The B-Side and boxing.
B-Side shit.
B-Side.
And the B-Side.
You got a B-Side.
The B-Side.
B-Side.
That B-Side thing.
This is the B-Sides Boxing Podcast.
Ready if you are.
Yeah, ready.
Cool.
Let me do this.
Popping one open to toast to the end of 2024.
Boxing B-Sides.
It's a little hair of the dog for me.
It's a little bit of a late night.
But we're here and we made it.
Oh, Shannata, how are you doing?
It's we're coming up on it.
Coming up to In-A-Way time.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm good.
A little disappointed in the Ioka fight getting changed,
which I assume we'll talk about later.
Yeah, that sucks.
I was really looking forward to that.
Yeah, I was too.
I got excited and rewatched the first fight and scored it.
And a lot more lopsided on the broadcast
than I remember it feeling in real life.
Yeah, oh my god.
The broadcast was horrible.
I could I didn't understand a whole lot of it,
but just what I could pick up.
Holy shit.
You're hey, you are latching onto a foreigner just to shit
on a guy from Osaka with tattoos.
It's what are you?
What's even happening right now?
Yeah, yeah.
Poopoo, but c'est la vie, I suppose.
That's the life of an Osaka thug.
Yeah.
All right, 805, Firestone Walker,
whenever you want to get a sponsorship going,
you let me know.
All right, 2024 picks.
It's just you and me, so let's we can,
I think we're gonna be able to breathe through these
kind of quickly.
First category, starting off,
I picked up quite a few, like at least two
for every category.
So for stoppage of the year,
my all of my options,
Angela Leo beating Luis Lopez to win the title,
the IBF 126,
Daniel Dubois stopping AJ,
Tank beating Frank Martin and Jang beating Wilder.
All of them have different,
the gravity of them or the magnitude of them is different.
But like Dubois beating AJ, that's fucking huge.
And same with Jang, just like ending Wilder.
That also made me really sad.
Yeah, stoppage of the year.
So this is KO of the year as well, right?
KO, TKO, I don't think submissions happen,
but if there is one, go for it.
Whitaker gets submission of the year on himself.
Yeah, oh shit, I forgot about him.
Yeah.
For straight up knockout of the year,
I have trouble remembering his name,
that knocked out Noriega.
I remember what you're talking about.
Jairo Noriega knocked out by Shokichi Iwata.
Ah, yes, Iwata.
Or who was the guy who just turned the guy off?
Body. Oh, these are yours.
Stopping Ashton Silph.
Yes, that was the one I was trying to think of.
Yeah, that was a fucking, that was a good one.
So those two would be my knockouts of the year.
The Iwata one was just so unexpected
and I was there live and man,
Noriega didn't move for a little while, I was worried.
Yeah, it was a bad one.
Definitely was out of nowhere.
Like Noriega was competitive,
made it all the more thrilling.
I'm not sure which one to take.
I'm gonna go with the Jang stopping Wilder
because that one hurt my soul
in addition to shaking up the division.
The tank stopping Frank Martin.
I like that one a lot
because it's the same situation that always happens.
Everybody comes into Discord to shit on tank
and then it happens every time.
Rounds six to whatever, he's going to knock the guy out.
It happens every time.
Yeah.
Well, and the Dubois KO of AJ was just so unexpected to me.
It was.
Like the way it happened was so unexpected too.
Yeah, we had on ultimate effing casuals,
we were saying like he has negative dog in him.
The guy had no, seemed to have no confidence in himself
and then he goes to stop.
Like the poster boy of British heavyweights.
Yeah, it was crazy.
And the memes man, the memes of AJ face down, ass up.
Hilarious.
I think an honorable mention would be Itauma
just recently on the Usyk Fury 2 card.
That was beautiful, beautiful.
Yeah.
Buy the stock early, get it while you still can.
Everybody on Discord is completely in love with him.
Yeah, as they should be.
If he doesn't live up to the hype,
gonna be in shambles.
Yep, Discord is gonna be down bad.
What's the dude's name?
Like McKinney, McKinson or some shit.
I don't know, McAussie, whatever the fuck his name is.
Master Class, I'll start this one as well.
This is Pillar to Post outclassed.
Typically does not end in a stoppage.
It might, might not.
My picks here, Jaron Ennis versus Karen.
Damn it, I know his name.
If I see it, I'll be able to say it,
but I don't remember it off the top of my head.
But I'm so bad at names.
But he was a Shkodzian, there it is.
He came in to prove a point
in that he's not just some fucking scrub.
And he made Jaron Ennis work every single minute
of every single round.
Even if it was a clean sweep and Jaron Ennis
very clearly beat his ass,
Karen did not make that shit easy.
So I guess like a scrappy performance from Karen
turned what should have been like a pretty,
you'd think an easy beat down,
turned into just a prime schooling from Ennis.
And that prime schooling is kind of had people
like questioning his bona fides.
Because what is he like, oh, Ennis can't stop this guy.
Even though he's winning every fucking round,
every single second of the fight, he's winning.
But it still had people questioning him.
So that was me talking up Karen
way more than Jaron Ennis.
But that was still from first bell to last.
Ennis was in complete control,
even if he wasn't knocking the guy out.
My second one, Ryo Valenzuela beating Isaac Cruz
for the WBA 140.
How is this a master class?
You might wonder, dearest listener,
first of all, 833-589-7637,
tell me why you think it isn't a master class.
But Ryo beat Pitbull at like in his comfort zone,
in Pitbull's comfort zone.
He was in Pitbull's face, tagging him
and out of the way before Pitbull
even knew what the fuck to do.
That was a, it was fucking beautiful.
I was so glad I got to see that live.
That was a beautiful, beautiful performance.
He just outboxed him so badly
and Pitbull just looked confused.
That's a good pick.
Yeah, he didn't know what to do.
Ryo is more naturally built for 140.
Pitbull, I'm surprised he's even at that weight.
Nick Ball can make 126, so why the fuck can't you?
Tacos, I guess.
Pitbull looks more like a burritos guy to me.
And a short and stocky and well stuffed burritos.
Don't, Pitbull, don't change your nickname to Fire hydrant.
Don't do that.
I forgot about that.
OK, my picks for master class.
I actually didn't pick any of the ones you did.
I got Nav beating, no, wait, who did he do?
Valdez?
Yeah, Oscar Valdez.
Yeah, Nav beating Valdez.
I had that one picked for beat down.
Oh, I forgot we do two different things.
Yeah. I don't know.
I still think it was a master class.
It was, it was.
He just made it look really easy.
Yeah, we were saying that in the aftermath,
that it didn't look like he was trying all that hard.
I do not doubt for a second that he was,
but it just didn't look like it.
Yeah, he just made it look effortless.
God damn it.
My other one is a better pick for beat down of the year, though.
So I'm not going to say it right now.
All right. Next category, we've got villain of the year.
This is OK. You know who my pick is.
Fucking everybody around the Tim Zufight.
Oh, yeah.
The doctor, the corner, everybody, the ref.
Fuck all those guys.
They ruined Tim Zuh's career that night, I think.
He is so worried about cuts now.
Yeah, that I think that him being scared of cuts or getting cut again,
getting cut that badly, it made him really tentative in the Mortezaliev fight,
and that ended up getting him stopped.
We got career. Yeah.
Be like in serious trouble.
And I think if they'd have called that a no contest in the second
and got him or third or whatever it happened and got him some medical attention,
I don't think he would have nearly as much worries about it.
Yeah, that's a good pick.
I didn't even have an honorable mention for that one,
because I think that one just is so obviously the villains of the year.
I mean, Ryan Garcia is just a piece of shit.
But yeah, like over on the MMA show,
like for the blanket statement was Conor McGregor, of course.
Guy's a fucking asshole.
But let's let's pick other stuff just because that one's too easy.
Yeah. Well, you didn't have an honorable mention.
Don't worry, because I have plenty.
So Terrence Crawford beats Errol Spence in 2023.
That's cool. That's a really huge, monumentous win.
Then he fucks off for a year.
He comes back to beat Maddremov and then fucks off for another year.
You are holding up the entire fucking division because everybody's waiting to fight you
or trying to fight you. Like, come on, dude, do something.
I don't give a shit what you do. Just do something.
What's another one?
Richardson Hitchens, because fuck Richardson Hitchens.
That's one. That's a big one.
That's probably going to be my pick, my primary pick.
But Lomachenko gets into negotiations with Tank.
Like I was on the hype train.
I was like, yeah, fuck Lomachenko.
This is what you should be doing.
Everyone says you're the best, like of all the new generation post Mayweather,
Pacquiao and all that. Good. Prove it.
You're and you're about to.
I have faith that you can do this at whatever age you are.
And then he just drops out of the negotiations with no real rhyme or reason as to why.
And that is unacceptable to me.
Well, it sounds like Loma's retiring. So.
Yeah, it does. So if that's if he does.
Cool. Right off into the sunset, my man, you whatever you burned it.
You've got other shit on your plate to deal with now.
So like best of luck and all that.
But why even bother entertaining the tank fight?
Why bother if you're just going to not? Yeah.
No, I'm I'm with you. Shit or get off the pot.
Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
But I would say Hitchens is my my fun pick.
I'm going to have to flip a coin between Lomachenko or Terrence Crawford.
And it's weird that these are like villain picks
just because they're like it's being a victim of your own success.
You're so good.
Like, I want to see you fight better people.
Well, and this everybody fighting once a year.
Sucks like I can understand the arguments for twice a year.
It's hard on your body.
It has to be and everything else.
But once a year, like I know you're making enough money
that you only need to fight once a year, but that's that's not enough.
If you're not getting having injuries, injuries like grievous injuries,
Lomachenko is having back problems as well,
which is what was driving him into the retirement talk.
Is that he's having lingering issues that aren't that are going away,
but then coming back sooner and staying longer.
So, yeah, I got I get it.
You're getting old and all that.
But once a year is bullshit.
I don't I don't care who it is.
Do not care. Once is not enough prospect or new contender
could be either like a prospect coming into into a renown or a
renown or a contender that's really starting to break the mold
of just being a contender and they're getting into the title contention,
whichever you prefer.
Yeah, I'm actually really crap at this one
because I never know when people stop being prospects.
You know what I mean? Yeah.
So I'm going to pick two absolutely brand new people
that I saw live that really impressed me,
which is not your point of this category.
But I thought that Kenneth Lover on the Osaka card
looked fucking impressive.
He wasn't in there very long.
He got a round one knockout, but he just looked fast and accurate
and like well put together for.
I think that was only his six, fifth or sixth professional fight.
And then there's that Japanese kid.
Pro box. Oh, yeah.
I know you're talking about Yokoyama.
I think is his last name. Yeah, that's right.
He also really impressed me and I started following him on Instagram
and he seems to spend a lot of time volunteering
at his grandparents retirement home thing.
That's the guy you said.
Yeah, the videos are fucking adorable.
So neither of them is famous at all yet.
But I think one of them is going to do something
in the next like two or three years.
Lover. He's on.
He's next up for the OPBF title, so he's on his way up.
Yeah. And I think this was his first fight in Japan
because he's Filipino.
Mine was Katsuma Akitsugi.
Akitsugi, the pro box kid.
Yep. Pro box.
The Japanese firework, as as they call him in L.A.
where he where he lives. Fighter of the year.
Easy pick. Usyk. No shit.
The gravity of his wins this year.
Back to back beating Fury, hopefully sending Fury into retirement.
Please for the love of fuck.
I hope he goes away.
But Junto Nakatani had an amazing year.
Naoya Inoue, it was business as usual for him.
This is like victim of your own success.
Situation as well is. Yeah.
For him, if you're not bopping guys in four, four to four to eight rounds,
then it looks like a bad performance
when he could be completely outclassing somebody.
He hit Dohenny so hard in the ribs
that it like fucked up his back.
Yeah, that's right. I forgot he did that.
You know, it's like a bunch of people online are like, oh, no,
had he just stepped wrong and, you know, he's old and it fucked up his back.
I'm like, no, he got hit so hard it tweaked his back.
But come on, guys. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, I would have to pick Usyk.
I know it's the boring pick, but yeah, my for in my case,
like the honorable mentions, those are the real picks
because you can't not give it to Usyk.
All things, all things being equal, Usyk has to be the one.
But Nakatani had some awesome performances.
So just to pick something other than Usyk, I'd go with him for sure.
Bam beating Estrada.
Estrada, the way he beat Estrada was really impressive.
Yeah, I think Bam deserves an honorable mention, too.
It was funny in the post fight conference.
Like everybody was asking about the knockdown.
So the like the first person that asked him, he's like, look,
I know a lot of you are going to ask me about this.
So let me tell you, I'm just going to say it one time so that we get it out of the way.
I I've never been knocked down before.
Before tonight, I was actually I was more biddly curious of how how that goes.
What's it like? So I got a little reckless and he knocked me down.
He didn't hurt me. But yeah, he got me.
I went down. That's how it goes.
And wasn't bothered by it. But I don't want to do it again.
I like Bam a lot. He's a really fun character.
Yeah, he seems like a good kid.
Ass whipping.
Pillar to post brutal beatdowns could go by stoppage doesn't necessarily have to.
I think I have the answer to this question and it's not on your list that I can see.
OK, it's it's Zerto versus Chris Billams.
Oh, shit. How could I have forgotten?
Yes, that's a that is a great one.
I think that's the only answer to this question.
CBS took such an ass kicking and never quit.
Twelve rounds like he went all the way.
I do not understand how he stayed up.
Seriously, that was seriously the worst ass kicking
I can remember in a long time.
Like there's been lots of beatdowns, but just the amount of damage
that CBS absorbed, you can say anything you want, but he is a tough man.
Yeah, like with the the two in a way fights this year, Doheny and Neri,
he ended up stopping them.
He was beating them so badly that the fight ended.
Same with Nav Valdez and Alba.
And my other one of my other favorites was Baccholi Anderson
because love Baccholi, dark horse of the heavyweights.
Yeah, the Baccholi Anderson one was also an ass kicking,
but nobody stayed in there as long as Zerto did.
I think of all of the ones I have written down, Doheny
went the longest at seven rounds.
But yes, he didn't take nearly as much damage as CBS.
Hell, no, he didn't. Yeah, that that's the pick.
That is the only pick.
Zerto beating beating the fuck out of CBS.
I I was saying like at round seven, going into eight throughout eight.
And I was very emphatic about it in round nine.
There's no need for this to continue.
CBS is getting the shit beaten out of him.
And this could be like shaving time off of his career.
There's no need for this to continue.
I agree. His corner should have stopped it.
Fucking right. They should have.
Yeah, you could put them in villain of the year.
Honorable mention to Tim Zue's fucking ragged ass corner.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the Tim Zue fight could almost go
a beat down of the year, except he was winning too much.
Man, that cut really fucked him up.
He was. Yeah, I'm really upset about that.
That actually that really did change the trajectory of his career.
We're yet to see what what's going to happen with CBS. But
if he also goes on tilt from here, then his corner's going to get
retroactive villain of the year for 25.
Comeback of the year.
I usually go with career resurgence, but mid fight also counts.
I picked a few. Dubois beats Hergovich and AJ
to set up a fight with Parker in 25 after that really,
you know, questionable situation with Usyk.
A little bit of a stinker with Gerald Miller.
And he set up Tony 24 really nicely to go into
what could be an undisputed fight with Usyk to rematch,
you know, get it, try to get that that low blow back.
Yeah, Dubois really has turned it around.
And I think Parker's had a real resurgence.
He has maybe more last year than this year.
But yeah, that's what I he was going to be my pick.
But the only thing is that the Wilder fight was it Wilder?
I believe it was. That was at the end of 2023.
It was no shit on the 23rd just before the cutoff.
Still, if you if you give a give that give a Parker
an extra two weeks on the year at the beginning of the year.
Yeah, Parker's right up there with two big wins over two very heavy handed guys.
And in fight comeback, Lucas body
he was getting his fucking shit taken to school by H2O Silph
and then just gets that clutch KO fucking.
Yeah. Randy Orton.
That was my pick.
Out of nowhere with the RKO.
I love I love those come back knockouts.
The clutch knockouts. Yeah. Yeah.
I actually I didn't have I didn't have a runner up for this one.
Just Lucas body.
Actually, what was the Angelo Leo doing before this year?
Let's find out.
He was on Pro Box, I believe.
Yeah, but that that was kind of a career resurgence, right?
Like he had gone away for a little while.
He did. He lost to.
Where was he at in 2021?
He lost to Stephen Fulton.
He got a little kind of a shaky win against questionable opposition.
Some dude named Aaron Alameda that was in Houston.
And that was June of 2021.
And he disappears because of what?
Coming off a loss and a shaky win.
Then he comes back November of 23 on Pro Box,
gets three fights on Pro Box.
Awesome wins, all strong wins.
And then he projects himself into a title that is.
I think that's a pretty good career comeback.
Oh, yeah, that's a good comeback right there.
Upset of the year.
It's plenty. There are so many this year
to get the the fun ones out of the way.
Devin Haney, he was very upset when he lost to Ryan Garcia.
So that's a very big upset.
He was also a massive betting favorite, too.
It's like I think Ryan opened up at like plus seven hundred.
That's fucking huge.
Another one, Rio beating Pitbull, like people that were in the know.
We knew like this was not going to be like a sweep or anything
or like a beat down. Yeah, we knew.
But a lot of people that was more of a casuals being surprised.
Yeah, everybody in the arena, they were like, what the fuck?
But Pitbull was the one coming forward and throwing punches.
Did they do anything? Yeah.
Though, if they land right, were we were we watching the same thing?
Because I don't think so. I called that one.
I was pretty sure Rio was going to outbox him.
I had my hopes on him.
I was tentative just because Rio has had his chin checked before.
That was really it. But I had faith in his skills.
I have a honorable mention that's not on your list here.
Go on. I was fucking shocked to see a beat.
Chazora beat Joyce. Is it upset of the year?
Probably not. I think it is.
It doesn't mean anything, really, other than Joyce's career is probably done.
But that shocked the hell out of me. Chazora beating Joyce.
That is a that was a big one, just because Chazora
has been in the fucking dumpster for a while.
And Joyce had those hard fights with Jang.
But you can say, OK, it's Jang. Fine. It's OK.
It's not what's not bad. It's not terrible to lose to Jang.
But fuck no. You lose to Chazora, dude. What are you doing?
Are you sure you want to keep doing this? You're almost 40.
I was almost upset for Chazora because he needs a couple.
I think he has two fights left on his contract or whatever.
He needed a couple like give me's and then you beat Joyce.
They're going to give you real fights, man. Yeah.
I expect that Joyce, if he's going to continue fighting,
they're going to put him on like the Dillion White rehab plan.
Have you fighting like random dudes from Africa
that come out in like IT technician polos?
That was such a weird fight.
I have several polos just like that from various companies I've worked at.
Nice. Chazora, Joyce is a very good one.
What else do I have here?
Saras, Munguia, of course, cannot. Of course.
There's nothing else, I think.
No, I mean, that's the obvious correct answer to this question.
No recency bias either.
The unknown Frenchmen coming and knocking out
fucking Munguia in Tijuana.
Neighborhood good, never fought outside of France,
campaigned at middleweight for knockouts.
Yeah, they pulled him up.
Jesus. Cherry picks gone wrong.
Oh, my goodness.
It doesn't get worse than that.
It can't get worse than that.
Paro beating Matias.
That was another that one upset me.
I was very shocked. Yeah, about that one. Yeah.
Like I did not expect that.
Like we were we were having a funeral for Paro before the fight.
Yeah, exactly. Wait a second, guys.
Yep. That's exactly what I was going to say is like I the joke that I made was like,
like, Paro, I hope you have your life insurance and will signed up
because this ain't going to be fun for you, buddy.
And man, he gave Matias what for and then gets jobbed by Hitchens.
Was it a jobbing? I don't know.
I just really don't like Hitchens. He is not fun.
Another upset.
Better be if getting the nod over Beville better be.
That was just a robbery. Did not win that fight.
I am upset. Beville is very upset.
We're all upset except for better.
We don't have a robbery of the year category, do we?
No, but we have a lot of categories, but that could be a good one to pick up.
Robbery of the year, I think, is a crime.
I think is a con say so over Foster.
Oh, I was shocked when they read those scorecards.
Yeah, but but like the fight sucked.
The fight sucked.
But Foster was clearly better than him.
Yeah. But those are all the upsets I got them.
Fucking Dave Allen on the Usyk card.
Yeah, Johnny Fisher piece of garbage.
I mean, it's not Fisher's fault, but he did not win that fight.
No, he didn't.
Could have been the comeback of the year.
The White Rhino could have been hero of the year.
Non fighting stuff.
Pro Bucks always going to get a nod from me.
And they picked up Angelo Leo, rebuilt him, sent him off to win a title,
building up other solid prospects, always putting on great fights,
putting on cards for fucking free all the time.
Yeah.
Cannot say no to Pro Box still being hero.
Well, I have to agree.
Pro Box is really expanding to they had their couple European cards and stuff.
I'm glad to see they're doing well.
Yeah. The expansion into the UK is really cool.
I'm going to make a pointed statement here. Turkey.
Anyways, anyway, a hero.
One good thing that a fighter has done outside of the ring throughout 2024.
Valdez has been volunteering a lot in Tucson and Phoenix areas.
So like donating a lot of shit to kids in like needy neighborhoods,
school supplies and stuff.
Take like a little bit of a break.
Like giving gifting passes to boxing gyms for, you know, like older boys.
And like, yeah, dude, get off the streets and go fucking hone a craft here.
So that's a good thing.
I like Valdez for that a lot.
It's the type of nobody like sees or hears about that stuff either.
That's what kind of bugs me.
Fucking Al Hayman hero.
I was just going to say, which was the promoter that we found out
was paying for some of the injured fighters in his. Isn't that Al Hayman?
Yeah, it's Al Hayman.
Since 2015, almost 10 years, he's been paying for Pritchard Cologne's
medical expenses, helping the family with living expenses.
And not a peep out of that man about it.
Nobody knew about it until just recently.
That is some shit right there.
That's a man's man.
That's a real man right there.
I didn't think I'd ever put a promoter on that list, but.
Seriously, I think he deserves it.
Absolutely.
Like there's a lot of people, like figures like Eddie Hearn
that are always in the camera talk about taking care of fighters and stuff,
but they never do.
If they do, it's it really feels like a publicity stunt.
Right. Yeah.
If they do anything, it's always to to be noticed or to be seen doing it.
I love these stories when you find out years later
that somebody's just been being a good human being. Yeah. Oh, man.
Where do where does
Alexis Rocha fit in for just what's what's the category called for?
Just I just cannot bring myself to care.
I know that this I know that he's working.
He's up in the rankings and everything.
I just cannot get excited about him. Yeah.
There's lots of fighters like that for me.
Yeah. Well, like Shakir is really good.
I'm never going to be excited to see him.
Last topic.
Fight of the year.
My midyear pick was Kensho Toraji
first kind of solace.
That was in like January.
Still holds up Ortiz versus Bochachuk.
Holy shit. That was amazing.
Yeah. Fireworks, fireworks, fireworks.
That was just too well, I don't know, like artillery cannons going at each other.
I think that has to be my pick.
Bochachuk's always in good, exciting fights.
I don't care what anyone says.
That's what he does.
He's more of the Dervienchenko ilk
than the like Usyk Lomachenko. Yeah.
Of the Ukrainian style,
just like the Japanese have a particular flavor
that can lean, you know, are they boxer, puncher or puncher, boxer?
Ukrainians have the same kind of the same.
Yeah. Bochachuk's the indestructible style of Ukrainian.
Yeah. Like just a fucking tank.
Dervienchenko takes so much punishment.
I don't understand it.
And it's not just to the head.
He doesn't have just a great chin.
Like you can't body him either.
And Bochachuk's the same.
Never been stopped.
Dervienchenko, that is.
I know that last one probably should have been.
But for his sake, yes.
But for the sake of his pride or whatever, I get it.
Yeah. Oh, Bochachuk has he he lives in L.A.
I know he has because he's been signed with Tom Loeffler.
The the dude with 360 promotions used to be with K2
managed, promoted, slash promoted Golovkin for the longest time.
So Bochachuk, I've been keeping up with him since the Hollywood Fight Night days.
So I know he's a Los Angeles like local, but his nickname,
just like Akitsugi has a Spanish nickname.
So does Bochachuk.
What's his nickname?
El Flaco.
It's like the slender guy, the thin guy, skinny guy.
That's not a great nickname.
Whatever it is, whatever your insecurities are,
Mexicans will make that your nickname.
It's just what happens.
Fair enough.
He's six feet, fights at 154.
So I can see why they'd call him that.
He used to fight at 147.
So definitely get it.
Another fight.
Bam beating Estrada.
The back and forth affair.
And Estrada was for me, he was the door that got me into being a quote unquote
hardcore fan.
That was like my introduction to him.
Estrada and Roman Gonzalez, their first fight.
That was like, man, why do people not watch the smaller weight classes?
This shit is so fucking fun.
That's what I've been trying to teach people forever.
Yeah.
The little guys are awesome entertainment.
For Estrada to be fighting Bam, who is clearly the next generation of the smaller guys,
in a way, of course.
But Bam fighting Estrada, it was like there are two wolves inside of you kind of thing.
I don't know what to do here because Estrada has always been my favorite.
He's also kind of a dickhead.
Bam is really awesome.
And he's also really cool.
I don't know what to do.
Bam in street mode is one of my favorite things because he's got the glasses.
And I bet you people make fun of him on the street when he walks by.
Not to his face, but people will be like, oh, did you see that tiny little guy in the
glasses?
You just know that that tiny little guy will fuck them up so bad.
No kidding.
But after, I'm trying to remember who Bam fought.
It was Sonny Edwards.
After the Sonny fight.
Fight of the year, Kanisales, Taraji holds up.
Bam Estrada for personal reasons.
Bohochuk Ortiz.
That's just fireworks.
That's the type of shit.
If you wanted to get some casual fans involved, show them that.
This is...
Yeah.
Ortiz Bohochuk is my jam.
That's the kind of boxing I like, which isn't the best, highest class boxing, but man, is
it exciting.
It's still, it's a lot more technical than people give it credit for.
We talk about it a lot with quote unquote, flatfoot Mexican brawlers.
There's so much more technique happening on the inside than you can see.
Yeah.
But nobody's going to call it a master class.
No.
Same way Usyk kind of gets the, he's like the de facto fighter of the year.
Fury Usyk, that whole storyline for the heavyweight division.
Kind of, I feel like that has to be the de facto fight of the year as well.
Both of them.
Well, the first one was more exciting.
The first one was definitely more exciting.
Yeah.
The second one was like a good punctuation.
Yeah.
I'm still, I'm still picking Ortiz Bohochuk.
That's a, yeah, that's a solid one.
I think I'm going to go with that.
Fury Usyk won for, I guess for the gravitas, but Ortiz Bohochuk is the jam.
That's the fun, that's the fun stuff.
If you have to explain why it's a good fight, to me personally, it's not fight of the year.
If you have to explain the background before you have somebody watch it to get them excited
about it, that's not it for me.
I need something that I can just send the link to my dad and be like, watch this.
Yeah.
That's one of the old proverbs about arguments or whatever.
If you have to start explaining, you're losing.
Yeah.
If you have to explain.
The only tag I would have for like Taraji Kanesales, they're smaller guys, but it's
fucking fun.
Watch it.
Yeah.
I mean, that's not explaining anything though.
That's just getting somebody to watch it.
Right.
Like I was explaining my whole shit with Estrada and then bam and blah, blah, blah.
That's fight of the year in my heart, but it's not going to get the fans, new fans.
That's emotional fight of the year.
That's it.
That's all we got for picks.
We do have a lot of categories.
Yeah, we have 10, but some that I've been seeing that are interesting is like a nation
of the year.
Which nation is having the best year in boxing?
Like obviously Japan right now.
Fuck yes, Japan.
No questions asked.
I think that's the only answer right now.
There is no other answer.
If you say something other than Japan, you're fucking wrong.
You don't watch the lower weight classes if you say anything other than Japan.
Yeah.
And I expect if you're going to say something other than Japan, it might be Ukraine.
Yeah.
They've got three belts, four belts right now.
There are four people with belts, I think.
Yeah.
It's not even necessarily the belts.
It's just that they're having a really successful year.
Ohechuk, even though he lost, still in some awesome fight with Ortiz, beat the shit out
of Brian Mendoza.
Feel bad for Brian after that.
Yeah.
I hope PBC makes him whole and gives him a good payday for a softer touch.
He steps in all the time for them.
Usyk, of course, Derevyanchenko, even though he lost to Imbili, valiant effort, one-armed
and still went the distance.
I really think Derev would have won that if he didn't hurt his arm.
I agree.
That was an early, early arm injury.
Dennis Baranciak wins the 135 title, beating Nav.
That was a good one.
Karen, like I said about Jaron Ennis, excellent performance, even though he lost.
Vostik gave David Benavides all he could handle, even though he lost.
I didn't even realize he was Ukrainian.
Yeah.
I think that's enough.
I would say Ukraine is a good second based on everything I just listed, but they're not
wins, so can't really give it to them.
Japan has fucking all the champions right now.
It's crazy.
And there's so many title fights all the time, and it's awesome living here right now.
I bet.
Oh, Japan.
Inoue, no shit.
Nakatani, no shit.
Andy Hiraoka on the come up.
Love that guy.
Yep.
Tana, despite losing, still a solid competitor, punch burger champion.
I mean, even little in a way.
I know he lost to punch burger, but he had a good year too.
Yeah, he's still a solid, solid name.
Losing to punch burger is nothing to be ashamed of.
Kosei Tanaka had that awesome, awesome fight with Kafu, even though he lost.
Yeah, that was good.
Quote unquote lost.
It was really, really close.
Higa.
Yep.
Daigo Higa.
For the purposes.
Karate.
I mean, there's the kid.
Well, he's not that young anymore.
Natsukawa.
Tenshin.
Yep.
Tenshin.
Thank you.
I was going to save that one for the end to really put a cherry on the Japanese fucking
cake there.
Iwata.
Iwata really impressed me this year.
That Aoi Yokoyama.
Yeah.
That kid.
Yep.
It's a good year to be a Japanese boxing fan.
It really is.
For the purposes of giving accolades to Japan, they'll count Daigo Higa.
But the second he slips, he's from Okinawa.
We don't care.
Yeah.
Wow.
Japan likes to disown people all the time.
Yeah.
I think the Brits do it with like Scotland and Ireland.
Yeah.
They do the same thing.
Okay.
Now.
Enough of a tangent.
Yeah.
We'll see how much of that.
Patreon only.
Yeah.
If you want to find out what the best flag in America is, check out our Patreon.
You're going to have to go to Patreon because how much of that actually makes the final
release before I'm even editing this.
I can tell you it's not going to be a lot.
All right.
So heading.
Well, these are just our picks.
So we're heading into 2025.
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Boxing B-Sides, a Lux Media production.
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Anyways.
So yeah, parting words.
Okay.
Parting words going into the new year.
So I saw, not a trend, but just like an internet post suggesting fun New Year's resolutions
instead of like productive ones.
Yeah.
So like every time I see a new Chinese restaurant, I try it or I go to, you know, every art museum
in, or one art museum in every city I visit this year.
I think that's better.
Cause I always give myself resolutions that I don't like.
So I haven't figured out what my fun one is this year, but I'm going to do a fun resolution.
I never thought to do that.
I hadn't either, but it makes sense.
I did that.
You can just do fun ones.
Yeah.
I know that I did that when I f***ed up, New Year was like right around the corner.
So I didn't consciously do it, but I did make like more positive resolutions.
Like let's do fun stuff.
Stuff that makes me happy.
Yeah.
So, I mean, it's probably important to do your other type of resolution as well, but
this year I think I'm only doing fun ones.
Yeah.
Every party I go to, I'm taking a f***.
Is that a good one?
Is that fun?
I mean, I guess if that's your fun one.
And then I have, not affiliated or anything, but I have a gamify your life app that I really
like that I find helpful with resolutions and stuff.
It's called Habitica and you put in like habits and to-dos and stuff.
And when you click them off, your little character gets experience points.
It's like an RPG.
That sounds pretty fun.
Yeah.
I really like it.
If you're looking for something to help you with your resolutions, check it out.
It's free.
You can subscribe and then you get gems to buy skins and that sort of thing, but you
can just use it totally free.
Hmm.
Heading into 2025.
F***ing hit that follow button, subscribe button, wherever the f*** you're listening
to this.
Check out the socials.
If you want to have like more fun social media stuff, I would suggest checking out Instagram
and Twitter.
I just kind of repost stuff there for the, just for the sake of doing it.
Not because I actually like that platform.
So yeah, heading into 2025, you're going to subscribe to all our s*** and you're going
to check out all the other shows in the Lux Media family because like we just have the
biggest ding-dongs of all time.
Even Shannata has a bigger ding-dong.
Especially me.
Yeah, she's a bigger ding-dong than all of you listening.
If you don't agree, 833 Luxpods.
Tell me why not.
Alright, that's it.
Enough shenanigans from me.
Ta-ta.
We will see you in 2025.
Happy New Year everyone.