This shit ain't nothing to me, man. This is Boxing
Before Dark. Boxing. Boxing. Boxing. Back. Back.
Back. Back. Back. Before. Before. Before. Before.
Boxing. Boxing. Boxing. Boxing Before Dark. This
is Boxing Before Dark. Alright, let's fucking
boogie. Yeah. Let me start the timer. Holy shit.
Boxing Before Dark. Welcome to 2026. Yeah. It's
going to be a big year. I just have this feeling.
It's going to be another excellent year of boxing.
They're already lining up some really good fights.
Yes. I'm excited. News. Fucking... Not a lot
of news. Um, Kakachi versus Jazza Dickens. Because
I know the masses have been waiting to hear news
about this. Yeah, so exciting. March 14th. So
that's fun. I really hope Kakachi kind of just
goes away. I don't like him. He's so dirty, Leo.
Yeah, I know. He did Cordina dirty, and I lost
a lot of respect. Yeah, just in general, he fights
very dirty. I'm not a fan. At the same time as
Jazza Dickens. It probably isn't the guy to do
it. No. But maybe. Jazza's probably used to getting
headbutted and stuff. Yeah, I suppose. I mean,
that's how a lot of those British guys fight,
isn't it? Yes, they do lead with their heads
quite a bit. Maybe he's the one who can avoid
it. Or if they go head -to -head. Let's see who
comes out the victor. Probably Kakachi. Yeah.
Oh, well. We'll see how this card shapes out.
If that's the headline, that's... It's not an
exciting headline. No, it's going to be rough
to watch. Yeah. Probably we'll complain about
paying for that one if these guys are headlining.
The IBF. is trying to push Canelo versus Oslis
Iglesias. So that's pretty fun. Do you think
Canelo will take that one? No, I don't. I don't
either. I think Iglesias is too good. Canelo's
just... I think he knows he's just past his peak.
I don't know about just. I think Canelo's on
his way down, yeah. He's enough past his peak
that he's self -aware that he's past his peak.
I think he's been self -aware for a little while,
and that's why he's been handpicking people.
Yeah, Iglesias is not the one you want to handpick.
No, no. That would be a passing of the torch
in a big way. I don't expect he would want to
pass the torch to a Cuban. No, I'm just saying
if that fight happens, that's what it's going
to be. If he was going to give a shine to anyone,
he would have done it with Munguia. But Mangeo
just isn't good enough. No, he's not. It's unfortunate.
Even he's worse now that he's training with Reynoso.
Which is weird. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, this
fight's not going to happen. IBF can push it
all they want. Canelo will drop the belt. He's
dropped that belt before, hasn't he? This is
for a vacant belt. Oh, right. He doesn't have
any belts. Yeah. I'm an idiot. Crawford retired,
dropped them all. Yeah, yeah. No, I totally forgot
the Crawford fight even happened. It's early.
It's early on the holidays. Fucking Canelo's
not going to do this. The IBF. You can just start
looking for someone else, for real. Yeah, yeah.
Hold on, let me see who they have in their rankings.
Well, I'd prefer if they look for someone else
versus Iglesias than someone else versus Canelo.
Yes, 100%. But you know how they are with me.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Iglesias is the number one
rated. Second rated is Empty. Three, four, five
is Canelo, Munguia, and Callum Simpson. Who the
fuck is Callum Simpson? We talk about him a lot,
but mostly just in passing. I just need a picture.
No, that didn't help. Number six is Hamza Shiraz.
Iglesias versus Shiraz would be cool, but Shiraz
is busy, isn't he? Yes, he is. He's fighting
Pacheco for the WBO. And then after that, it's
a bunch of nobodies. It's a bunch of Frenchmen.
Well, two Frenchmen. It's a lot more Frenchmen
than usual. Yeah, I don't know. Like, Iglesias
does Munguia bad. Yes. He probably beats Callum
Simpson pretty badly as well. He beats probably
most of these guys pretty badly. Yeah. Beck?
Iglesias beats Beck, but that might be fun. You
got the one -punch potential. Oh, yeah. Beck
the bully. It'll... He's way down at the bottom,
though. Yeah, he's 14th. So that's not going
to fly for a vacant fight. No. But the rankings
annoy me so much because Bektamir is number one
with the WBA. Which means nothing, but... Resendi's
probably not going to fight him. He got elevated.
I've been talking about him, even once Crawford
retired, I was talking about him as the full
champion anyway, but it's official now, so. Right.
There's that. You think, just moving slightly
to the right on my screen here, do you think
Canelo would fight Mbele? Yes, I do, actually.
I tend to do too. I think Lester Martinez demonstrated
how to tame the beast. But I think Canelo's still
got a chin and Mbili's not a mover. So I think
it would be Canelo's best chance at another belt,
personally. Yeah, yeah. That would be for WBC?
Yeah. Okay. So Mbili's the interim and Canelo's
the number one ranked. Wouldn't be a bad fight
for the full title. Yeah. I could see Canelo
using that as an excuse to pass on Iglesias.
But then in their rankings, it would be Munguia.
So, I mean... I could see Munguia taking that
fight, but I could see Munguia getting his ass
beat. Yeah, Diet Canelo is not gonna... I don't
think that'll have as good a flair as the actual
Canelo would. Yeah. Interesting situation, though.
Terrence Crawford fucking based for dropping
all the belts. Yeah, not holding up the entire
division like Canelo has for years. Yeah. Now
we've got a lot of fun matchups on the fucking
horizon. So that's good. Yeah. If Canelo does
want to do a passing of the torch, he's number
one and Pacheco's number two for the vacant WBO.
He's number one? Canelo is, yep. But I don't
know if Canelo's ready to cash out yet. I don't
think he would want to pass the torch. Or he
would allow that to happen. No, that's what I
mean. Yeah, I see Canelo and Billy next for Canelo.
And I think Saudi will pay for that on their
deals as well after Billy had such a good showing.
Yeah, I agree. That's my prediction for the next
Canelo fight. And the Iglesias fight, I guess
they move on to Munguia or Callum Simpson. Yeah,
I expect of those, if... Depends on who wants
to put it on and where... I don't know where
Munguia is aligned, like, promotionally. Because
Iglesias is with Eye of the Tiger. But... Eye
of the Tiger is so shit. Right. He can be pulled
out by anybody for the right price. Yeah. I don't
know who Munguia is with either. I don't follow
this stuff very much. That wouldn't be bad if
they were going to do a Canelo and Beely headline.
Munguia versus Iglesias wouldn't be bad on the
undercard for that. Okay, so according to AI,
because I'm too lazy to really look, after Munguia
left Golden Boy, he signed with Zamfer and has
a co -promotional deal with Top Rank. And Top
Rank doesn't have, they don't have any leverage
right now being without a network. Right. So
Top Rank and I and the Tiger would have to kind
of find somebody. They need to find daddy. Mutually.
Yeah. Yeah. They need mom and dad to pay for
it. And according to Ring Magazine, Iglesias'
promoter is calling for Munguia, not Crawford.
Canelo, you mean? Sorry, that's what I meant.
Yeah. Too many words on my screen while I'm talking.
Oof. Well, that's a good call. Good shout from
Iglesias. Munguia is definitely more likely to
take it. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good move. Speaking
of making moves, Bam is a promotional free agent.
I mean, people have to be lining up to get him,
right? I would imagine. He's like the star of
the little guys right now, in a way, of course,
but as far as Western fighters are concerned,
he's like the star of the little guys. Yeah.
I mean, do you think he'd sign with Goldenboy?
No, I don't. I don't either. Golden Boy has fallen
off hard. Which kind of leaves Matchroom and...
Re -signed with Matchroom. Well, he was kind
of co -promoted with Ohashi, wasn't he? Bam?
Yes, he is. I think he's signed with Taken. Okay,
okay. I had the wrong one. Yeah, he is... Because
Taken's Honda, right? Yeah. Yeah. And they signed
a lot of little guys. I mean, I don't think it's
a bad move to re -sign with the Japanese promoter.
They're getting them big fights anyways. Yeah.
It's not like he's not getting on TV in America
and stuff. Only fight I want for Bam right now
is Willie Baldo. Yeah. I expect that's the only
one on Bam's radar as well. Who's Willie Baldo
with? I'm not sure who he's with. He's bound
to... His mandatory is Andrew Maloney right now.
Right. So he's got to settle that. Willie Baldo's
with some company I've never heard of. Box Stars?
Never heard of it. But it's spelt funny. And
they got Manny Pacquiao listed as a co -promoter.
Like MP promotions. Interesting. And Matchroom
was involved in his last promotion. So who the
fuck knows, I guess. Anyways. Yeah, I don't know.
I think Bam can sign with whoever the fuck he
wants. And I don't know enough about promotion
to say who's his best choice. But co -promoting
with the Japanese guys that have inns with all
the small fighters doesn't seem like a bad move
to me. Yeah, I think the free agency is that
he's not with Matchroom anymore. But yeah, he's
not with Matchroom. I imagine... I expect he's
still bound to take it. Right. I don't know.
Like, so there's Matchroom and Queensberry are
the ones that seem to have their name on everything,
right? Yeah, right now, yeah. One of those two,
probably. Right? You don't want to sign with
Top Rank unless they announce something big real
soon. Yeah, they need a network. They need to
land on a network fucking fast. Yeah. Somebody
was talking about how the Paramount stuff might
be why they haven't... Like, who bought Paramount
recently? I think that... No. Netflix bought
Warner Brothers. Which might also include Paramount.
It might. Anyway, somebody... In Discord was
talking about how that might be why Top Rank
hasn't announced anything. Skydance Media bought
Paramount. Okay. I don't know. Top Rank needs
a fucking home soon. Yes. I need to know who
to buy a subscription for when I get back to
Canada. Right. Like right now I can let my...
ESPN laps because they don't have Top Rank or
UFC anymore. So fuck them. Yep, don't need them.
But yeah, this is one to keep an eye on. What
about PBC? I mean... Oh, I totally forgot they
exist. Yeah, I kind of did too because they only
do like four shows a year. Yeah. Not quite where
they were a few years ago when they had spots
all over the place. But they have the potential
to, like, get back there. They still have lots
of... They have a big stable. People. Yeah. Yeah.
And apparently the deal with Prime Video is...
is real. Isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a matter
of them doing non -pay -per -view shows, like
the developmental stuff where you have your prospects.
That kind of footprint. It's non -existent. Yeah.
It kind of seems like everybody has no idea what
to do with those guys right now. Because everybody
wants to be on these big streaming services,
but they don't want to show any non -pay -per
-view fights. Yeah. We'll be watching Bam with
great interest. Yeah, I'll watch Bam wherever
the fuck he goes. It doesn't matter to me. Patty
Donovan versus Liam Parrow is off. This was going
to be on, I believe, the 16th. A no -limit boxing
card in Australia. I think this was the co -main
to Nikita Zu versus Michael Zarafa. Yeah. What
happened? Did it say? Uh, Patty Donovan got sick.
No, I didn't see exactly what happened, but.
He must have gotten pretty sick if they cancelled
weeks out like that. Right. Ah. COVID. That's
too bad. Yeah, I can't find anything that says,
it just says illness. I mean, it has to be something
fairly serious. If it was like a flu or something,
he'd probably just go through it, right? Right.
I would expect he would, but who knows? Yeah,
it all just keeps saying illness. I wonder if
he got like rhabdo or one of those. I mean, it
happens. Is having a herpes flare up? Yeah. Let's
go with that one. Yeah, that's what we're doing.
Patty, you gotta come out and air the laundry,
dog. Otherwise, we're going with herpes flare
-up. It's gotta be a pretty bad herpes flare
-up, too. Oh, that's the type of shit that gets
people in trouble, saying stuff like that. People
would have to hear you say it first. Nobody listens
to us. Yeah, that's right. Somehow, someway,
this has to make its way to Patty Donovan's ears.
So he can sue us, and then we'll get in the news,
and then people will listen to us. Yep. It's
all a marketing ploy. The big one, gonna jump
over that really quick to get these other two
out of the way. Renee Taez misses weight by .6.
Yeah. It sounds like the fight's going ahead.
But she was also called in on two weeks notice.
So I kind of you got to give her a little bit
of a. Wow. No, if you say you're going to make
weight, you have to make weight. But also missing
by half a pound on two weeks notice isn't the
worst thing fighters have ever done. Yeah, she
did. She did make an attempt. But in her like
three hours or whatever, she lost like point
two pounds. Yikes. Yeah. But I mean, she's out
of her league anyways. This was going to be a
run over and now she's dehydrated. Maybe go Serrano
by knockout in your betting days. Tyson Fury's
training in Thailand. Yeah, I saw it. Interesting.
Three different places had this up when I just
searched boxing news. So I'm sure it's all based
off the same video, but they've got Tyson Fury
hitting the mitts in Thailand. I have my hands
up because I don't know what to do with him.
Yeah, why would you, why? Like, he's not sparring
anyone. Half his size in Thailand. Yeah. I don't
know what the fuck. You're going to have to fly
in sparring partners because there's nobody in
Thailand that's going to be even close. Yeah.
So this is like super rumors. But there is video
of him training in Thailand. I did see a picture
of him in Thailand. Yeah. But they've got him
like working out and stuff on video clips. I
suspect he's there to womanize. I would also
suspect that. I think that's the training he's
doing is horizontal cardio. How to pick up ladyboys?
Yeah. I don't know what else he would be doing
there. Yeah. His reputation makes me believe
that nothing good is happening when Tyson Fury
is in Thailand. Yep, I can't help but agree with
that. But if he's even kind of pretending and
letting videos leak out and stuff, perhaps he's
trying to angle for another comeback. Perhaps
he's assuming AJ is not going to fight who was
AJ fighting. No, AJ didn't have a fight. Perhaps
he was trying to get ready for the AJ fight that
everybody's been talking about. Which I assume
now is derailed as fuck. Yeah, so that's the
point. Last point in the news, AJ's accident.
More than certain, everyone's heard of it by
now. But it was... Who is this? K .O.? That's
the driver. K .O. Day was the driver. And he's
been charged. He's officially been charged. I
tried my best to double check this. With causing
death by dangerous driving, reckless and negligent
driving, driving without due care, and driving
without a valid driver's license. Huh. So, why
the fuck are you putting somebody like... So
rich in a car driven by a dude with no license.
Right. I would imagine they'd have, like, a pro
chauffeur. Yeah, just hire a fucking driver.
Get a local. Somebody who knows the conditions
and everything. Like, not to victim blame or
whatever, but that seems like a dumb choice.
So. It's really too bad, the whole accident.
Saul was of the mind that this is going to break
AJ mentally. AJ does kind of seem like... Temperamental?
I was going to say sensitive, but I wanted to
use a word that was less loaded for boys. But
he seems like he does make really close connections
with people. Yeah, the two people that passed
away were really close to him. Yeah. But I don't
know if that'll break him or, like, inspire him
to win in their honor. Yeah. Like, maybe he'll
dive right into training to get his mind off
of stuff. Because AJ kind of seems like he might
do that. I don't want to think about stuff, so
I'll just throw myself into work. Yeah. But I
could see it going either way, to be honest.
But I want to give AJ the benefit of the doubt
and say he's going to try and turn it into inspiration
rather than letting it kind of wreck him. Yeah.
But that's a tough one, because those were two
people that have been with him for, like, ever.
And I did not look at the videos. I purposefully
avoided the fuck out of anything that had pictures
or videos of this, but the way people were talking
on Discord, it sounded really gross. And the
way they handled it after the accident sounded
really gross. The only videos I've seen were
of AJ getting out of the wreck. I saw a little
bit of those pictures. Like I said, I was avoiding
videos, but somebody said like they pulled the
dead bodies out of the car and one of them was
missing a head and stuff. I, I completely avoided
all of that. I don't even have morbid curiosity.
I'd rather not see that. Yeah. So, um, I don't
know, like depending how much AJ kind of noticed
and how much was on. his side of the vehicle
like that would change things too right yeah
seeing the the carnage yeah or like i don't know
i don't know man i hope aj turns it into like
motivation somehow but it also wouldn't surprise
me if he can't that looked sounded fucking horrific
and i saw pictures of the car and it just looked
awful Well, wishing the best to AJ. Rest in peace
to your buddies. Yeah. Oh, shit. On that somber
note, let me throw some notes in here. Fucking
social media. LVX Media Net. That's the handle
everywhere. If you can't find us, we're not on
it. Follow our shit wherever you're listening.
Leave a rating. It really helps push us up the
accursed search algorithm. And if you're feeling
a little extra, a review would also be helpful.
And if you want written content, Josh's rants
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All right. Let's fucking get into the recap.
First things first for Saturday, December 27th.
The promoter is Koki Kameda. Yeah, the Kameda
card. Very cool. He had it in Japan and tried
to get it to finish just before the Saudi card
started. Some actually maybe smart marketing
there because it was not pay -per -view. Yeah,
good tie -in. Let's see what we got on the card.
John Riel Casimero wins by knockout in the fifth.
Like, fuck that guy. Yeah, he still looks like
shit. I don't care. I don't care what anyone
says. I don't know who they had him fighting.
This kid's... 11, 5, and 2. Tom Mizukoshi. Yeah.
He wasn't very good. This was definitely we want
Casamero to have a win so we can hopefully sell
him off to somebody. I think. Such a piece of
shit. Hopefully it goes for the bare minimum.
He must be not... He's living worse than usual.
The whites of his eyes were the same color as
his skin. I swear to God. Oh my goodness. It
was bad. Kenneth Lover? KO2? Yeah. Lover looked
good. I'm still really excited about this kid.
I think he's ready to take some maybe step -up
fights. I mean, this guy had a positive record,
but they can start pushing Kenneth Lover a little
more. I think he at no point looked like he even
had to think about what he was doing in there.
And I think this is the main event. Masaichi
Yabuki stops Felix Alvarado in the 12th for the
IDF flyweight title. This was a fucking war.
The cards don't make it sound that close, but
it was just all action, all punches. People should
actually go watch this one. It's worth going
and finding. I almost thought about adding it
to my Fight of the Year contenders. Not winners,
but second half of the year, it would be top
five for me, for sure. Okay. It's really good.
Yabuki's always exciting. He's one of those guys
that throws 8 million punches and doesn't have
the best defense. One of my favorites. His backstory
too, I hadn't really heard it before, but I was
at the bar watching this, so the guys were kind
of translating a little for me. He apparently
had 300 run -ins with the cops before he took
up boxing. 300? I don't think they were all arrests,
but he's got 300 encounters. You were questioned
about things with the cops. So he used boxing
to really turn his life around, which is kind
of fun. I like those stories. Masamichi. Yeah.
Really good fight, though. Go find it. So, that
ended around the time of The Ring 5, Night of
the Samurai. Yeah. Starting us off, Reito Tsutsumi
stopped Leobardo Quintana in four. I actually
didn't watch this one. One -sided affair, yeah.
I talked them into leaving the Yabuki fight up
on the big screen so I didn't watch the Tsumi.
I thought this was a pretty fun fight. I don't
know. Did you see this one? I don't recall it.
I don't have good recollection of it. I think
the split decision was a good... Like, a good
decision. And the difference was the knockdown.
Imanaga got knocked down in the eighth, I think.
That'll do it. Yeah. I thought it was a pretty
fun fight. This one was worth watching. But I
have to admit, I don't know who either of these
guys are. Do you know who Junto Nakatani is?
I do. UD over Sebastian Hernandez. I've been
seeing a lot of chatter online that people are
disappointed with Junto. I didn't know who Hernandez
was. But I said Junto was going to have trouble
with a Mexican. Because if Junto doesn't hurt
people, he gets frustrated. You saw it in the
Nishida fight. Yes. So, I kind of think I called
this one. And I kind of think it was pretty close.
Like, Nakatani winning is fine. The 115 -113
scorecards are good. Yes, I agree with that.
But that 118 -110 by the Saudi judge is fucking
atrocious. But personally, I scored it at home.
And I had it a... I had it Hernandez 115 -113.
But there were two swing rounds you could give
to Nakatani. And I had one other round I marked
as swing that I did give to Nakatani, but I thought
could have went to Hernandez. So like 115, 113,
I have no problem with, but I don't know if Nakatani
should have won that one. As I watched it a few
times and every time I keep, I would just be
like, Hernandez is doing more. Like it's like
they were like the judges, whoever that 118,
110 guy, Nawaf al -Muhammad or something like
that. Like, yeah. Were you just not paying attention
to body work? Because Sebastian was digging downstairs
a lot. He's a judge from Saudi Arabia. And the
box rec has him as judging 166 votes. But they're
all in the Middle East. I guess there's a couple
in Thailand. But, like, he shouldn't have been
judging this. No. I think my takeaway from this.
Like, he clearly judged for the guy that he thought
Saudi wanted to win, in my opinion. And he clearly
wasn't fucking paying attention. Like, 118 -110,
Hernandez definitely won more than two rounds.
There's no fucking question. And I know Frost...
on the discord is always like oh well it's just
they can't see and stuff that is not what happened
here that can't be what happened here like it's
saudi arabia they're not that loud they're not
that distracting to the judges and that fight
didn't happen in one area of the ring like that
fight moved around right but But again, I have
no problem with Junto winning, but I do think
it kind of shows his weaknesses, and I don't
think his power carried super well to 122. Like,
maybe Hernandez is just fucking hard as a rock,
too. That's a possibility. He might just have
an all -time chin and body. Could be. Because
he was eating body shots, and they sounded hard.
The only possibility that I see is if you have
a lot of swing rounds, or if you scored a lot
of swing rounds, but you just gave them to Nakatani.
I still don't think you can give him 10 rounds.
Yeah, I'm not so sure either. You're right. Fernandez
won more, definitely won more than two rounds.
convincingly. I just think... I think this is
a judge that just didn't have the experience.
Judging at big events shouldn't have been on
the co -main. Like... Yeah, I just... I don't
think he should have been doing that. I would
say that we have judged more fights than he has.
In the last few years. In the last years. I would
say so, anyway. Yeah. Well, and again, I just,
like, this is his first fight that he's judged
that has any fucking stars on BoxRec. Most of
them have zero stars. Some of them have one.
Some of them have two. But, like, they jumped
him to a four star on, like, Saudi pay -per -view.
I just... He shouldn't have been there judging.
Judging on the card is fine, but he shouldn't
have been judging this fight. Right. I agree
with that. It's not fair to them to put these
judges in these positions. And for a little while,
I felt they were doing it with the female refs,
too. They were throwing female referees on these
big cards for diversity. in my opinion that they
weren't really ready to be refereeing the co
-main and then they make mistakes because they
don't have the practice the same thing happens
to judges if you don't have the practice and
like you get overawed by the occasion and clearly
this guy in my opinion was like oh turkey wants
junto to win so that he can fight in a way, so
anything that's remotely close and anything I'm
not sure about, I'll just give to Junto. That's
what I'm thinking happened. Yeah, but even so,
he still fucked up because Hernandez definitely
won more than two rounds. Like, clearly won more
than two rounds. Yeah, definitely. But I do think
it's unfair to put referees like that because
he had, what, 166 fights. This other guy, the
next ref, Mike Hale has 600. So, it's just...
I will say, none of these refs are refs I recognize.
Like, who is Gary Kitanoski? 625 fights under
his belt, though. And he at least has a couple...
Like, he did Benavida's Yard. But that's what
I mean. The other guys have three times as many
fights. 400 more fights. It's a lot. It's a lot
of experience that he's lacking. Yeah. Anyways,
I think Hernandez surprised fucking everybody.
Surprised me. Yeah, I think he's going to be
able to leverage this to get himself back onto
bigger cards. Well, and I'm kind of happy for
him because he's got a super sad backstory, too.
He just had a child that was born with some health
problems. And so, like, he's going to need some
money. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. A lot of people
are saying that this makes the Nakatani Inoue
fight less exciting. I don't give a shit. Nakatani
could have fucking lost and I still want to see
those two fight next. But I'm possibly more invested
in that happening early next year than other
people are. Maybe. I do feel a little not quite
as excited for Inoue Nakatani as I was. Still
excited for it, yes, but not quite as much. See,
I... I kind of thought this was... This doesn't
change how I rated Nakatani, I guess. And maybe
that's the difference. I saw this coming when
he moved up. I did not expect Hernandez to be
the one to showcase it, but... Yeah, I don't
care. I want to see Nakatani in a way. It does
not matter. Speaking of which... Oh yeah, in
a way... fucking sweeps, practically sweeps,
Alan Picasso. He did have a sweep card, a 119
-109, and then a 117 -111. I don't know about
that. Yeah. Oh, guess how many fights this guy
has judged. Oh, I was already looking, so. 82?
82 is not enough to be judging an Inouye fight.
The fuck are you guys doing? Yeah, that's not
acceptable. Steve Weisfeld probably has a thousand
fights. I've never actually looked at him. 3
,207. Yeah. So, like, can't blame anything he
fucks up on lack of experience. The other dude
had 181. I don't like it. I know I always complain
that we always have the same five judges, but
there has to be something in the middle there.
Right. There's something between 3 ,000 and 200.
Like... Anyways. In a way, looked really good.
I thought. Did Picasso surprise you at any point?
I thought he would have gotten taken out, so
to be able to go the distance was pretty cool.
I was a little surprised that he didn't try to
win. Yeah. There was a whole lot of shelling
up, I thought. Like, I don't know. I'm not saying
Inouye carried him or anything, but I think Putcastle
went into survival mode. Pretty much from the
onset. Yeah. I don't know about from the onset,
but it didn't feel like he was trying to win.
I don't know. This was kind of what I was expecting.
I'm a little disappointed Inoue didn't get the
knockout, but I'm not surprised. Yeah, especially
when you're fighting to survive. That's when
that's your plan. Or your strategy? Well, Inoue's
been talking a lot about being more defensively
responsible and stuff. Which obviously is going
to mean he doesn't open up as much. And he still
got fucking flush -shotted with left hooks anyways,
but Picasso had no power on them. Did you see
that one? It just looked like a bitch slap. It's
a really good gif out there. Where... Inoue does
the thing where he dropped his right hand and
Picasso just, like, slaps him. There's no power
behind it at all. But somebody with power would
have probably knocked him down again. You think
Junto Nakatani with, like, an overhand left could
knock him down? I think Nakatani could knock
him down. I think Inoue... has the best fight
of his fucking life against Nakatani. I don't
think Inoue's gonna... He's not gonna be too
excited. He's gonna be so fucking locked in,
it doesn't happen. And as much as Junto, like...
I think he'll be nervous. I think he'll be more
nervous than Inoue. Hmm. I can't imagine that
Inoue would be nervous. He's had a lot of, like,
big fights. Already. That's what I mean. But,
like, Junto hasn't really. No. He hasn't had
very many big fights. He's looked really good
in all his fights, but he hasn't had very many
big fights. And this last one being not so great,
I can see him being really nervous if Inoue's
next. Is his biggest fight Andrew Maloney? Yeah.
It's either Maloney or Nishida, but I think I'm
the only one who rates Nishida higher, so...
Yeah, Nishida was a good one. But, like... The
rest of them are... They're not bad names. It's
not like he's got a completely shit resume, but
he just... He hasn't had, like, the Neary fight,
or the Fulton fight, or... You know? Yeah, Ramon
Cardenas. Small... It had a high profile on the
event, even though Ramon Cardenas was a relatively
unknown opponent. Yeah, I don't think I would
say Cardenas was as big as much pressure. But,
like, well, the Donair rematch was big, even
though it turned out not to be. Fulton... Neary.
Like, I think those were big events with a lot
of pressure. MJ was a big event with a lot of
pressure. Like, a lot of people were saying MJ
was going to be the one to knock Inway out. Really?
A lot of people. Wow. That's silly. He's got
power. Kinda, yeah. The haters are going to hate.
I don't know. I think this is going to make Nakatani
nervous. I still want to see it. I still want
it to happen in May. Because I'm an idiot. I
thought my visa was until the end of August,
but it's until the end of July. So I've got to
be out August 1st. It has to happen before then.
I expect it will. It should. Yeah. May would
be perfect. I want this. I want this during May.
I want it to be fucking huge. And I want Inoue
to knock Nakatani out. That's what I want. Picasso
versus Hernandez. I think that would be a good
one. Hernandez wins. I think so, too. No power
Picasso. I mean, I think Picasso probably goes
back up if he keeps fighting. Oh, back to 126?
Yeah. He's been there most of the last, what,
year and a half? I believe so, yeah. Three of
his last four. Yeah. He's kind of been at 126
off and on for his whole career. He kind of floats
between the two. I don't rate Picasso very much
anyways. I honestly don't really care what he
does next. If he takes this as his big payday
and goes and finishes his neuroscience or whatever
the fuck he's doing. Yeah, that's what they were
saying on the broadcast. Neuroscience degree.
Yeah. Which is impressive, don't get me wrong.
But, I mean, I think you have to pick one, don't
you? Being a neuroscientist versus boxing? Yeah.
Yeah, I expect that someone who studies brains
is gonna not want to have theirs pummeled. Well,
it's not even just that. I can't imagine the
time it takes to do both. Like, attend class
and train for boxing. Manny Pacquiao managed
to be a senator and still box. Manny Pacquiao
didn't do shit as a senator. Anything more for
Knight of the Samurai? No. I want Nakatani versus
Inoue next, and I think this whole thing was
stupid, and they should stop making these setup
fights. Because Junto almost blew it. He did.
I want no more setup fights. Well, word on the
street is that there's going to be a setup fight
for AJ and Tyson Fury. They're gonna have. That's
a little different because they've both kind
of been out of the ring forever. Yeah. That one
I don't mind. Just a can I still do it fight.
I think that's a little different scenario. Alright.
And honestly I don't 100 % hate this because
Nakatani's never fought at 122. But you gotta
stop. putting them on the same card at the very
least. I hate it. Honestly, if I was Nakatani,
I would have just gone up. If you lose, you lost
to the very best jumping up weights. It does
nothing to bother your reputation, really. Right.
The chasing greatness or whatever. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. And then... This really kind of hurt Nakatani's
reputation. People have been... Down on Nakatani,
yeah. Yeah. And I don't think that's fair. I
just think this was a harder opponent than they
thought. Number one. And number two, it's somebody
who's a bad style for Nakatani. Like, I know
he trains in America, but that doesn't make him
good at fighting Mexicans. Right. People pretend
it does, but a tough pressure fighter was always
going to be bad for Nakatani. Wow. Super fun
fight, though, to watch. That did get added to
my potential fight of the year list. Coming up,
this... Two cards on the 10th. First is Queensberry
in Germany. This will be on DAZN. I only have...
There's more than a handful of fights on here.
The only two I'm paying attention to are Agit
Kabayel, the interim WBC heavyweight champion,
versus Damian Kaniba. I think it is Naiba. And
then co -main, I believe it is, the interim WBC
lightweight title, Javier Herrera versus Ricardo
Nunez. We saw Naiba recently on a card, didn't
we? Yes, we have. He fought Joey Dwejko. Which
is not a great name. Don't get me wrong. But
this could be a sneaky good fight. Naiva looked
good, I thought. Especially for a heavyweight.
But he was fighting a nobody, so who knows. But
this could turn out to be better than it looks
on paper. I'm honestly expecting Caballel to
kind of style on him. I know that's what everybody's
expecting and it might happen. But this could
turn into an actual fight. Naiba had a jab and
he looked pretty good to me. Or he could have
been styling on a nobody that doesn't translate
to somebody who can actually box. Those are the
two options. And the other card. Fresh promotions.
This is going to be pay -per -view .com. Priced
$55 in the US. That's a lot. It is. But they
don't have any other... I don't know. Revenue
stream. Yeah, I get that. I just... I... $55
is a lot. It is. To me. On this card... Sorry.
Former IBF bantamweight champion Emmanuel Rodriguez
is fighting Fernando Diaz. I don't know Fernando
Diaz. Do you? No, I don't. I don't really recognize
any names on his box rec either. I suspect Rodriguez
should win this. I would think. I do too. He's
the one that Inouye got the really nice knockout
against, right? The body knockout? Yes. In the
WB World Boxing Super Series or whatever. Yeah.
That's one of my favorites. The absolute, like,
the look on his face as he shakes his head at
the corner. Fucking love it. Um, Not much else
on the undercard. I'm expecting these are all
just fresh promotions, prospects. They're based
out of Puerto Rico, so yeah. These guys are all
Puerto Ricans. Subaru Matias, the WBC 140 champ
versus Dalton Smith, the number one contender.
I don't know. what to make of this fight. Like...
I don't rate Dalton Smith, so I'm not expecting
much. Fair enough, I guess. But, Subaru Matias
has bad nights. Yes, he can be off. But, he usually
loses to, like, boxers. I don't think I would
call Dalton Smith a boxer. Yeah, stylistically,
I don't expect Dalton Smith to avoid the danger
that Matias presents. Fair enough. Yeah, I'm
kind of leaning towards Matias too, but... I
mean, the last time he fought in Puerto Rico,
he kind of blew it. Well, he's not going to be
at home this time. Well, Brooklyn, I believe
they call it like... It's like Puerto Rico Part
2 or something. The New Yorkans? Yes. That's
true. I guess he hasn't lost in America. Or has
he? Yes, he did. He lost to Ananion way back.
Oh, yeah. Then he came back. The rematch, he
just... obliterated him. Yeah. Anyways, I suspect
Dalton Smith is just gonna get beat up. Unfortunately.
I don't know if I really want to pay $55 to watch
it. I don't either. That's it, though. That's
all we got coming up. The month gets better.
a lot better, but this is part of the slow ramping
up for the new year. Yeah, but I mean, that happens
every year. Yeah. I do feel like lately either
there's more fights that I'm excited for in general
or they're spreading them out a little better
the last year. Like 2025. There was pretty big
fights almost every month. I would say they were
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Alright. Parting words. Parting words. I don't
really subscribe to the new year, new me bullshit
very much. But I do have one resolution this
year. And I'm going to actually try and keep
a diary this year. Because I started one last
year and it lasted like two weeks. two weeks
it's probably the best i've done ever is two
weeks but i'm going to write at least two sentences
every day of something i did uh i hear for some
people um bullet journal journaling makes it
easier because you're not trying to write complete
sentences just writing fragments of thoughts
yeah that for me it's just actually writing anything
yeah i just don't do it picking up the pen yeah
that's my new year's resolution and i already
haven't done it yet i did buy the book though
so well step one is complete never too late to
start exactly we're only a few days in no need
to i could go back yeah uh retroactive yeah Oh,
shit. I don't know if I have any resolutions
this year. Not that I thought of, anyway. I don't
know. Shrug. I usually don't do them. Yeah, I
don't either. Like, whenever the... If I get
the urge or motivation to do whatever, I'll just
do it. Yeah, you don't need to wait for New Year's.
Yeah. That's it for this edition of Boxing Before
Dark. See you next week. Bye.