that kind of win over Steve rolls who in the last last few years has given some of the best young middleweights the hardest rounds of their career and overall when Butler has stepped up in competition he’s been stopped um so I that’s a a pretty
Massive win for him that I think kind of puts him in a different kind of conversation where it’s like yeah I would like to see him in Troy Isley I would like to see him test you know the the Ian green yeah yeah or even guys like you know joean and Javier Martinez
Some of these young middleweights like he becomes a very viable matchup for them in my mind yeah very much so um and I think it’s his second fight with Iceman John Scully as this coach so there might be a correlation between a coach change and the performances but I
I was pretty impressed like look with bang bang Butler you know what you’re getting you’re getting a guy who’s gonna overcommit to some shots he’s he’s very hot-headed to a certain extent but when he lands he can really punch and there’s always a place in the sport for a guy
Like that you know self-described to me the the Arturo Gotti of middleweight that’s the way he wants to view himself never mad at a guy like that we got two questions from the chat then we’re going to do a brief breakdown and then we’re going to be gone uh Andre Nova
Noy um the chat wants to know if you had any thoughts on him he opened the AJ card Dakota do you have any thoughts on him uh I thought he was pretty impressive that was actually I missed some of the early fights but I saw I
Caught the beginning of the card so I did actually see that fight again he’s young right it’s early but I think that there’s definitely there there’s definitely something there yeah I mean interesting fight and then also M crazy wants to your thoughts on Zack Parker versus Tyler I can’t
Pronounce his last name I think it’s zuo it’s a good British domestic fight do you have any thoughts on that yet well I’m very sorry my friend I don’t know who Tyler zuo is but I do think Zack Parker is a great fighter I’m not sure that I’ve seen him since
The John Ryder fight um but I think just on a talent level he’s a a guy that could get in the mix at 168 without a doubt kind of rushed a little bit I think they saw a guy that punched hard and he was probably in the developmental
Phase and they kind of stepped him up to Ryder prematurely and it’s like be more talented and not be quite prepared for someone’s physicality it’s I think that’s literally you can’t teach experience that’s literally the definition of you can’t teach experience John just had a little bit more experience and just kind
Of could feel things in there and I think Zach felt a type of pressure in that fight that he had never felt before and it just was very uncomfortable and I think Ryder also is the perfect storm of when guys are uncomfortable he is very happy to make you even more
Uncomfortable he made a whole career out of oh you’re uncomfortable let me do more of that um let’s go over real quickly Williams AA versus Maxi Hughes there’s title implications to this fight I’m not exactly sure um I could pull up a press release but there’s title implications with this
Fight Maxi Hughes coming off that should have probably been win over cambos maybe it was a draw in some people’s minds but he had a very solid performance he actually lost it on paper but I think a lot of people felt he won the fight and
Williams AAS looked like one of the best lightweights for a couple of years now so what are your thoughts on this uh it’s a a great matchup I think it’s a like a proper matchup I think it’s a good Fair matchup and I think that Maxi Hughes does deserve that kind
Of fight and how unfortunate for him that I you know pretty much anyone I talked to thought he beat cmosis and time kind of heals all wounds right because now cmosis finds himself in a fight for a title against lomachenko in a few months um and that opportunity was
Not afforded to Maxi Hughes I’ve been waiting I and I so I think he deserves the fight and I think we’ve been waiting to see zapa in like something closer or something that resembles a 5050 fight and I think this is kind of the first
One I mean to be fair zapa fought JoJo Diaz and at the time I really was high on Jojo and he outworked him and I feel like with JoJo’s instability outside of the ring that win has gotten lessened I think zapa has behaved the part because he beat Hector tanara who
Was a solid Prospect with Golden Boy zapo really has done everything asked of him it’s just been a weird time where one guy had all the belts and zapa is a high-risk low reward fighter who throws a ton of punches and I just don’t think there’s a
Lot of guys lining up to fight a guy like Williams AA do you think the movement and some if we’re going we’re the keep it real podcast some of the dirty rough house tactics at times that Maxi Hughes implements do you think any of that could factor in and maybe slow down
Zapa I I think that there’s a lot of things about Maxi Hughes that zap has probably never been in front of you know there’s a a level of movement and and angles and thoughtfulness and how Hughes fights that I I don’t think zap has been in with that style really just yet um
But I think it’s a it’s a it’s an odd thing and I I can’t validate like the truth in this but wasn’t there a time where he was offered a fight with Shakur Stevenson and turned it down is that accurate I I believe so but that’s like totally like internet stuff
So like I don’t because like we always need context on ESPN where I remember the commentator saying oh Williams AA was offered this fight and didn’t take it I mean to be fair that kind of makes sense right because Shakur is probably the man in that Division and I don’t
Think people are lining up to fight Shakur and that’s why I think Shakur’s kind of burnout on boxing is he’s at times might not be the most entertaining guy but he’s the guy that for a decade plus everyone’s like manak cor is going to be really good and now
It’s his time to be really good and he can’t really get the fights he wants because everyone’s like ah who’s the more famous gu because Edwin de los Santos leaves the Shakur Stevenson fight and we’re not seeing him getting a fight with another lightweight and that sadly
In the boxing world right now it’s just as much about how much money can I make after this fight with another fighter as it is fighting the best opponents at that moment um but I I can’t speak on that because business is done behind closed
Doors and you have to you have to know more to know what it was uh Maxi Hughes was offered Dalton Smith and was insulted Smith is fighting CH chin oh you think Chan zapa still has it sadly um I don’t think Chan zapa has it
Um I don’t know what do you I also think Richardson hitchon really Hitchens really has it so it’s tough for me to say if he just got outclassed by a potentially generational Talent um you know Jose zap have been fighting top guys for a long time so you never know
If this is the kind of fight where that experience Gap right like we said how you react to physicality this could be the type of fight where something like that plays in because I think just on Talent where they are in their careers Dalton Smith would be a massive favorite
In that fight but there’s intangibles to having experience yeah I mean I just I feel like that’s a trajectory fight where Chan zapa seems like he’s he’s trending in the wrong direction here he’s had a couple of really really since really the Ivan branek fight he’s really had a lot
Of grueling fights it seems like it’s taken a lot out of him and Dalton Smith though I’m not like I don’t I’m not sure he’s as good as people are saying I think he’s a talented fighter I’m not sure he’s going to be a generational fighter these typically are the fights
That like a guy at the end of his career very promising fighter these are the fights that the younger more more distinguished fighter typically beats the Aging veteran especially when they go overseas uh that’s just my thought early thoughts on that fight which we will break down next week like literally if
You wake one week we will give you more but that’s my early thoughts Williams pay to Maxi Hughes what’s the keys to victory for both I mean Hughes has just got to keep uh zapa off balance and zapa’s got to really make Hughes feel his physicality
And his power he can’t he can’t allow the fight to uh to be fought at at hughes’s PACE yeah um I mean it’s it it’s it’s going to be interesting I just think that it’s hard to stop the work rate of Williams AA if you don’t have power I just think that
This is a guy that’s just going to be fine coming forward and the only thing I see offsetting it is power I don’t even think great movement’s going to do it um because zap is willing to punch yeah and we know that Hughes is not a huge puncher but we know he’s very
Accurate and it’s just a matter of can he be accurate enough to frustrate zapa and keep him off him but zapa did have that weird covid fight where he kind of dropped and got slipped and everyone was kind of low on him does he have another one of those in him
Like he’s kind of had these remarkable fights over and over where we’ve kind of forgotten about that performance but like there was a time where people’s enthusiasm dimmed on zapa because of that one performance yeah I just I I don’t think his Ascent has been as fast as people
Thought the big one was Hector tanaro right that was the first and that was a sensational fight because that was viewed as a 5050 fight and he got a stoppage um and then the next one was JoJo it’s like okay this is a Jojo and I think that was
Really perceived as a 50-50 fight the problem is his 5050 fights when you take a 50-50 fight you kind of are hoping the guy you beat goes on to have a distinguished career after you beat him his problem has been the guys he’s beat have either not fought that much hecton
Or JoJo went on a losing skid so he’s been in some 50-50 fights the problem has been after those fights the guys haven’t been as distinguished that the winds are not aging well even even though the quality of the wins in time I think shouldn’t be in question it’s just
That the fighters like you said following those fights have had a difficult run and I think there’s a context to that that’s always left out that sometimes Fighters like zapa take a little bit out of a Fighter’s career and we never talk about that we just talk
About the fact that they never won again but we never talk about fighting a guy that throws 1500 punches uh in a fight might change the way you fight because you just have some things uh zapo was a heavy favorite man crazy says so to me I
Guess I looked at that fight as like a closer fight the odds makers saw zapa as the favorite the Tana so I mean this an interesting bout but I think to me zapa as the edge but like let’s say this becomes a close fight all of the sudden
I think there’s more interest in look I think he needs to either have a close fight or a dominant fight he can’t have a middle of the road performance because he either needs to get fan enthusiasm behind him or he needs to struggle to the point where it seems
Like every fighter wants to call him out the worst thing he can do in this fight is a performance that merits neither right tough style match up for him just two notes on this undercard we have Floyd kid Austin scoffield in the co feature he’s taking on a fighter that
I’m not too familiar with I’m almost starting to wonder if kid Austin is now going to jump up and fight zapa he’s looking like a superstar they were teasing a fight with JoJo Diaz JoJo just lost he’s really close to the top of the bill on this card and just looking at this
Landscape what’s your expectations for kid Austin and how far away is he from like a Williams AA fight I think it’s it’s also going to be a a matter of are those guys willing to fight him right unfortunately I think particularly at lightweight at the moment with Shakur
It’s like if you’re a really good technical guy who might make guys look dumb even if you’re the top guy not everybody’s G to be dying to fight you and I think that Floyd is gonna run into some of those issues and hopefully him and Shakur can solve that problem for
Each other yeah I mean to me I’m a big fan of Floyd scoffield kid Austin because he’s exciting uh his father talks a good game he’s like a very humble it’s kind of like the Danny Garcia relationship where you got a dad that seems like a loving
Dad who’s overeager to brag about his son uh and then the kid can really fight he’s giving you those performances that you want from a young fighter he had one 10 round decision or I think one or two 10 round decisions where you know people
Go oh he’s going rounds he got Expos I think people are eager to say he got exposed kid Austin has to beat another Undisputed Prospect well I think the problem kid Austin’s having is it’s hard for him to get these type of fights because he hits really hard and I think
That that’s part of what he’s what he’s struggling with yeah and lightweight is at this point a division that’s in flux I would say in a similar way to middleweight where it’s like a lot of the big names have moved up to 140 there’s a a um it’s a changing era deoda
Featherweights INF flux lightweights INF flux welterweights inlux middle weights in flux honestly light heavy weights in flux there’s a lot of Divisions that are changing right now the classical money divisions so I mean he’s both Lucky and unfortunate in the sense that he’s going to be one of the big names when the
Division changes to the young guys but I think that a lot of people are also like let’s wait until this is a main event 12 round fight because the kid punches really hard and he’s kind of unproven later in fights against high level competition as a professional right now
Right uh one other fight I wanted to bring up Marlin aspar is having a rematch on this undercard she’s defending her titles to me this should set the stage the winner of this fight should fight uh Gabriela fandora who I think is probably one of the more interesting figures in
Women’s boxing both based on her style and based on the fact that her brother might be World Champion by the end of the month um that’s really the context for this fight I’m I’m not really looking at as a sporting a affair it’s more than how how does this play into a
Potential fandora fight down the line yeah I I love me some Gabriela fandora and I think we she’s already at a point after the cruise fight we’re ready to see her against the top of the division um ESP sparza hasn’t been that active in the last few years either so I’m
Interested to see kind of where she’s at yeah it’s a it’s been a truly strange career for her if we’re going to be honest and we are honest she was kind of one of the pioneers of women’s Olympic boxing if not the Pioneer along like and her dent in women’s boxing
Professionally hasn’t been what I thought like I thought she was going to be kind of activity activity man that always that plays so much into it you know Ray Vargas was 36 and0 undefeated longtime Champion but if you fight every 16 months it’s tough for the fans to I’m
Not saying that’s how long she’s been off I’m just saying I’m I’m gonna look up her activity right now because now you got me curious about her activity well it’s been one it’s got to if I had to I’m just guessing I would say it’s like three fights in the last two years
Kind of vibe okay so we’re pulling it up one loss to S Estrada s’s Lo that loss was 209 so she beat sulam Marina okay so she had three fights in 2021 she had two fights in 2022 and she had one fight last year right so three
In two years I say it’s tough for people to to keep you in the front of their mind if if they don’t see it and I think the other thing too is we’re in a new era of women’s boxing where there’s kind of like new faces emerging and she’s transitioning from
Being like the exciting prospect to exciting new Champion to fending off the young people like the old yeah and it it’s kind of like that’s a weird role for anyone but I think women’s boxing that’s a very new role in the modern world of like women’s boxing being relevant on TV cards
And I think she might be one of the first figures we’re literally witnessing transition into where does her career go can she fend off this because she really hasn’t lost outright like she believes she beat s Estrada I favored s in that fight but she truly believes if you ask
Her she thinks she beat S I don’t think she’s ever left a fight thinking she lost and yet enthusiasm around her career is dimmed to a degree and again I I think for whatever the reasons are if if you have one fight in a year the enthusiasm about you is
Going to go down like I think that even applies to somebody like Terence Crawford who off the back of such a legendary epic and historic win um it doesn’t feel like any of the conversations we’re having are about Terence Crawford because he’s just not active and I think that’s Limited
How attached fans get to him just to give a little bit more context because I actually did research now this is a literal rematch of their July fight um going into that fight Gabriela alans from Argentina was unbeaten it was a majority decision I for the life of me
Don’t remember this fight at all which is terrible uh one judge had it 9595 one judge had it 9991 one judge had it 9793 so it’s the class box wck fight where you’d have to sit and watch the fight because you have no clue looking at the
Scorecards how the fight played out but to me what the way I’m going to look at this fight completely unprepared and I’m sorry to both Fighters for being this unprepared but it happens this is a trajectory fight for both so this is and for me I’m really
Looking at aspara who was the Olympian was the heavily promoted fighter how enthused is she as a pro boxer at this point to rematch a fighter who potentially gave her issues to Merit a rematch to return what is it 11 months later is that right some good context from man
Crazy is that the fans scored it as a draw on box rid so it it was a close fight so we got one of those 9-1 pre-filled joints but I mean boxing like I I feel like the fans the fans watch great fights and sometimes the judges miss
Them um so this is a fight this is this is the winner of this fight should be in with Gabriela fandora and if the winner doesn’t fight fandora who signed to Golden Boy that should raise questions about what’s going on in this division remind me what weight class
We’re talking about here because I know that Sena moved down 112 that’s amazing that Gabriela fondor can make that way yeah she’s a problem bro so that is and then I guess two little quick housekeeping notes just to let you guys know if you’re in the big
Bad Bay Area uh Gabriel Flores Jr will be returning next weekend at the Advent Adventist Health Arena in Stockton California I knew how to spell it I didn’t know how to say it uh good card Fernando Vargas Jr taking on uh Dakota’s boy Brad Solomon love a good uh veteran
Jumping in there with a prospect that’s a good fight we got some local talent on the undercard come out you’ll enjoy it Jesse Jesse James Guerrero Big Ticket seller will be on there part of the Robert Guerrero lineage uh and then an hour and a half from there on Westside promotions put
Together by Patrick Reagan you got Manuel hez in a fight you got uh Peter I can’t pronounce his last name taking on von Alexander you’ve got Tommy Hyde in a fight you’ve got Vic pus in a fight so you basically in Northern California you got two Char cards to pick between
They’re happening on the same uh night it’s St Patrick’s Day weekend please stay sober um and potentially Dakota might be going to see Callum Walsh in New York who’s one of the more interesting figures in boxing in the sense that I think he has more UFC fans than boxing fans and that’s an
Interesting phenomenon it was really funny watching uh a UFC Fight Pass and watching MMA guys commentate a boxing match and go what a great strike I mean I I like the 360 promotions cards a lot um to me because of the pacing so it’s like they just run out each and every
Fight and if the card is 90 minutes they’re fine with it and for like the card we had yesterday that was like a 9-h hour event it’s such a welcome change to possibly have a two and a half hour fight card that’s something we did this episode’s
Already been long as [ __ ] but we we didn’t even talk about 10 hours of boxing being insane yeah the the pre-taped interviews like let’s give you an interview listen lot of fights I love that there was no less than three hours of fat they could have trimmed off that event was it was
But um so there’s a lot going on um I mean I can’t do this bro I you got you’re like what are we doing here bro um what are we doing here uh I don’t know what we’re doing but look there’s tons of great cards if you’re staying at
Home and you want to watch a great card Golden Boy putting on a great card New York City St Pats day Callum Walsh an exciting fighter there’s going to be good Irish fighters on the card Bay Area you got two different cards to choose from both are going to have guys that I
Think will fight for World title fights Gabe Jr is fighting an undefeated fighter uh which is exciting he’s 190 and two good record fought on big card so that’s a good Main Event it’s exciting time to be alive if you like just boxing and that’s what I was kind
Of thinking about last night when I’m watching All-Star boxing I’m like I need to watch more Allstar boxing ESPN plus cards because I really love when it’s just boxing I really love when it’s just boxing like it’s it’s so much fun for me to watch a great fight and I think that
Lately I’ve the context of boxing has burnt me out I’m I’m right there with you bro Dakota where can people support you follow you and catch up with your latest stuff you can follow me at the slip and we podcast on YouTube on Instagram and stay tuned with me in the
Next couple weeks I’m going to do a little bit of a relaunch of the slip and weave podcast um I never stopped doing it I just haven’t been able to do it as regularly and uh I’m just making some changes to the show working a couple of
Kinks out and uh I’m going to try to have it be uh a weekly show again whether I can get a guest or not um so stay tuned in the next couple weeks I’ll I will I will be launching that
2 Comments
My mistake: Zepeda was a heavy favourite vs mercito gesta, who beat JoJo Diaz, and not JoJo diaz
Save boxing from what 🤣🤣🤣.
AJ beat a tomato can with 0 -1 record.
USYK is 10x better than AJ. Beat him twice back to back.