This shit ain't nothing to me, man. This is Boxing
Before Dark. All right, let's fucking do this.
Holy shit, it's Boxing Before Dark. 2026 continues
to roll on. It is kicking my ass so far, man.
Work sucks. And the year just began, too. I mean,
it's got to get better later, right? When I'm
unemployed. You'll have some downtime. Yeah.
I have not seriously started work searching yet,
and I need to. If anybody knows labs hiring immunologists,
hook me up. That is our target demographic, so
I'm sure we'll get plenty of replies. Yeah, yeah.
Oh, man, it's light on news. One from just really
quickly. Well, maybe not. So as we expected.
Canelo rejected the offer to fight Iglesias for
the IBF title. Right, obviously. He claimed that
he was still recovering from surgery. Right.
And Munguia was supposed to be next, and he also
rejected the offer to fight the IBF. So... Yeah,
kind of limits the options here. Let me pull
up the rankings again. Super middleweight. So
Hamza Shiraz is next in line. As we know, he's
busy. Yep. Troy Williamson, he was above Callum
Simpson. He beat Callum Simpson, but the rankings
hadn't been updated. The last time we talked.
Which one is Troy Williamson again? Yeah, good
question. I think I've seen this man before,
but he is not famous. Not that that really matters,
but I don't remember this man. Seventh on the
ranking list is Pavel Silyagin, I think it is.
I don't know who that is either. No idea. We
are getting down into like... We are in the trenches
here. Scrubs. Eighth is Diego Pacheco. He's busy.
Simon Zackenhuber. Who the fuck is Simon Zackenhuber?
Yep. Let me box wreck this guy. And then tenth
is William School. Nobody wants to see him. Nope.
Well, I mean, I wouldn't mind seeing Iglesias
put some hands on him. That's true. Iglesias
would catch him, too. Simon Zackenhoover is German,
and he is the most German -looking German that
has ever Germaned. He looks like the bad guy
from, like, a World War II film. But it looks
like he's basically never fought outside Germany.
Yikes. Well, he's ninth on the ranking list,
so yeah. And there's not a lot of people actually
in the way of Zack and Hoover getting a shot.
I mean, why not, I guess? If we're just taking
anybody off of this list, I would say Sajo at
least turned in a spirited performance against
Pacheco. Yeah. Sajo looked pretty good, actually.
Yeah, he did. And Bektimir Melikuziev. Why? Because
why not? It'll be fun. He's a name. Yeah. And
it'll be fun. I'd watch Beck. He'll get iced,
but I'd watch it. Yep. But yeah, this played
out as expected. Well, the Canelo part did. The
Munguia part, I didn't see that coming. I thought
he would have taken it. I think he still is getting
a lot of shit for the Saras rematch Munguia.
Yeah, and the questionable... PED test. Yeah.
Gotta take heads to take a Frenchman to decision?
Yep. Come on, man. That's how you... That's your
rebirth coming out of the Reynoso gym. Yeah.
Not a good look. Nope. Getting... fucked up by
Iglesias would not help his image right now.
Yeah, but we'll keep watching this and see how
this one plays out. Iglesias is lined up for
it and nobody wants to fucking tango with him.
Yeah. He is one of those guys that seems to be
getting ducked pretty hard right now. Yeah. He's
nothing of a name, but he is a major danger in
the ring. Yeah, yeah. The risk -reward is not
there for people because the casuals don't know
him. Yeah. Moving to... I think you're going
to get your wish. Inoue Nakatani looks like it's
going to be at the beginning of May. I'm super
excited. Now I just have to bribe people to put
my name down when they enter the lottery. What
would the... Would the undercard for this be
all Japanese? Or would they have... I think they'd
have other... I'm sure they'll have like... It'll
be like Night of the Samurai. I think there'll
be a Japanese person in every fight. But I bet
you they bring in some names. I imagine like
Ola Squaga would be a good one to have. Yeah.
I was just thinking him as well. And I wouldn't
be surprised if they bring Bam. For this. Maybe.
Bam's kind of pro - Co -promoted with Tekken,
right? Yes. It's Tekken, yeah. This would be
a card that they would probably bring him in
for, I think. That'd be huge. Who does Bam fight
that's Japanese right now? I have no idea. He's
just too good for everybody from any country.
At his weight class, let's see, he's at... Junior
bantamweight? Superfly? Yeah, you can't call
it junior bantamweight. Superfly is so much better.
So Willie Baldo, we know, is the champion there
in the IBF, I mean. They could have that fight
in Japan. People would come. But I think Willie
Baldo is probably going to try and fight before
that, isn't he? He has to fight as mandatory.
Maloney's been waiting. Kenshiro Taraji? Man,
I don't want to see Taraji get beat like that.
Yeah, but he's a name. He's a pretty big name.
Right. He's trying to file some motion with the
IBF to have himself inserted as the mandatory.
For Willy Waldo, but just because they were lined
up to fight before, I think. But I think having
a shot at three belts instead of one might be
more appealing. Yeah, I can't see too many people
turning down the BAM fight, really. Especially
not if it's on a big card like that. But maybe
I'm wrong. Yeah, well. We'll see. We'll see how
this shapes out. There is a surprising lack of
Japanese people at this weight class right now.
At 115? Yeah. Like, there's Taraji. There's two
guys I don't even know. Or I don't think I know.
Rusei Kawaura? Kawaura? That's a... I haven't
seen a name like that before. No, it's a little
hard to pronounce. Ayumasano? Yeah, I don't know
this man. I don't know who this Kawaura is. And
there's a Henta something on here. Nakagawa.
Yeah, I don't know him either. And then a couple
of my new faces are making their way up the list.
Like Aoi Yokoyama's on number 14 for the IBF.
Nice. That has me excited because he's just a
kid. And Tomoya Suboi is working his way up on
all the other rankings. 7, 2, and 6. for the
WBA, WBC, and WBO. They can maybe throw him in
with Bam. I don't think he's very famous, though.
There's lots of other fights I'd rather see than
Bam with any of these Japanese guys, though.
For my money, it would be... Willy Baldo, and
that's really it. Yeah. Distance second would
be Taraji. Taraji is starting to look old. Yeah.
It would be kind of nice to see him get one last
big payday, I think. Yeah, that's kind of what
I'm thinking is, like, give the old Japanese
warhorse, give him a big... A big profile fight.
He's lined up for three belts, so he's getting
a real shot at something serious. And yeah, big
payday on a big card. Yeah, I could get behind
that. But Taraji gets done dirty, I think. He
will go out on his shield, though. He's not going
to show up just to survive. Speaking of getting
done dirty, Daniel Dubois is looking to fight
Fabio Wardley. Excellent. I actually kind of
like this matchup. Man, I think that Fabio Wardley
takes it. You think so? I think he takes it pretty
easily. I don't know. It's hard to judge where
Dubois is, I think. Right. Because he looks good,
and then he looks absolute shit, and then he
looks good. Like, Dubois, I think, needs to figure
out his outside the ring stuff first. Whatever
that might be. Yeah. Well, what was the controversy
last fight? He threw a party and was, like, late
to the venue because he was... Hungover? No,
like... He was late to the venue because they
were partying at his house before the fight.
Like, Dubois wasn't drinking and stuff, but there
was people there. That's dumb. It's super dumb.
I don't know. People are higher on Wardley than
I am, I guess, is my takeaway from all of this.
I don't think Wardley's that good. He's not.
It's just he has that one -punch power that turns.
He could dig himself out of a 12 -round deficit
with this power. It's pretty wild. That's true.
That is true, but he's still got to land it.
Dubois is not unhittable. Yeah. Yeah, you're
not wrong. Like, you're not wrong. I just...
I don't know. I don't have faith in Wardley landing
that punch. Man, I thought Parker was gonna be
able to... I still don't think that should have
been stopped the way it was. I don't either.
I still disagree with fucking Howard Foster.
Such a fucking Brit stoppage, and so inconsistent
and stupid, but we already talked about that
for like an hour. Yeah. Somebody was defending
that stoppage online the other day, and I'm like,
you're just, you're wrong. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah,
but that's more on the rumor side than it is
news, but Dubois is looking to fight Fabio Wardley,
so. Be on the lookout for that. And last bit.
Beeble will be fighting his IBF mandatory in
April. And who is that? I'm checking. Michael
Eifer. I don't... That didn't help me. Yeah,
I know. all right i assume well this is b -ball's
first fight back after the surgery isn't it yes
so i guess we'll we'll see how the surgery went
see if he still has it let's see if he can move
around just as good or better this is another
german where are all these germans like suddenly
popping up from They replaced, what, I think
last year it was Frenchmen. Yeah. This year it's
going to be Germans. Fair enough, I guess. Got
to dig out the Euro bumps from somewhere. Yep.
But that's all the news that I found. I heard
something. What did I hear? Little Inoue. Takuma.
got dropped by one of his sponsors. I couldn't
find why. That's weird. Yeah. But... Well, dropped
is... They didn't word it as dropped. They're,
um... temporarily suspending their... whatever.
Support. So. I... It doesn't sound like they're
mad at him or he did anything wrong. AJ's uncle
said that AJ is retired. Oh, I saw something
that I thought was absolutely fucking horrible.
So AJ was FaceTiming somebody, like somebody
he knew well enough to FaceTime and was talking
about the accident and stuff. So the guy who's
talking to him has the phone pointed at him,
but someone off to the side was recording him
talking to AJ. And it's really clear that AJ
doesn't know this is going on, and he's talking
about the accident and his feelings and stuff.
I thought it was the shittiest thing I've seen
anyone do. Yeah, I saw that. It was Kamaru Usman
from the UFC. Is that who it was? I didn't recognize
the person and I forgot his name, but I just
thought that was the shittiest thing. Usman claims
he didn't know that he was being recorded. That
is possible. It doesn't seem like he was trying
to get information or lead the conversation or
anything. Just talking to him. Whoever recorded
it and put it on the internet is an asshole.
For real. Very private conversation. Like...
I... I fucking hate that that has become, like,
a relatively normal thing to do. To, like, record
people everywhere all the time. No, yeah, there's
no reasonable expectation of privacy anywhere.
Well, I mean, it feels like there still should
be. Like, it looked like they were in a house.
Yeah. Who the fuck just randomly records your
friends' conversations? Pieces of shit. That's
who. So AJ's uncle says he's retired. Eddie Hearn
says if you don't hear from AJ, it's not true.
I think it's too soon to... Yeah. To expect AJ
to have decided anything. Right. He needs time
to grieve and process all of this horrible situation.
And if he wants to retire, that's... It's his
prerogative. Yeah. He's made so much money, and
AJ doesn't seem like one of those guys who blows
it all. Like, I don't think he needs to fight
anymore. especially after that jake paul payday
which yeah between the two of them that's a massive
massive check to cash yeah i just if aj doesn't
want to fight anymore i don't see any reason
why people should expect them to tyson fury has
he's officially unretired um as we expected The,
like, eighth time. His comeback opponents are
possibly Efe Ajagba, Tony Yoka, and Arslanbek
Makhmudov. With Makhmudov being the likely frontrunner.
I mean, out of those three, he's the one that
I would want to see the most, but I don't really
give a shit about Tyson Fury. Yeah, I don't really
either. I would have been perfectly happy for
him to stay retired. If he's not fighting AJ
and that's not going to happen anytime soon,
I don't give a shit. Richardson Hitchens has
his mandatory called versus Lindolfo Delgado.
So that's fun. was trying to get somebody to
step aside and they wouldn't. Or something. Yeah,
I remember what you're talking about. What weight
class is Liam Parrow? 140. No, Liam Parrow moved
up. He's 147 now. It's Lewis Crocker wanted to
have a voluntary and they said no. So he's fighting
Liam Pero. Yep. Frank Sanchez versus Richard
Torres are going to... Well, their purse bid
is delayed. This is an IBF eliminator. I'm...
I don't watch that many heavyweights, but I'm
kind of interested to see that one. Because I
like Richard Torres' personality. He's been in
Japan recently, just on vacation. And his Instagram
has been really fun. He's doing like a whole
Japan tour. And he was super excited about it.
He's like, I came here for the Olympics, but
I didn't get to do anything. So he's just touristing
right now. Didn't get to do anything. I don't
know about that. Because from what I hear about
Olympic Village. Where the athletes stay, it's
just a giant mess of people doing stuff. I should
have worded it differently. He didn't get to
see very much of Japan. Oh, he got to do plenty.
Yeah, Olympic Village sounds like fucking...
Which was the goddess in Egypt? Anyways. I know
what you mean. Yeah. But yeah, there we go. That's
all the news. We got to keep rolling because
we still got our 2025 picks to do. Going to skip
the notes for now. So recapping. Wednesday, December
31st. Shisei Promotions at the Ota City Gym.
There is. There are quite a few fights on here.
And. The only one I really care about. Kazuto
Ioka. Gets a stoppage in four. Over Michael Ordosquady.
Ordosquady? I have no idea. I don't either. It's
a really weird name. For a Venezuelan. I think.
But. Yeah I. I went out for New Year's and I
didn't get to the bar in time to see this. I
was too busy having fun. So I saw the replay
of just the stoppage. He didn't ice him or anything,
but I mean, Ioka doesn't really do that anymore.
I'm just glad he won. I'm excited to see him
and Takuma. Because that's supposed to be the
next fight. Not a bad defense for Takuma. Not
a bad defense. Ioka's getting old. One of these
days he's going to show up and he's just going
to be old. And I'm a little worried it might
be that Takuma fight. But if it's not, it should
be fun. Because Ioka does pressure and have enough
power. He might be able to... pull off the upset
like Tsutsumi did. Takuma did struggle with the
pressure against Tsutsumi. Yeah, but I mean,
Ioka doesn't have that same output either. Honestly,
Ioka's gonna be a big underdog, and he should
be, but I'm still excited to see it. And Saturday,
January 3rd, MVP In Puerto Rico. Oh man, this
card had a lot of fights on it. Don't really
care about too many of them, to be honest with
you. Ebony Bridges got beaten by Alexis Ariza.
That was kind of a surprise, right? It was. It
was a shock. So that was cool. Jonathan Gonzalez
beats the MVP fighter, Jankel Rivera. So that's
fun. Fucking Holly Holm gets beat on the cards.
Stephanie Hahn suffered a... It didn't look like
it was that bad of a cut, just in my opinion.
Yeah, she also... Kinda afterwards, I was a little
surprised they stopped it. Yeah, it didn't look
that bad. So they went to the cards, and there's
a UD for Stephanie Hahn. Retains her WBA title.
I wonder a little bit if that wasn't them trying
to save Holly Holmes some damage. Holly Holmes
definitely looked her age, unfortunately. Yeah.
That was pretty rough. Yeah, I don't know how
to say it. But it didn't look like that was going
to go any other way. Maybe they used the cut
as an excuse. I think you're right. I could see
that happening. I don't particularly have a problem
with that. Like, home was getting her ass kicked.
And Amanda Serrano beats Reina Tellez. I think
they did 12 by 3. If I'm not mistaken. Yeah,
I didn't watch this whole fight either. I know
Taya's was a bit of a late replacement. Like,
she only had two weeks or whatever. And she missed
weight by a bit. I think half a pound. For short
notice, though, that's not terrible. Yeah, I...
For short notice, I can... How do you put it?
I can overlook that. It was pretty clear she
tried to make weight. But Serrano was really
looking for the knockout. I think somebody said...
Somebody was talking about she's one away from
the knockout record for women or something. That's
cool. And so she's really trying to get that...
She wants two more knockouts so she has the record.
She beats it. Yeah. But I don't know if it's
going to happen. Especially not if she does these
three minute rounds. I know she's been pushing
for it forever. And everybody always says it's
going to lead to more knockouts in women's boxing.
And it might. But Serrano really still only fights
for the first minute and a half. Or not the first,
but, like, she has to pick a minute and a half
in a round to really sprint. Right. I see what
you mean. Yeah. And I don't think it's a conditioning
thing. I think it's more of a mental, like...
Strategy? Or her strategy? It's the way she's
fought her entire career. Right? I really think
it's hard to switch. Everybody is like, well,
it's just, you know, fight for a minute longer.
But I don't think it's that simple. I really
think they need to change it in the amateurs
before they change it in the pros. Yeah. Not
a whole lot more to say on this card. Not the
best kickoff of the year. I mean, it's not the
worst. No, but it wasn't terrible, I guess. Also,
how often do you really get fights in the first
week of January? I remember Luis Ortiz had, I
think he fought Charles Martin on January 1st
a few years ago. Honestly, I think January 1st
would be a good day for hungover watching of
boxing at home. Yeah. But moving on to the fucking
previews. It's a light weekend. Friday, January
16th. Got two cards. No limit in Australia. If
you find a way to watch this, let me know. But
this one's in Boondall in Queensland. That's
fun. Let me see here. Only two I know, Liam Paro
versus Patty Donovan in the co -main, and Nikita
Zu fighting Michael Zaroffa in the main. Which
one is Zaroffa? Oh, I've seen him before. Yeah,
I mean, these Aussie cards are usually really
one -sided. I don't know. I never get too excited
for them. Paro versus Patty Donovan might be
pretty fun, though. Yeah, that should be okay.
I kinda imagine Paro just boxing him. He should
just box him. Like, stay on the outside, but...
Oof, and Goldenboy at the Acreshore Arena in
Palm Desert, California. I don't recognize a
lot of these names. It's an all golden boy fucking
prospect extravaganza. Which sometimes are really
fun. Yes, they can be. Sometimes they are not.
Let me see. Ruslan Abdullayev, I guess, is I
think supposed to be an amateur standout. Alexis
Rocha versus Raul Cariel rematch is the main
event. That should be fun, right? I think. Yeah,
I think it'll be okay. Not a whole lot else going
on, so. It might be a good weekend to go touch
grass. Yes, I would say so. I'm just going to
double check, make sure I didn't miss anything
on the 17th. No. I didn't miss anything. I really
don't remember there ever being boxing in the
first half of January. Like, this is more than
we usually get. I swear. Yeah, I think you're
right. But yeah, that's it for the previews.
Alright. So I'll put in some notes here. And
then we can get into our picks for the 2025.
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2025. What a year. Yeah, it's actually been a
great year for boxing. Yes. um so starting off
stoppage of the year do you have one do you have
a okay i i have my tiny little list i couldn't
find a real piece of paper i know i am missing
some obvious mentions for the last half of the
year but last night my potato brain was potatoing
so the only one i have for like My mid -year
pick was Norman versus Jin Sasaki. And I wanted
to try and think of ones that might have beat
it. And all I could come up with was Cardenas.
His last fight against Ayala. That was a pretty
good knockout. But I think Norman still wins
for the year. Yeah, my mid -year pick was Norman
Sasaki as well. For the second half of the year,
I was torn between Ennis versus Uesma Lima. Okay,
that's one that I should have thought of, yeah.
And Usyk KOing Dubois in the rematch. I didn't
think the Usyk one was flashy enough for stoppage
of the year for me. And I wasn't able to decide
which one was the final pick. It's not Ennis
and Lima. Just because that doesn't have as much
gravity to it. Fuck it. Norman Sasaki. I just
think it's KO of the year. Yeah. There were some
other really good ones, but that one was just...
He hit him so perfectly. Slumped him. Absolutely
slumped him. Another honorable mention, who did
Opataya knock out recently? Kinkara? Yeah. That
was a pretty bad knockout. It was a nice knockout,
but... Opataya needs to be fighting better people.
Exactly. I don't want to give him knockout of
the year for knocking over cans. That's why I
didn't pick Ennis Lima for the final. Yeah. All
right. Masterclass of the year. For the first
half, I had Benavidez beating Morel. The second
half was Bud over Canelo. And the final was Bud
Canelo for the... There was a lot more at stake
for that one. Yeah. Yeah, I had kind of three
second half ones. I thought Inoue really masterclassed
MJ. Yeah, that's a good one. He just outboxed
him the entire 12 rounds. Bam just beat the shit
out of Puma. That was a really good performance,
I thought. I expected Puma to put up a fight,
and he just couldn't. He tried, he just couldn't.
But I agree, but Bud beating Canelo is the masterclass
of the year. I don't think there's much debate
on that one. Do you have a villain? Yes, and
I think there's no fucking debate on this one.
It's Tank. Hank is villain of the year. He has
to be. Like, the two, well, the fucking crash
out about his son playing with dolls or wearing
pink or whatever the fuck it was. The whole thing
with the waitress at the strip club. The fucking
taking a knee and getting it covered up, the
refusing the rematch, the taking a fucking Jake
Paul fight instead of the rematch, like, it's
all just villainous, villainous behavior. Tank
is my villain of the year. Yeah, I have him as
my first half. For the second half, I picked
Howard Foster for his, the goddamn stoppage.
Yeah. But the... I thought about Howard Foster,
but Tank is just... Tank is the final pick, for
sure. Without question. I mean, another honorable
mention to Zufa boxing and the whole changing
the Ali Act and all that bullshit. Yes. That's
pretty villainous, too. To get Congress involved
is very villainous. Killing legislators in the
picture. Yeah. But individual, who is the villain?
It's Tank. Definitely. Prospect or new face of
the year. My first half was Terra Moana. Second
half, Tomoya Suboi. That's a good one. I landed
on Terra Moana for the final pick. Another year
of four knockouts. So, staying busy. I kind of
struggled with this one. I think I had Lover
for the first half. Kenneth Lover. Yeah, I was
really struggling. I like Suboy, but I think
I mentioned him last year, maybe. I don't remember.
Yeah. I kind of wanted to put Cardenas, because
I didn't know who the fuck Cardenas was until
this year. But he's not a prospect. He's just...
He really kind of burst onto the scene with the
Inouye performance. Yeah, that's where a lot
of people first heard who he was. Yeah. But I'm
going to stick with Kenneth Lover. I really like
him. I think he's going to be really good. If
the fucking Kamedas don't ruin his career somehow.
All right. Fighter of the Year. In the first
half, I had two picks. Brian Norman and Abdullah
Mason. The Brian Norman one aged like milk. Yeah.
In the second half, I had Inouye and Bam. And
ultimately, I landed with Bam being my pick for
Fighter of the Year. I think first half I had
Seiya Tsutsumi just because I can, mostly. Now
that the year is almost over, I had kind of three
I was thinking of. Inoue and Bam, same as you.
But Oscar Collazo has had a really good year
as well in the minimum weight category. Yeah,
he has. Which I know nobody watches but me. But
he had a couple really good fights this year.
But I also ended up with Bam. Bam's just running
shit at his weight class. He had the two fights
that I thought were going to be like, oh, we'll
see. Like, if Bam really is as good as we think
he is. Well, I knew he was legit, but is he as
good as we think he is? And he made Caffu and
Puma look like trash, and they are not. Like,
those are two good fighters, and he just made
them look stupid. So, I think you gotta give
it to Bam. I landed, yeah, I landed about the
same. Obviously. Moving to ass -whooping of the
year. In the first half, I had Boots beating
Stanionis. In the second half, I had Usyk Dubois
2 and Bam beating Puma. And landed final pick
Usyk Dubois. This is one I was struggling to
remember just in general. So my pick from the
first half was Espinoza over Vasquez. I thought
that was an ass whooping and a half. The only
one I could come up with, and it's definitely
recency bias, Ola Squaga just beat the shit out
of Kuwahara a couple weeks ago. That was on that
December card I went to. Yeah. And it was just
like... It only lasted, I think, four rounds,
but he just beat the piss out of the poor guy.
And you could hear them so loudly in the arena.
And he did it dressed as a Grinch, which I thought
was pretty funny. But I think Espinoza still
was a longer ass whooping. So I'm going to stick
with my first half pick. All right. Comeback
of the year. Do you have one for career or mid
-fight? Both if you got them. This is the one
where mine aged so poorly because my first half
pick was David Allen. I wanted to believe. I
kind of struggled with this one and I had to
land on Devin Haney. I was surprised how good
he looked in his last fight. Especially, like...
So he got his ass kicked by Ryan Garcia. That
was last year, right? Or, like, the year before,
2024. And then he looked so scared and timid
against Ramirez. Yes, he did. And so then to
come out and win the way he did... Who did he
fight? I can't think of the name. Brian Norman?
Yeah, thank you. Fuck. To come out and beat Brian
Norman the way he did, that was a career turnaround,
I think. I had been kind of writing Devin Haney
off as mentally not with it anymore after the
Ryan and Ramirez performances. So Devin Haney
is your final? Yeah. Oh, shit. In the first half,
I had Jesus Ramos. He had two stoppages to start
the year. That was coming off of the Erickson
-Lubin robbery. And in the second half, I had
Jack Catterall. Interesting. He came in nicely
with a new Bozianis. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He came
in like a Philly fighter. It was fucking phenomenal
to watch. Final pick for the career resurgence
was Jesus Ramos, for sure. Because he only had
one fight in the second half, but still, it was...
He still had a good outing. Yeah. And in fight
comeback, Fabio Wardley versus Justice Hooney.
Oh, yeah. I should have remembered that one.
That was 100 % the in -fight comeback of the
year. Definitely. No question. For Upset, in
the first half, I had Lamont Roach beating Tank.
I don't care what the hell the cards say. In
the second half, I had Abbas Barou beating Ioannis
Teyes. Okay, yeah. It was pretty funny. That's
a big upset. This no -name German shows up and
beats the home fighter. This no -name German
just harassed the hell out of him? Yep. But the
final roach -beating tank, that was... Yeah.
So, my first half one was Roly beating Ryan,
just because I love it. And nobody was really
expecting it. Second half, the Kameda beating
Casamero, one, I love it. Fucking hilarious.
Two, I was so sure that they had put their cousin
up against Casamero so they could rob him. Rob
the cousin. I thought that was the setup. So
I was surprised. And then, this is a bit of a
reach, but Ben beating Eubank in the rematch.
I thought was a pretty big upset. But beating
him the way he did, I guess. Yeah, I can see
that. But yeah, my pick for the year is still
Rolly beating Ryan. Oh, hero of the year. I am.
So this is out of ring stuff. Yes. I decided
Yudai Shigeoka is my hero of the year. So he's
Jinjiro's brother. He retired from boxing and
opened up his cafe so he could take care of his
brother after he suffered the brain damage in
his fight. I just think that's really wholesome.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So he's my hero of the
year. Oh, man, mine sucks by comparison. So in
the first half, I had Al Heyman for the Taking
Care of Pritchard cologne. Turns out that came
out just at the end of 2024. So it doesn't count.
Still very cool of him to do that. I mean, he
can still be the hero because I think he's still
paying for it. Yeah, I suppose. Why mine sucks?
Because I picked Terrence Crawford for not. holding
up the belts not holding up the the boxing world
and just retiring and saying no i'm done yeah
dropping the belts yep and yeah that's not a
bad pick letting everybody have their have their
glory yeah oh fight of the year what do you got
okay uh So my first half was Eubank -Ben won.
But second half, man, there were so many good
fights recently. Yes. Like, so many good fights.
I forgot to write it down, but I just thought
of it. Mbili... Martinez? Martinez. Thank you.
I was going to say the wrong Spanish last name.
Mbili Martinez. I had, honestly, Nakatani Hernandez
was a fucking banger. And that same night, one
that probably none of the listeners watched was
Yabuki Alvarado. Yabuki versus Alvarado. That
was a banger, too. But, I mean, I think I have
to land on Mbili Martinez. Yeah, that was just,
that was... Just all -out action the entire time.
And I want to see that rematch. I really do.
My first half, I had Bivo better be of two. In
the second half, I had Martinez and Beely like
you did. I also had Superreal Matias versus Alberto
Pueyo. Oh yeah, that was also a banger. There
were so many good fights this year. I kept Beevil
Better Beev as my final pick just because it
was an undisputed fight, so it has some gravity.
I think that's a poor choice. Yeah, I didn't
arrive at that conclusion easily. But that's
all we got. That's all the picks. What event
stood out to you? Well, so mine is basically
just nostalgia. But me and my brother went to
the fights in February there. And that's when
Tsutsumi beat Takuma in a way. Or no, that's
not that one. I went to so many fights. I actually
can't remember which ones were on which card.
That was the Daigo Higa fight, wasn't it? Yeah.
That card is my favorite because I went with
my brother. It was his first time at the boxing.
The fights were fucking awesome. That was when...
Tenshin fought Maloney. Seiya Sutsumi fought
Higa. And then Nakatani knocked out Contreras.
That's a nice card. Yeah, I got to watch it all
with my brother. My event was Eubank Ben 2, just
because I was there. Got to experience British
fucking boxing culture. Got to sing Sweet Caroline?
I did. Got to get four beers at once. Did they
give you the little holders there? They did give
me the holders. It was fucking glorious. So the
events I went to, they don't always do this,
but that one did have the beer girls with the
little keg backpacks walking around. So my brother
thought that was the fucking greatest thing ever.
I can see why. I would enjoy that too. But yeah,
that's it for the year 2025. Holy shit. It was
a good year. It was. Brian Norman with a huge
stoppage only to fucking flop in the second half.
yeah still stoppage of the year though yeah for
sure ah well now that we're wrapping up fucking
do we have do you have parting words you have
anything left um honestly no i am so fucking
tired all right That's it. 2026 has started terribly
and it could only get better. That's my parting
words. I really truly believe by next December
the world will either be over or things will
be better. The world will be over? Yeah. I wouldn't
be surprised if somebody fucking nukes somebody
this year. Parting words. Yeah, I think I would
echo yours. It's only been a few weeks in 2026.
It's only been a week and a half and everything
sucks. Well, the boxing will be good at least.
Yeah, I am super excited. Some of the fights
that have already been announced are going to
be great. And Inoue Nakatani has to happen in
May because that's the only reason I stayed in
Japan. Well, we'll leave it there. That's it
for this edition of Boxing Before Dark. Fucking
haven't said it in a minute. My battery's getting
low. And it is getting dark. Peace.