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. All right. Okay. Let's
fucking. I am dialed in. Boxing before dark,
we fucking got the fights. Holy shit, Shinara,
how you doing out there in Japan? Had a long
night. I'm a little rough this morning, not gonna
lie. Fighting for your life? Nah, nah, it's not
that bad. Maybe threw up before the podcast,
but it's all good. Maybe. Man. So, the Ali Revival
Act has cleared committee for people who forgot
their civics lessons. Bills or amendments to
bills like this start off in committee, then
they get voted out of committee, and then they
go to the floor for a vote. This cleared committee.
It passed 30 votes to 4. And, yeah, so now it
goes to the Speaker of the House to determine
if it's going to be heard for a vote in the House.
If it passes there, then it goes to the Senate
committee, the equivalent committee in the Senate,
and same process there. Right. So, some changes
were made to... the Muhammad Ali American Boxing
Revival Act. The fighter pay has been increased.
The minimum pay per round is now $200 a round.
Which still seems crazy low to me. Up from $150.
Small victories, I guess. The minimum insurance
coverage... was doubled from 25 ,000 to 50 ,000.
This seems really good, but I've heard a lot
of the boxing podcasts with actual fighters discussing
how this will kill club shows entirely. I've
been hearing the same thing. Yeah, that it's
going to reduce any of the kind of grassroots,
lower -level competition. Um, I mean, minimum
pays and minimum insurance coverage is a good
thing. I'm not saying it's not, but this definitely
feels like a way to reduce the competition for
prospects. Yeah. So if you don't get signed by
a major organization, you pretty much don't get
to compete. Exactly. Yeah. And like, so they
get to pick who they want. and everyone else
is just fucked, basically. So, I don't know.
These are, on paper, really good things, but
maybe they're not as good as they appear when
you first think about them. But that being said,
fighters should have insurance. Fighters should
get paid. Like, 100%. I'm not... I don't know.
I'm conflicted about these two. The sunset clause
for all fighter contracts set to six years. Yeah.
Of course, fighters are able to re -sign, but
there is a designated grace period where they
can check with other promoters, see what they're
offering. That one I see no downside to. I think
that one's just across the board not bad. And
I also heard something about they have to offer
a fight every six months. Yes. So people can't
get just completely sidelined if your promoter
doesn't like you, which is also a good thing,
I think. If they don't get a fight every six
months, they get 10 times the minimum per round.
So like 2000 a month until they get there. Next
fight. Nice. That one, I think, is just across
the board positive. And I kind of hope it gets
people to fight more often. Because a lot of
dudes fight once a year right now. And barring
injury or anything crazy, I think most fighters
could handle two fights a year. I think that's
very reasonable. Yeah, twice a year kind of became
the gold standard. like throughout the aughts
and the early 2000 the teens yeah and fighting
more like of course there's the jokes that like
Armstrong fought fucking like five times a year
yeah but lots of those fights were kind of basically
sparring matches in front of people yeah But
two good fights a year is not a bad schedule.
Yeah. The elimination of secondary titles. Only
one belt per division. I kind of like that. I
mean, the silvers, the interims, the whatever.
It's confusing as fuck. like i've been so confused
sometimes when we're talking on this podcast
i'm like but he's the champion and then nah he's
the silver champ but then there's the super champ
or whatever the fuck it is yeah they're confusing
as hell yeah i i agree with this one um as well
like they're the only it was an interesting question
that somebody else had posed was how does this
affect like regional titles Because even if it's
just like Continental Americas, you're still
designated the champion of Continental Americas.
True. I hadn't really considered that until you
said that just now. But the regional belts are
important. Exactly. They're stepping stones.
The Oriental Pacific ones are really an important
step here in Japan. and uh i think the the british
title or whatever it is british that's also yeah
that's also a really like important milestone
for fighters to hit i hadn't thought about that
i hope they don't get rid of the regional belts
i hope this only is like in regards to world
titles right like ebu is that's important for
the european scene opbf like you mentioned Yeah,
I don't want to see those go away. I'm curious
how this is going to play out. Yeah, yeah. I
think they need to keep those stepping stone
belts. And I don't think that confuses anyone
because the casuals have never heard of them.
And it's very clear it's not the same as a world
title. Right. Anybody who has one doesn't parade
it. The only person I've ever seen parade a regional
title is Montana Love. Yeah. Otherwise, nobody.
Nobody holds that up like they're the king of
the world. I don't know how the sanctioning...
Oh, Jesus Christ. Sanctioning fees. affect those
either like nobody is really defending those
for very long usually i mean some guys do and
that's that's fine that's good but i mean like
the really big guys it's a stepping stone yeah
sanctioning fees is uh how is that gonna how
is this limitation how is that going to like
it's none of the other than ibf The traditional
sanctioning bodies are not housed in the U .S.
They're based out of Mexico, Puerto Rico, so
I guess that one kind of counts. That's WBO.
And then WBA is in Panama. For what it's worth,
IBF and WBO are actually really good about not
putting out interim champs or having more than
one title per division. But, like, WBC is...
They go crazy with that shit. Yeah, and it legitimately
confuses me sometimes. Like, you're watching
the fight and suddenly there's a belt. And I'm
like, this wasn't a world title fight. Like,
what is happening? Because they do the silvers
and the supers and the interims and the... Franchise
and diamond. Yeah. It gets confusing. Yeah. I...
i'm all for there being one world title for each
sanctioning body like and i i don't see a downside
to that but if they're not getting their money
from all these subs sub belts are they gonna
start taking higher percentages to pay their
sanctioning whatever i actually don't know what
the the sanctioning money goes for a whole bunch
I assume it's for the drug testing and lining
a lot of pockets, mostly. That's what I expect
it's used for as well, lining pockets. I think
in order to maintain a ranking, you have to pay
a sanctioning fee for your fights. I don't know,
so maybe there'll be that. Right, yeah. That's
also kind of corrupt as hell, but... It is what
it is. Yeah, you should just be ranked for being
good. Yeah, yeah. Like, I do know that the sanctioning
bodies have expenses. They need some income,
but I think they milk fighters for a lot more
than they actually need. Yeah, I agree. Interesting
that you had mentioned the sanctioning bodies
and drug testing. One of the other... amendments
to the Revival Act is randomized drug testing
for both fighters competing in a title fight
and a randomized half of all fights on the card.
So you don't know which of the two fighters is
going to be picked. But every fight has at least
one fighter being tested. I see no downside to
this either. Something Bally brought up was cost.
It is expensive. Yeah. Well, and how much testing
are they doing is the other question. Whatever
the World Anti -Doping Agency standard is. Yeah,
that's expensive. Yes, it is. Yeah. If they randomized
and just also randomized what drugs they were
testing for, they could cut the cost down quite
a bit, I think. But. Yeah. So is this. This is
every card. Has half the fighters. Yes. Another
way to get rid of the grassroots stuff. Yes exactly.
Like those club shows. They don't have the money
for this. It might be possible. If it could be
worked out through the State Athletic Commission?
Yeah, I kind of feel that they're not going to
try and make it so that the club shows can survive.
Yeah, I think you're right. That's probably the
point. This is meant to reduce competition. Yes,
it solidifies the major players as they are.
Yeah. and obviously Zufa has a lot of money behind
them so yeah again like on the surface first
pass super good idea but yeah it's it's really
gonna start hurting people I think and like pro
box is not that grassroots but it's pretty grassroots
and I don't know if pro box can even afford this
shit Pro box is probably going to leave YouTube
and you're going to have to pay a monthly fee
to watch pro box so they can pay for drug testing
and shit. And that makes me sad. It is. It would
make me sad as well. I also would not feel too,
I wouldn't, I would be okay with supporting pro
box financially. I would too, but like me and
you have enough money that that's feasible. Right?
Yeah, you're right. Like, neither one of us is
choosing pro box or groceries like yeah that's
true damn i mean pro box on youtube for free
for everyone is fucking great for boxing in my
opinion and if they have to get rid of that it's
it's gonna make me sad because anyone that i
talk to on the internet or in real life I push
pro box so hard and I don't feel bad about it
at all because it's free. It's free on YouTube.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, but yeah, that's, those are the
changes to the fucking revival act. Um, and again,
all surface sounds great, but when you stop and
think about it, it's kind of like, this is, this
is going to hurt some stuff. And. If you have
those minimums for the fighters and stuff, that's
great. I'm not saying it's not, but some fighters
who can't get in with the big guys are just not
going to get in at all now. Yeah, because this
isn't going to hurt PBC or Zufa, like I said.
No, like... top ranks gonna be well pop ranks
kind of fucked anyways but matchroom and queensbury
that it's not for those guys like yeah it's eye
of the tiger like i bet you those guys are kind
of well it's all drug money anyways but those
guys are borderline scraping by That's Canada,
so I guess this doesn't affect them, though.
My regional, I can think of two regional promotions
off the top of my head that would struggle for
this. I expect Ironboy probably not going to
be in operation much longer with these kinds
of minimums set up. Del Sol, definitely less.
They'll be out of business faster than Ironboy
would be. Yeah. I don't know. I'm a little torn
about all of it. But I really don't like the,
whatever they call them, unified boxing commissions.
That whole system just seems ripe for fucking
people over. Yeah, it's exactly what UFC is.
And there's more than one case. Plenty of examples
of fighters speaking out about shitty pay, shitty
treatment. And this is to make UBOs exist like
UFC. That's really what the point is. Yeah, and
I think that's terrible. And that's the whole
reason that the Ali Act was passed in the first
place, was to stop that. Yeah. But this, like
I had outlined, it still has quite a bit of ways
to go. Still plenty of hurdles that it has to
clear. It is getting some pushback as well. Yes.
Like I mentioned the first time we talked about
it, Ilhan Omar and the newest rep out of Arizona,
her name is Adelita Grijalva. Those two women
fucking spoke up. And I really appreciate it.
Yeah. And they make some really good points.
Like, they're really well informed about why
some of these things are a bad idea. Yeah. Bad
ideas. Gervonta Davis is on the run. This whole
saga is fucking ridiculous. At least the WBA
did the right thing. Stripped him of his title.
But they didn't. They put them in recess. Or
did they finally strip them? Okay, good. Yeah,
legit. And nobody knows where Tank is. This is
legitimately fucking funny. This is a wild fucking
ride. The villain of the year is looking better
and better. He might be the villain of 2026 as
well. yeah he might be fucking ridiculous like
man just turn yourself in or disappear completely
like those are your two options i'm sure oh well
i was gonna say his uh google search is probably
like non -extradition countries but he's going
to argentina yeah but i don't think he has the
wherewithal to look that up He's not very book
smart. Better be learning Spanish. Deontay Wilder
is looking to fight Derek Chisora. It's looking
like it's going to happen in April. Okay, how
do you feel about this? Because I, honest to
God, think Chisora beats him. I would... I'm
inclined to agree. I do think Chizora probably...
The way somebody put it a long time ago that
made me just nearly piss myself laughing was
Derek Chizora has more experience being washed.
It's true, though. It is true. He knows how to
get by being the B -side. Chizora understands
exactly what he can do, and he doesn't try to
be what he was. Chizora uses his abilities the
best way they can be used at this point in time.
And I don't think Wilder does. Yeah, I don't
think he does either. I'm still going to be cheering
for my man Deontay, but I don't like your odds.
I just think this is a fuck -up by Wilder. He
should have just took the Usyk Payday and gotten
his ass kicked. Because he's going to get his
ass kicked by Chizora. Which is going to take
a lot longer and hurt a lot more. And he's going
to fumble the bag. He's not getting that Usyk
Payday after Chizora chins him. And the other
rumor is... Well, the Wilder Chizora, that's
not a rumor. That is moving ahead. It looks like
the Sauerland Brothers. Wasserman boxing. Looks
like they're going to be promoting it. Usyk might
be fighting Andy Ruiz as well. Imagine. It's
not going to happen, but imagine Ruiz pulls off
the fucking crazy upset a second time. Imagine
that Andy Ruiz locks in and somehow wins it.
Then it becomes Ruiz versus Chisora. As the winners
of the brackets. That's the worst timeline ever.
Yeah. Agreed. Speaking of worst timelines, Jai
Opataya signs with Zufa. Yeah. I'm disappointed
in Opataya. I watched the Probox podcasting boxing
scene or whatever it is. Pauly Molinaggi was
in Australia for that last card. The fucking
atrocity that it was. And he said he was talking
to people there and Opataya's getting fucked
always. He fights for peanuts, apparently. Oh,
shit. Like, they don't pay him shit. Tasman fighters.
Zufa probably was like... a pay jump and a half,
and they're still getting them at a discount.
Good gracious. According to Pauly Malinagy, like,
this is all secondhand bullshit, but the reason
they stole, not stole, but the reason that they
targeted Obataya, according to him, is that he
fights for way less money than he should. And
also, like, cruiserweights kind of shit. Yeah,
who cares? Yeah. So, like, I guess they could
run Cruiserweight if they wanted to. But that
kind of goes against their branding, because
Zufa's, like, the original eight weight class
is only yada yada yada, but then they signed
the Cruiserweight champ, and when was Cruiserweight
created? Like, the 80s? 90s? It's not very long
ago. Yeah, it's like 40, 45 years ago? Something
like that? Yeah. In the grand scheme of boxing,
that's fucking nothing. Right. And further to
this, it has been, it was made very apparent,
or very clear, that Obatai is going to be allowed
to defend his IBF title. He's going to be allowed
to unify titles with other, with the two other
fucking champs. Yeah, so Zupa's already capitulating
on a bunch of their stuff. Which is not a surprise,
but I think they've realized that they have to
play ball. Boxing isn't like UFC was. At least
to start, they have to play ball. Because if
they could get Obataya to undisputed status,
and it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility,
then once he has that, then they hand him the
Zufa belt. I'd say, look, the undisputed champ
has the Zufa belt. Yeah, the Zufa belt guy is...
I really hope people don't buy into this Zufa
belt bullshit. A fifth fucking belt? No, no thank
you. Yeah. Oh, shit, speaking of no thank you,
Virgil Ortiz says no thank you to Golden Boy.
He is suing for breach of contract and is looking
to end his time as a Golden Boy fighter. That's
a big loss for Golden Boy promotions. Yeah. If
they lose him. Yeah. Part of the suing legalese
stuff is Clapback Thursdays. So they're saying
that... uh oscar de la joya and his clapback
thursdays is a breach of contract because he's
not trying to negotiate with the other promoters
in good faith or something yeah that makes sense
yeah but that's i think it's kind of silly like
it's one of those things they throw a bunch of
shit at the wall and see what sticks right but
um Honestly, Eddie Hearn doesn't give a shit
what Oscar De La Hoya says on Clapback Thursdays.
Yeah, I'm sure he's not even aware. I'm sure
he knows that they happen, but doesn't go look
at them or anything. Yeah, and if he gets mentioned,
he probably checks it out. There's also, because
of Rick Merigian, I think is his name, Ortiz's
manager. And Oscar are beefing because the, I
don't know, it's for the, because of the Ennis
fight, or trying to make the Ennis fight, and
Merigian was trying to negotiate without Oscar
in the room, pretty much. Oh, okay. Yeah, I don't
understand why they're not just making that fight.
It seems like both boxers want it. It doesn't
seem like it would be a hard thing to make happen.
Right. The network is there with the zone. Both
fighters want it. I don't see what the problem
is. Yeah. And the whole 60 -40 or whatever I
also think is kind of stupid. Just 50 -50 it.
They're equally big names. At this point, yeah,
I would say they are. It was a 60 -40 Virgil
Ennis with a 5 % extra for the winner. So 105
% Oscars dealing in big numbers here. Oh, shit.
Oscar Valdez is a promotional free agent. I know
the world has been waiting with bated breath
to hear what he's up to next. Given the way that
Top Rank is going, yeah, this is a good time
to get off the fucking ship. Yeah. Yeah, it does
kind of seem like Top Rank is sinking. I was
trying to believe, because I like Top Rank. I
think they do a good job usually, but... All
good things come to an end, I suppose. So Oscar
Valdez finding somewhere else to be is probably
a good move. Do you think top rank dies with
Bob? I kind of do. I feel like Bob really is
top rank. Yeah, I think so too. That might be
part of the problem is nobody wants to sign a
long -term broadcast deal because Bob's what,
like 90? something 94 i think yeah and like people
don't live forever so nobody wants to sign a
long -term deal with top rank because bob's dying
soon doesn't matter what he wants to do he's
dying soon like people don't live more than 100
years hardly ever well good luck to you oscar
hope you find what you're looking for I like
Oscar Valdez. I'm excited to see him. He seems
like a really good dude. He always does part
of his build -ups to fights. He always does a
lot of charity work. So that's really respectable.
This one, I haven't seen much more information,
but Fernando Vargas Jr. and Amado Vargas were
fighting in a hotel lobby. It was pretty funny.
I thought it was pretty funny. What happened?
Do you know? I didn't hear what it was about
or anything, but I saw the video clips. I assume
it's just brother stuff. Yeah, probably. It's
only a headline because they're kind of famous.
Like, brothers fight. Not a surprise. But it
was... in a hotel lobby in front of lots of people
man when you wouldn't and they're both professional
fighters so like do they square up properly and
kind of like there was a lot of movement and
nobody landed anything crazy yeah well that i
saw but then there was just a scrap between brothers
yeah it's it's only a headline because they're
professional fighters like it it didn't seem
crazy but everybody pulled out their phones and
there's like six different angles of it um hold
on a sec i pulled up an article let me see really
quickly if they have a a reason yeah emiliano
says do i condone my brother's fighting not at
all the ones pointing fingers forget they have
family they couldn't even be in the same room
together that's a direct quote yeah i i don't
think it was anything super scandalous I think
it was just brothers got pissed off with each
other and squared off in a hotel lobby. Yeah,
must have been serious if they're going to brawl
in public. Or maybe not. I mean, it's like, I
got family that I throw hands with over nothing
because they pissed me off. It's just like, I've
never heard of them doing something like this
or even heard rumors of them having problems
with each other. I don't think this is like they're
never going to talk again. I think this was brothers
had a couple extra drinks and gotten an argument
over something. Yeah, that's my thinking as well.
Just brothers. Brothers fight. Speaking of fights,
Callum Smith, David Morrell is for the IBO Interim
175 title. And it's going to purse bid. Nice.
I like Callum Smith. I'm excited to see him again.
He doesn't fight very often anymore. He's at
the tail end of it. Yeah. I like the fight for
Morrell too. This is stepping back up into title
contention. That's good. I have to look at David
Morrell. I'm not sure which one he is. Ah, yeah,
yeah. I know this guy. It should be a fun fight,
actually. I don't know. Callum Smith is definitely
not what he used to be, but he can still put
up a good fight. Speaking of putting up good
fights, Oslis Iglesias has an opponent for the
IBF 168 -pound title. Pavel Silyagin. Who? Exactly.
He's like number seven, I think, in the rankings.
Somewhere in that neighborhood. Is he French?
No, he's Russian. Ah. Yeah, I don't know this
man. I have never seen this man in my life. Yeah,
I haven't either. I expect mostly to run over
him. That's probably what's going to happen.
We'll have to do some tape study just to see
how badly is he going to get beaten. Yeah. It's
not a question of if. Well, unless, I don't know,
the stars align and Pavel gets it done. Well,
that's why I asked if he was French. There's
been a lot of French offsets lately. That's true.
Let's see. The Wood -Warrington rematch card
on February 21st is starting to fill out David
Allen, Ishmael Davis, and Molly McCann. Nice.
Are going to be on it. So that's fun. That is
fun. And Juan Francisco Estrada continues his
campaign at Bantamweight. He will be fighting.
Well, he might be fighting. All signs are looking
good. Tenshin Asakawa in April. I hope Estrada
chins him. I want that more than fucking anything.
And he could. Estrada's washed, but he's not
that washed. Like, Estrada still has... Power's
the last thing to go, right? Exactly. I would
love it so much if he just fucking shut Tenshin
off. Just face down on the canvas. That would
be my fucking Christmas in April. That's it for
the news, though. Fucking let me do some housekeeping
stuff. Social media, LVX Media Net. That's the
handle everywhere. Follow our shit. And wherever
you're listening, hit us with a rating. Helps
us move up the accursed search algorithm. And
if you like Josh's rants and you want them in
written form, LVXmedia .net. go to the Wayside
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Take control of your digital piece at lvx .be
slash mwb. All right. Not a lot to recap, but
what we do have is kind of interesting. It's
kind of garbage. Let me see. No limit. No limit
boxing in the Brisbane Entertainment Center in
Australia. Looking up only two fights I really
care about. Liam Wilson continues his campaign
and he gets a knockout in four over Rodex Piala.
Who names their kid Rodex? Yeah, I had the same
reaction when I saw it. He's from the Philippines.
He got bopped. She was clearly behind. They have
the strangest names. And Nikita Zoo, no contest
with Michael Zaraffa. This was fucking ridiculous.
Yeah, I completely forgot to mention it, but
we'll have Jacob weighing in on this one in a
moment. Yeah, Jacob has some thoughts about Australian
boxing in general. Yeah, thoughts on Liam Wilson,
Nikita Zu, Jai Obataya, No Limit in general.
Yeah. Overall, he says everything way better
than I could. Yeah. I'll wait until we cut to
that. Fucking golden boy in Palm Desert, California.
This was a pretty middling card. Let's see. Ruslan
Abdullaev got a stoppage in five. It looked good
while doing it. Alexis Rocha dropped out of the
card and Jordan Panthen stepped up to the main
event. fought Raul Curiel, Jordan lost a unanimous
decision. Overall, he made good of his opportunity
on the bigger stage. For last -minute replacement,
I thought he did well. Yeah. He was actually
pretty competitive in the first four or five
rounds. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't recommend this
fight. to go find or anything. But I'd never
heard of Jordan Panthen and I thought he took
full advantage of the opportunity he was given.
Yeah. He wears Apollo Creed style shorts. I didn't
notice. That's fun. He wears the same ones every
time. But that's it for the recaps. There will
be more coming, of course. But, upcoming shit.
It is a busy, busy weekend. Let's get into it.
Starting things off really nicely. Friday, January
30th. ProBox TV at the Live Casino and Hotel
in Hanover, Maryland. I know... a few of these
guys by name. The co -main is going to be a banger.
100%. Suleiman Sagawa is fighting Rene Palacios
in a featherweight fight. I don't know who Rene
Palacios is, but he better be prepared for a
large amount of punches. Suleiman Sagawa is a
bit of a machine. He's always fun. Yeah. Other
than Sagawa, I don't really recognize anyone
else that much, but it doesn't really matter
because with Probox, you're getting really evenly
matched fights. Yeah. Probox is always entertaining.
Josh's refrain, Probox good. All right. Yeah.
Saturday. January 31st. These are not in order
of time. They are in order of importance. So,
first off, primetime boxing on DAZN in Kolding,
Denmark. Who the fuck are these people? Yeah.
Dina Thorslund is a name. Yeah, Dina Thorslund
is fighting for the interim WBC featherweight
title. against Lila Furtado. Don't really know
who that is, but Dina, not bad. Not a bad watch.
In the main event, Jacob Bank will be fighting
William Skull. And that's why we're even paying
attention to this card. I mean, I'm more excited
about Dina Thorsland than William Skull. Yeah,
that's probably a good one. Good estimation there.
Moving on. Boxer. This will be on BBC2. How you
watch it outside of the UK. Yes. Come to Discord.
We'll probably hook you up. At the Copper Box
Arena. Adam Azeem is fighting Gustavo Lemos.
That is a 140 pound fight. Also, Francesca Hennessy.
I have not seen Hennessy as a last name. That's
pretty fun. Oh, there used to be this promotion
in the UK. The guy who ran it or owned it or
whatever, his name was Mick Hennessy. Nice. Moving
on. Matchroom on DAZN at the Newcastle Arena.
We have... Just, like, of who really matters,
Josh Padley versus, holy shit, there are way
too many vowels in a row here. Jawad? Jawad,
I think it is. Belmedy? No idea. Four vowels
is too many vowels. Yes, it is. In the main,
Bakram Murtazaliev is defending his IBF. 154
title against Josh Kelly. That one might actually
be like low -key fun, I think. Yes, Josh Kelly
does come to Rumble. And Mortazaliev doesn't
not come to Rumble. Yeah, it should be a good
fight. Of the three, those three cards that we
just... mentioned, those are going to be happening
around midday on the west coast of the US. So,
yeah. Of the three, I would say the Matchroom
card is probably the one worth watching. It's
also the easiest to find. Yes. Probably. William
Skoll will be on DAZN. So that's fun. Is it?
Moving to top rank in Puerto Rico. This one is
going to be on the like Pluto TV, Tubi, Fubo,
all those funky ass names. The free services.
Top rank is going to be on one of those. Pick
your favorite. Not a bad card. Let's see. Juanma
Juanita Lopez is going to be on here fighting
Connor Goad. I think it is. Giovanni Santillan
versus Courtney Pennington. Oh, shit. Giovanni's
moved up to 154. So that's fun. Nice. Rohan Polanco.
He's fighting Christian Gomez. It's a welterweight
fight. Polanco has some pretty good power, so
it should be fun. And in the main event, WBO
champ Xander Zayas versus WBA champ Abbas Baru.
I don't think it's going to happen, but I want
Baru to pull off the upset so badly. I would
very much enjoy. I don't know why I just don't
like Xander Zayas I think it's especially now
that he has gone full grease in his look like
have you noticed he greases his hair he's got
the greasy mustache and the weird Zayas has gone
full just fuckboy in his styling and I am against
it I want Abbas Beru to win so badly Oh, I fear
this is going to be... I think Zaius is going
to be able to handle Beru as much as I would
prefer Beru to win. Because it would be funnier.
Yeah. Full grease. I thought you meant grease
like the movie. Kind of. Yeah, that kind of fits.
Like, the hair has greased the movie, for sure.
But he's also got the just fucking... I like
facial hair, but his is full, like, telenovela
-style facial hair. It's not good. His little
mustache says, yeah, I've been nude on camera.
What of it? Yeah. You want to make a film? But
yeah, that's the top -ranked card. And on the
zone, ring six, Madison Square Garden. This card
is top to bottom pretty damn good. Yeah, this
one's worth the pay -per -view money, I think.
Gerald Miller versus Kingsley Ibe. I don't know
who Ibe is. I don't either. His nickname is the
Black Lion. That's kind of hard. Ziad Almayouf
versus Kevin Castillo. Ziad, he's a Saudi guy.
He's a plant on all of the ring cards. But he's
not bad. Yeah, he's fighting some unknown Ecuadorian?
So his birthplace is Ecuador, his nationality
is Spain, and his residence is Florida on BoxRec.
Wonderful. Man of the world. The vacant WBC featherweight
title, Bruce Carrington versus Carlos Castro.
I know Carlos Castro is up in the rankings for
this. I think he's like number two or three.
I love Castro. I've been following him since
he was on my regional scene. He's local to me,
and he's sorry, buddy. I don't think he should
be in the same ring as Bruce Carrington. Yeah,
he loses every time he steps up. It's unfortunate.
I would love to see Carlos Castro pull the upset
here. It would be way too fucking funny. For
Bruce Carrington to lose. But yeah. I fear that's
not going to happen. I don't see it happening.
Probably not. Keyshawn Davis is moving up to
140. He will be fighting Jermaine Ortiz. Yeah.
Hopefully Keyshawn can avoid bullshit this time.
Yeah. I wonder if they're going to jump. Jermaine
Ortiz afterwards. Yeah. I mean, he should be
able to make weight, hopefully. Yeah, he made
weight in his last fight. He made 140 in his
last fight, so it shouldn't be hard. Carlos Adamas,
DWBC. Middleweight champion versus Austin Williams.
Please tell me he went back to ammo. Yeah, he
is. Well, BoxRec says he is. It's such a better
nickname. Yeah. In the main event, WBO 140 champ
Teofimo Lopez versus Shakur Stevenson. who holds
the title at 135. What's your official prediction
for this one, Leo? My official prediction...
I'm thinking that the prospect of fighting Shakur
Stevenson is going to bring the best out of Teofimo.
I think he's going to show up for this one. The
good version of Teofimo is going to show up for
this one. It's just difficult because Shakur
is a fucking defensive wizard. He really is.
If Zapata couldn't overwhelm him, I really don't
see Teofimo doing it. I would like to see Tio
win, but I agree. I think Shakur is going to
just make Tio look foolish. As he does. And I
do think the best Tio is going to show up and
we will have no excuses to defend him. Yeah,
that would... If he loses with no excuses, then
I think it's better. Because he did his best.
I agree, I just mean, I think this time we'll
get good Tio, we'll show up, and it's just not
going to be enough. Yeah, that's exactly how
I feel about it. Still, clowns like Tio Fimo
I think are good for the sport. To an extent.
To an extent. I don't know, Tio makes me sad.
I just really feel bad for him. I feel like he's
been mistreated by his dad his whole life, and
it's really fucked with him. I really would like
to, if I could have a chance to have a conversation
with him, I would have in my hand a pill and
say, dude, Zoloft, alright? Please take this.
It'll take the edge off, I promise. Yeah. Yeah,
Teal makes me sad. I know he said some horrendous
stuff and things, and I get flack for still cheering
for him, but I don't know. Tio makes me sad,
and I would like to see him do well. Yeah. Yeah,
I'd like for him to do better in his life. In
general. Yeah. Not specifically boxing. I would
just like Tio to do well. Yes. But that's it
for the very busy Saturday. And so we started
off with Probox and we're finishing with fucking
Zufa. Sunday, February 1st at the Meta Apex on
Paramount+. I would highly encourage people to
find an alternative way to watch this. Because
fuck Zufa? Exactly. This card is actually not
bad. Of the three that we have confirmed right
now. So, starting off is Hot Rod Kalachik versus
Oleksandr Vozdik. It's a light heavyweight fight.
Probably going to be 10 rounds, but... That one
has potential to be very fun. Yeah. That could
be a pretty good fight. Vozdik has proved he's
durable. Kalajic is fun. Should be a good time.
Pro box. Pro box good. Serhey Bohachuk versus
Radza Butaev. Bohachuk being on a Zufa card makes
me sad. He's promoted by 360, so... It makes
perfect sense, but it makes me sad. Yeah, I wish
that... Bohochuk went elsewhere instead of ending
up here. Butaev isn't terrible. He cut his teeth
at 147. Moving up to 154 makes sense because
he's been inactive for the past three years.
I think he's fought once in the last three years.
Overall... I think the inactivity is going to
be a problem for Butaev, but not a bad name for
Zufa to pick up. He's a good competitor, good
contender. Ah, shit. Rayo Valenzuela versus Diego
Torres. I like Rayo. I'll have to tune in for
him. Yeah, I don't know who Diego Torres is.
So, yeah. Can't really tell you much. No, I don't
recognize very many of the names on his box rec
either. He lost to Murataya. Looks like the rest
of his fights were all in Mexico. Well, that's
how we round out the weekend. It makes me sad
that Zufa's actually putting on good cards, kind
of. Yeah, this is... These three, that's a decent
offering. Yeah. If it wasn't Zufa, I'd be excited
for it. Yes. But because it's Zufa... Fuck Dana
White. Alternative methods. Alright, let me...
I'm going to cut in the conversation with Jacob
Wright. All right. Holy shit. It's a special
edition of Boxing Before Dark. Joined by Jacob
out of Australia. How goes it? Hello. How's it?
How's it? Pretty good, mate. I think we're just
reeling off the Zarafa versus Zoo event from
last night. So certainly an interesting day.
for the country in boxing with some other pretty
recent news as well. Before we talk about that
stuff, I did want to get your opinion on... It
was an American conference, but it was the National
Combat Sports Summit. And there were some pretty
big changes that the Association of Boxing Commissions
in the U .S., what they put together. One of
the key ones that I liked, The push to eliminate
10 -10 rounds. What do you think? Well, it depends
on if they're going to have an all -back criteria
for how they should judge a round if it is a
10 -10. Because different judges are going to
value different things. You know, you might have
someone who's prioritizing pure aggression in
the round. You might have someone who's just
prioritizing overall cleanliness. If you're going
to eliminate 10 -10 rounds when it's really,
really close, you need to understand what the
judge is going to base it off because I think
right now there's a lot of contentiousness about,
you know, what does a 10 -9 round actually look
like? Because to be honest, most people don't
even agree on that at the moment, right? Like,
there's a lot of people where, even in a fight
where, in my opinion, I thought it was so obvious,
like Canelo versus Crawford, but that was just...
In my opinion, at the very end, that was just
a beatdown. That was just pure class and quality.
People were still arguing that Canelo was the
aggressor there. So I think if they go ahead
with that, I'd like to see some clarity about
what they're going to define as the main factors
in a 10 -9 round going forward. Because there's
a lot of lacking of clarity there. Like in some
areas, you know exactly what they're looking
for, right? Like if we're in the amateurs, especially
certain countries, judges will value certain
things more than others. So if they do set that
forward, I want to see if they have any more
that they want to say on what the judges will
be instructed to do in the event that they do
believe there is a 10 -10 route. And another
one, this one I did not care for quite as much.
The Association of Boxing Commissions wants...
the judges to more liberally award 10 -8 rounds
in cases when a fighter decisively wins a round?
Yeah. This one needs a lot more clarification,
I think. Oh, absolutely. Because what do you,
like... What does decisively wins a round? What
does that even mean? Well, yeah, what's the threshold?
Because otherwise, something like, in my opinion,
Hitchens vs. Kambosos would have been... 10 -8
in nearly every round, you know? Like, there's
a lot of fights that are like that, where a guy
just clearly looks like they're in a class above,
but it also raises the question of, are they
going to devalue knockdowns in other areas of
the sport as well? Which, if they go in that
direction, I actually won't be overly opposed
to it, in terms of preserving the future of the
sport, but I think it's one of those things where
it's like, who's making the call to do that?
That's going to take a lot of trial and error.
I think that is just super ripe for corruption.
Yeah, exactly. I don't like the more 10 -8 rounds.
I think even if they're giving more, they need
to be pretty sparse with them. They need to be
earned. Because when I heard that, my first thought
was, okay, so... What happens, because we went
back to the criteria where things were, you know,
different people looking at things differently.
If a guy is like, take a pitbull cruise type
fighter, for example, you know, constantly pressuring,
pushing up against the ropes, trying to cut the
ring off. If you have someone who values aggression
more than cleanliness and they go in the direction
of seeing something like that is what makes up
a 10 -8 round. And then you get to the end of
the round and then you realize, oh, we actually
didn't land that many punches. How are those
sorts of discrepancies going to be addressed?
Because, you know, if we can't, like I said,
if we can't agree most of the time on what a
10 -9 round is, because there's a lot of people
who, you know, will be in boxing and they go,
oh, yeah, they just want cleanliness of work.
Other people are going to go, oh, but what about
the aggression? What about bringing the fight
to them, pushing forward? If you then sort of
up the ante on that, I think that is a good point
for corruption. Because let's say you get to
the championship rounds of the fight, right?
Look at something like B -Ball vs. Better BF.
That last, you know, 9 to 12 stretch of rounds.
That 10 -8 could absolutely change everything.
And I like the idea of one good round being able
to change the fight, but I also don't because
it's going to be so subjective. Like, at what
point... does a 10 -8 round become just as good
or even better than knocking someone down? Because
I think there's some examples where it makes
sense to me. Like, for example, some of those
rounds in that Stevenson versus a Theta fight,
I thought I would understand. Because even though
it wasn't knocking him out, he's completely outclassing
him. But if it's anything less than that and
he gets given a 10 -8, that is going to be a
complete disaster. I want to see them add something
about, like, one fighter being hurt like if you
really really buzz somebody and outbox them that
round i can see it being a 10 -8 like if they're
wobbly but don't go down but generally i don't
think many rounds are 10 -8s no not at all yeah
it's and if any of them are they're all later
rounds in the fights too when there's a complete
difference in their levels of energy and The
problem is that you're asking for those 10 -8
rounds to bring the biggest score discrepancies
when they're most likely to happen at the very
end, which is conversely when they're most likely
to change the result of a fight. Yeah, I don't
like the push for 10 -8s. Not at all. I do like
getting rid of 10 -10 rounds, but I... pointed
this out to Leo before. I don't think that's
a problem in America anyways. I think this was
a very... Britain has a lot of 10 -10s. I think
this was the Americans being like, come on, England,
get your shit together. Like... I can't complain
about that. And the last bit... Jack Reese, the
referee, former referee, was like the head speaker
of the conference. His words, we've got to get
them out of there when they are no longer competitive.
Activity does not mean competitiveness. So they're
talking about pulling the plug a little bit quicker.
I'm very happy to hear that. I'm actually very
happy to hear that because I understand that
it's a sport with the ethos of being a fighter
who doesn't go down at its core but in that same
vein we can't do that forever not when we're
learning each and every day what we are currently
learning about brain health and if we want to
see this sport continue there's going to be regulatory
pressures in that direction and I think The next
concern I would have, though, is what happens
when someone is competitive, but they're not,
they're also not completely healthy when they're
in there. Because I think back to the Shigeyoka
fight, where he, and I think Shan might remember
this, but in my opinion, he looked very competitive
towards the end. Like, he was boxing, he was
boxing really well. But there obviously needed
to be some sort of other ways of checking, because
People can just go through anything with adrenaline.
And I like the idea of getting guys out there
when they're really hurt. You know, there's going
to be a lot of people that complain about early
stoppages, but the people that complain about
them, they're not the people that has to face
the consequences of a late stoppage. Yeah. I
think the kind of most famous two Japanese ones
lately would be Anaguchi and Shigeoka. And honestly,
I don't think this change with quotes around
it would help them anyways. They both looked
competitive. They looked very good. Yeah. But
it's not going to stop everything. No. But I'm
worried that they're going to overcorrect, and
we're going to get a bunch of, like, bullshit
British stoppages. Like, I agree protecting the
fighters is the most important, but there's going
to be some big controversies. Like, even the
Parker stoppage. That was a bad stoppage. that
is one that a lot of people did raise concern
about i think in parker's circumstance too where
he has a history of being dropped and coming
back to win those fights as well like against
his arm yeah well and that isn't even the most
hurt he was in that fight and he landed the last
two punches that landed like i don't know i'm
on the fence with this one i do want to protect
the fighters but i also don't want referees deciding
the outcomes of fights yeah look at the end of
the day traders and doctors need to be able to
have a bit more balls in these situations because
nobody ever wants to be the person to tell their
own fighter that's enough but we need to have
a culture where that is something that happens
and i think part of that also comes down to and
this is probably the one area where we can learn
from the ufc is that we need to stop prioritizing
that on the record you know and that's that's
less just the promoters and everything but it
needs to be on the fan side as well where when
we look at a guy and they get a loss that they
don't need to start suing people and doing everything
to try and keep that one off their record because
that ups the ante so much in those situations
where some guys should be out there but losing
is it's it's considered a sin really in the realm
of boxing which you know i mean it's crazy because
you think about any other sport right it's like
man you if you lose 12 games in an nba season
you're considered one of the greatest teams of
all time If you lose one fight in boxing, for
a lot of guys, you are wiped out of any all -time
great discussions or pound -for -pound discussions
immediately. Yeah, that's crazy. But I always
like fighters that tend to get losses anyways.
And that's it. We need to start it from that,
because then we can create a culture where coaches
understand that they're able to... pull a guy
out and they can go right we'll come back to
him next time you know because that's gonna put
us in a position where not only do we get to
see more great fights but we also aren't gonna
have levels where it's like if you don't do something
that you don't really need to do in terms of
putting your brain health at risk that it's not
going to cost you everything because That's very
much, you know, it's the winner takes it all.
Boxing, that's how it is. But there's also other
ways to go about that culture if we're looking
at other sports. I think if we move to a world
where we start looking at things like title defenses
better than your overall record, that's when
we'll get there. But then that's a whole other
conversation about, you know, what are we doing
to value a title? Is it actually worth holding
a title? You've got all those belt fees and everything.
So much. Something interesting that you mentioned
was about once we get away from the culture of
protecting your undefeated record, we'll get
into a space where more coaches are going to
be willing to step in on behalf of their fighter.
I hope so. That's something that Jack Reese brought
up was his words here. Fighters don't like that.
And we know father trainers seem to never throw
in the towel on their sons. And the sons never
quit in front of their fathers. That's true.
I don't know why he made it about fathers and
sons. I really don't. Because you can say the
same thing about a lot of fights. where nobody's
related in the corner it's true but i think it
also i think the point is interesting when it
comes to the topic of you think about a father's
role is to like keep their kid out of danger
but then you look at how that sort of subverts
in the context of father -son coaching so what
not that i actually think he was completely there
But I think you raise an interesting point. I
do think corners need to be more ready to throw
in the towel. There's been quite a few fights
where I don't understand why the corner didn't
stop it. 100%. Well, I mean, Timzu, that's probably
like the best example. That's the best recent
example for sure. Yeah, you gotta make business
decisions. you gotta go right this guy's long
-term health is you know it's gonna be in jeopardy
because you're in a boxing ring but there's levels
of jeopardy that you don't quite need to reach
because i think we look at you know it's boxing
it's rocky movies it's comebacks it's getting
knocked down and still winning the fight in the
last round but we gotta We don't have to completely
let go of that but I think there needs to be
a bit of a loosened grip. Yeah. Because otherwise
we need to be accepting and cognizant of the
fact that we will end up in situations with hematomas
and unfortunate deaths and not just that but
I think the discussion also needs to open up
about CTE and support for boxers after their
career. because we can talk about in -fight safety
all we want but I think it's post -fight and
more specifically post -career safety that I
want to see them really make a point of at the
moment because as a lot of guys over the last
years who have finished their career and they're
not quite sure what they're going to do after
their career and they sort of spiral so I think
about that when I think about the concepts of
stoppages and trainers throwing in towels because
I don't think anybody ever thinks of that in
the moment. Yeah. The post -career care is something...
It's one of the main reasons that I... As much
as he's a jackass in his fighting career, Jake
Paul... He's a big advocate for post -career
care for fighters. Trying to create a collective
bargaining organization for fighters as a whole.
Like pension and stuff. Yeah, exactly. I always
advocate for Jake Paul just because I know he
genuinely does care. Behind the scenes at least.
Yeah. I think so as well. I think there's, and
that's not even, not even to advocate for him
as a personal boxer, but there are things he
is bringing to the sport that are objectively
good for the sport. There's a few of them, and
I think that that should be something that is
noted. A lot of people, they're not going to
see that. They're just going to dismiss him just
at face value and not really look into, you know,
the significance of some of those moves, because
he was someone who made a really big point of
Dana White's treatment of fighters, and I think
that's part of why it upsets me that we're getting
to where we are now, where you know, with Zupa
boxing and trying to move the sport in that direction.
Oh man, speaking of which, Jai Upataya. Signs
with Zubin. This fucking sucks. Terrible diapers.
Look, I'm... I hope he's getting paid a lot.
Because this is a dangerous sport and you can
take your money as it comes. But while it may
be good for him, and I don't necessarily blame
him, I think it was inevitable that... Somebody
was going to do this. But the problem is, once
you give legitimacy to Zufa and their exploits
with Saudi Arabia and Riyadh, what then happens
is they keep swallowing up that market share.
And that's something that can happen quickly
in boxing, a lot quicker than people may think.
Because think about, you know, how much you're
able to watch on DAZN now, and how much the landscape
has changed, even just over the last few years,
in terms of the top -ranking Golden Boy deals
with their respective broadcasters. So, if you
think about how quickly things change in that
sense, the fact that we now have that branch
of legitimacy with Zooka, it now becomes a point
where... Others are going to start taking it
seriously. And the moment that market share goes
in, they are not going to keep paying fighters
like this forever. It's Saudi Arabia, so they
actually can. Like, contrary to popular belief,
this is not some, like, unsustainable thing,
at least for, like, the next probably 50 years
or whatever. But just because you can pay for
something doesn't mean you're going to. Yeah,
shareholders at the end of the day, right? Well,
that's it there's gonna be now that it's with
super now that it's with you know, all of the
Collective shareholders that they're gonna be
getting with UFC people that are coming in that
is gonna happen. So Yeah, it's disappointing
there's gonna be a lot of money That's gonna
be out of the fighters hands and into the shareholders
hands. That's what upsets me the most That's
gonna be This is a sport where, realistically,
boxers get a lot of money, but only a certain
amount of them really get to that money. And
if we're not going to be protecting boxers, then
paying them less is just something that's going
to worry me even more. So, the moment that market
share carries over, no matter how much Opetai
is getting paid right now, it's going to lead
to a point where fighters down the line, they're
getting a lot less. And I think that in itself
is going to set the sport backwards. Realistically,
the sport should not be looking at the UFC and
trying to be like that. I wonder what happens
with the belt after this. At least it's the IBF,
so they'll strip them pretty quick, probably.
Yeah, I'd imagine. They can, and honestly, they
should. Because if you're in a boxing league...
Or whatever it is. I don't know how Zupa's going
to work either. Currently, they were working
with the other belts in a respect for the NLO
vs Crawford event, but I don't think it's going
to be like that forever. It's going to be that
buddy -buddy. Well, and they weren't very buddy
-buddy because they tried to stop What's -His
-Name from coming in the ring with the belts
and stuff like that. Yeah. That's it. It's only
ever going to get more and more hostile, I'd
imagine, over time. So upsetting moment for the
sport. I hope it's not a sign of things to come.
Speaking of things to come, Tim Zhu versus Errol
Spence. Have you heard about this? Oh, I have
heard rumblings. I have not believed them. You
don't think it's going to happen? Look, if it
happens, the fight will be in Australia on a
no -limit card, because I believe that they are
the only people shameless enough. I don't think
they're the only people shameless enough at all.
They probably would be. I think there are many
places in the US that would put Errol Spence
on a card. Look, Tim Zu is going to be a bit
busy at the moment because of what transpired
last night, I'd imagine. Him and his brother,
I think. Him fighting Errol Spence is probably
really good for the both of them. I think it
gives Tim Zu a chance to go against someone who
was an insanely world -class fighter. But Errol
Spence, I believe that he should at least be
getting some sort of tune -up. that, I don't
think he should jump straight into it. Which
is a crazy thing to say about Tim Zhu, who previously
every single bit of dialogue said he needed a
tune -up, but he's just had one, so he's probably
good to go. I think Spence is so shot that if
he tries to have a tune -up, people will realize
how shot he is, and the money goes away. That
could be it. And that fight, like, they are still
both big enough names for that fight to actually
fall quite a fair bit. So, this could be a situation
where Spence has the ability to cash it out.
Not that I really think he should be doing this.
Like, it's like, man, if he believes he can win,
good. Do it. But if it's for any reason other
than that, then... I am not interested in seeing
this. And last bit, Nikita Zu and Michael Zarafa.
Where to begin? Look, we had a fight card where
Liam Wilson, one of Australia's best boxers,
at the moment. I think anybody that's watched
him would tend to agree. He might not have the
same notoriety as a few other fighters at the
moment, but in terms of what he's been able to
do, he has pieced together a very respectable
career for himself and he's continuing to go
as well. He's had a good streak of fights lately.
He's been very active. Now, he was placed behind
two fights on this card. He was placed behind
the lead -up to the main, and then he was also
placed behind former NRL player Nelson Osofa
-Solomona fighting former NRL player Jeremy Lattam.
Now, there is nothing that explains boxing better
in this country than one of its best co -fighters
being placed behind Korea. Yeah, yeah, basically.
Former footy players and... a fight of two heavyweights
who are, compared to Liam Wilson, relatively
not that accomplished. And that's not to disrespect
any of them. You know, everyone that went into
the ring did an excellent job. You know, they
have trained very hard. They've been in camp
for this and they've taken it seriously. But
that is the prioritization of Australian fighting.
And this fight, first and foremost, if you have
followed Michael Zarapa's career, you knew from
the jump that anything to do with him was going
to bring some chaos. Whether it was the time
that he pulled out of the Tetsu fight, or it
was the time where he wanted to pull out of another
fight that they had. I believe Pete Bale, one
of the broadcasters, mentioned, but the doctors
said that they wouldn't be able to clear him.
rightfully to say not fight so he has a history
of events ending up in this way he's got the
reputation as being australia's most hated boxer
whether that's a deserved thing or not but when
you come into the fight with this context and
you get to the second round and then there's
the cut over the eye and to be honest like that
is It didn't look like a big cut, but the photos
circulating around are after it got cleaned up.
It wasn't when the blood was actually flowing.
Now, the problem... It still wasn't a very big
cut, even when the blood was flowing. And the
blood was flowing mostly around his eye. Yeah,
it wasn't massive. But I, as an athlete, I'm
not going to judge someone for saying that they
can't see to the doctor. Now, the problems for
me began after that. He told the doctor he couldn't
see. Sure. You can't see early in the fight,
whatever. It's going to disappoint all the drunk,
overweight gambling addicts in the crowd, but
they're not in the ring. They're not risking
their health and safety. This isn't up to them.
Now, the problem comes when Zarafa then gets
up and says, oh, I said I was good to go. I didn't
say I couldn't see. And then they immediately
play a video of exactly what he said. And he
exactly said, I can't see, as an exact quote,
four times. Literal exact quote, four times in
that sequence. And then after that, his cut man
goes on Twitter and posts the actual swab of
blood that he took. And it was nothing. So Zaraffa's
own cut man went to Twitter to say that it wasn't
a big cut. So, when you're taking into the context
that, it's just, it is such a circus show. And
I also believe that, like, if you're spending
that much money, because it was a $70 pay -per
-view, if you're spending a $70 pay -per -view
to watch Nikita Zu versus Michael Zarafov, that
is natural selection. I am sorry. With all due
respect, with all due respect, if you were a
viewer of this fight, who spent 70 dollars you
just didn't know better and you should have especially
when this country actually does have some decent
fighters you could have been watching because
all of these people if they wanted if they actually
wanted good boxing and to be entertained they
would have been watching max mcintyre and kira
rustin when they had their recent fight but they
weren't because they wanted to watch footy players
and tim zoo's brother and michael zaraffa because
that's who they get angry at on facebook so I
think I already have such a lack of empathy for
the sort of people that are really passionate
about these sorts of fights that I'm not as angry
at this as everyone else is. I mostly just feel
bad for Nikita, to be honest with you. He is,
by all accounts, Nikita seems like such an incredibly
likable and calm person. Like, I've never seen
Nikita really lose his cool, be all of himself.
This is a guy that spends, by all accounts, most
of his time just meditating and boxing. He's
a very calm and chill human being. And he didn't
even, he wasn't even that disparaging towards
Zaraffa after the fight either. Tim certainly
was. Tim was pissed. He was calling him all sorts
of names. You could see all the videos of him
yelling at Zaraffa, getting in the ring for it
too. I mean, kind of deserved. If anybody gets
to talk shit about somebody pulling out of a
fight for blood in their eyes, Tim gets to talk
all the shit he wants. And also, this is the
same Tim that's had to listen to Zaraffa calling
him out for the last four years after Zaraffa
already didn't want to fight the first time.
So there's Tim. He can say whatever he wants.
I think Tim Zhu has earned his respect in the
grand scheme of Australian boxing to be able
to say whatever he wants to Michael Zaraffa.
However, I think the real comedy of this fight
is with George Rose, who, for those who don't
know, the Rose brothers are in charge of No Limit,
who are the promotion company that put this event
on. George Rose has to go up and stand in front
of the crowd because this was his Jay Gatsby
party, right? Like, this was him bringing everyone
out. This is Zu versus Zarafa. This is the fight
that everyone's been talking about for years.
It's going to be like Green versus Mundine and
it ends in less than two rounds and he's being
booed by the crowd having to get up and apologize
to everyone. That, to me, was incredible. Considering,
you know, the irony of how fighters like Liam
Wilson get sort of put on the bottom of these
cards. And when we have these incredible boxes,
yeah, that was a great moment of irony for me,
I think. For him to have to stand up and say
that this event disappointed because he put that
level of faith in the sort of, I don't want to
say clowns, I think that's, I'm not that harsh,
but certainly members of a circus. active participants
in the circus system, I will say. So that's where
we are with Australian boxing. And anybody that's
mad about what transpired last night, I truly
think that what happened last night wasn't anything
that different to what usually happens in Australian
boxing. I think it was just Australia holding
a mirror up at the way that it views boxing.
I think everyone that looked at that and got
absolutely disgusted needs to sit with themselves
and understand that this is what they have been
asking for. They might not believe it, but yes,
you have in fact been asking for this because
when you are treating, you know, Paul Gallen
as one of the biggest boxers in the country.
You know, Gallen versus Sonny Bill Williams had
more people asking for illegal streams on it
than anything else, and it was the same for Gallen
versus Brown and Gallen versus Hewney. That is
what this country wants, and it can try and trick
everyone and pretend that it wants anything else,
but when you look at where the money flows, it's
not. So, Australia, if you're mad that Nikita
Zuba versus Michael Zarafa went the way that
it did, you need to ask why you're spending so
much money on these no -limit fights. when there
are some legitimately incredible boxing talents
in this country coming through. You know, when
we are looking at guys like Tara Moana, guys
like Liam Wilson, guys, you know, people like
Sugar Neeks, when you see the run that she is
on right now, absolutely incredible. And then
understanding that this is what you asked for
because that's not where you're putting your
money. You're putting it into the ex -footy players
fighting and you're getting scared and confused.
when these cards end up like this. Because one
of the last times Michael Zareffa fought, what
happened? His brother punched somebody in the
ring. His brother punched an opposition trainer
in the ring and they had to have the entire stadium
supported. Not the stadium, the ring. But that
was the same card that Nikita Zu was fighting
on. This is what you asked for. You ordered this.
So... It's fucking surprising that Zaraffa is
still getting fights if this is his history.
I didn't know all that. I didn't know all the
history about him either. Australian boxing is
so hard to watch outside of Australia. Everyone
hates Michael Zaraffa. That's why he's popular.
It's the exact same as Paul Gallen. People in
Australia do not watch boxing. They hate watch
boxing. That makes sense. Yeah, that's not good.
No. They are watching you because they want you
to lose. It is tall poppy syndrome. There's no
real country that gets so... We hate our fighters.
We really do. I think there's a few guys that
we really, really, really get behind. I'm really
proud of how we get behind Tim Zhu. But there's
a lot of other guys who just are not afforded
that. And at the end of the day, they're the
guys who really could be using it. Like I look
at when I mentioned Kira Rustin and the talent
that he is, he won't get any near the coverage.
Callum Peters, they're trying to put him on through
no limit. The people, they're just not watching
Callum Peters like they're watching a few of
these other guys. And that honestly upsets me
because he really can't fight. so it's just it's
done it to itself and if we as a country want
to watch good boxing you need to stop only ever
putting your money up when it's an nrl player
that's fighting you need to start going okay
who are who are some of the actual fighters in
this country like google it right now like who
are some of the up -and -coming australian boxers
and start looking into their careers otherwise
You get what you pay for, and if you got sucked
into that, you always should have known that
it was going to be a circus. It's not a good
start to 2026 for Australian boxing, anyways.
Well, that's... It gets what it deserves. And
I say that as a big, huge lover of sport in this
country, but... There's some amazing people that
are going to be at the forefront of Australian
boxing over the next few years, but people are
not following what our Olympians are doing, the
amateur systems. They just fight whatever footy
players No Limit tells them to watch. It's going
to be that way. until we start to actually have
some respect for the art of boxing instead of
just brawling and just wanting to see blood on
TV. The top 10 Australian fighters on BoxRec,
so, you know, grain of salt, the pound -for -pound
list, Jai Obatai is at the top, Liam Parrow,
Sam Goodman, Tim Zhu, Michael Zarafa. Nikita
Zu, Liam Wilson, Imam Kataev, Cesar Tapia, and
John Manu. Yeah. Tara Moana's not on the list
yet? No. There's a few guys that are really unlucky
to miss out on that list. I think Tara Moana
should be in the top 10 list. Without a doubt.
Here's the thing. Even... Even if you had put
Tera Moana in there. I mean, even to be honest,
Liam Parra... People, they do not get behind
Liam Parra like they get up for the rapper or
Zeus, right? Like this... They don't like his
style. He boxes too much. That might be it, but
on top of that, it's also the fact that, yeah,
that's not what they come to see. I mean, that's
crazy because he actually is a pretty tough guy.
Like you see in his most recent fight where even
he had the cut in his eye. And even when he had
that absolutely wanted eye, he still like at
the arena. To me, it looks like he was boxing
good. He was getting out of the way. He was doing
nice and he got the job done. That was it. You
know, Pat Rafter arena around in Brisbane. And
I went there and there weren't that many people
there. It was actually a really empty arena.
That's crazy. Yeah, people, that's what I'm saying.
And this is his hometown. Like, you have to understand
that, like, Liam Parra, he came out of Kooparoo
Boxing Gym over in inner -city Brisbane. I walk
past there all the time. And this fight was being
held in Pat Rafter Arena, which is just west
of it, over around the Tennyson area, I believe.
Now... This is a city that's not even getting
behind its own guy. And when I say its own guy,
I'm talking about one of the best talents to
come out of Australian boxing in quite some time.
And he's a world champ. Exactly. That's fucking
crazy. That's exactly it. He's not some nobody.
He is a world champ. He is one of the most accomplished.
And more people went to watch Nikita Zu versus
Michael Zarafa. And that should tell you absolutely
everything you need to know. because that's...
And it's... Parra only just signed with No Limit
as well, and that disappointed me so much. It'll
be good for him in Australia, but they're not
going to push him the same way they're going
to push Tim Nikita. And that is something that
upsets me, because Liam Parra, in my opinion,
absolutely incredible fighter, at least in the
context of Australian boxing, because... There's
not many Australians that have that level of
counter -punching acumen, head movement or footwork.
And, you know, we're not going to get that. We're
not going to get that again if we keep going
about things at the pro level that we do. Because
it's not a Boxing Australia problem. Boxing Australia
have their own issues. But if you look at their
curriculum on how they teach boxers, the way
that I've been trained to box over the last couple
of years. it's not like they're not telling you
to just get in there and crawl you know it's
just that that is what is going to get you money
in this country so yeah disappointing it's something
where i really wish that we would see a lot more
initiative on the end of australian promoters
to put on fighters like pyro and really give
them a boost It's just not going to happen because
it's not what the people want. They want to watch
footy players. They don't want to watch actual
boxing. Tara Moana's number 48. Just to let you
know. Number 48? 48 in Australia. Yes. Fucking
crazy. I understand. I understand that he might
not have the deepest resume at a pro level, but...
Neither up until last night, really, and even
up to last night, neither does Nikita Zu to an
extent, because Terry Moana, he's where he is
by choice. He would be way higher in that list
if he was with No Limit, because they would have
him fighting a bunch of guys from Brisbane and
from Sydney and whatnot. But the reality is that
he is fighting on overseas and international
cards because he is with Matchroom. So... Which
is probably better for his career in the long
run. Oh, a thousand percent. I mean, look, he
could, I'm going to be honest. I think he, it
would take him like a year and he would probably
be able to sweep all of the Asia Pacific belts.
I don't think any of those guys can actually
handle him. You know, you look at the heavyweights
that fought last night. How do you think Teramalana
goes against those guys? I mean. Yeah. I think
it's a foregone conclusion. We're talking about
Terry Moana in Talmud, and you saw what Talmud
did to McKean. So that's like, and no disrespect
to McKean, great fighter, probably incredible
dude too, but this is Terry Moana we're talking
about. And he is not just a guy who is just a
brawler. Terry Moana, he has come through the
amateur system of Australia. They've prioritized
his footwork and strength and conditioning so
much. He's become so much fitter over the last
year. and they've been having him gently go against
a lot of these lower level fighters while he's
been building this new physique and it's a good
way to manage his career but yeah unfortunately
means he won't kick on as much in australia as
he probably should but i think that he yeah look
australians will need to know him one way or
another because he is one of the best we have
right now Never seen a big armor like that. Goodness
gracious. Yeah, he's going to be famous, famous.
I'm sure of it. Oh, yeah. He's got the dance
moves and everything. He's like... And you wait.
Australia's going to claim him once he gets famous.
Oh, yeah. No, they love him. They love big, powerful
heavyweights. The problem is that if they're
not constantly in front of people, they're not
going to get... really they're not going to have
that light shown on them and that's what they
need for Terry Moana there needs to be that light
shown on him and unfortunately it doesn't I don't
think it's going to be a no limit thing where
they do that for him because he's not he's not
with them but he still does fight on these Australian
cards so yeah we'll have to see how it goes I'm
optimistic about some guys But there's other
cases where I'm just like, man... Yeah. I just
wish there was more support for guys like Pyro,
Terry Moana, SugarNyx, who are boxers instead
of all the ex -footy players that seem to be
able to get all the money they want by just strolling
into boxing. Nyx is number two for women's pound
-for -pound in Australia. Who's number one? The
princess. She should be ahead of Sky. She should
be ahead of Sky. And I say that like I'm a big
Sky Nicholson fan, but like the niece will fight
anyone and everyone and so far every time she's
delivered. I guess I can't complain too much,
though. I forgot Skye Nicholson was Australian,
to be honest. I thought they had ebony bridges
above her. No. I was confused. That's outrageous.
Yeah, that is very much how... Things are going
with Australian boxing at the moment. I think
that unless we as a country decide that we're
going to start prioritizing guys who can box,
that we're going to keep running into this. Yeah,
it really is disappointing when a country doesn't
get behind their guys. Yeah. It upsets me. supports
anyone who decides to live in Canada for two
weeks. Like, we jump all over that shit. Lennox
Lewis lived here for years and fought for us
in the Olympics. I was more thinking, like, Mbili
and Betterbia. Oh, yeah, true. Oh, I forgot about
Mbili being there. He's been there for a while
now, but the day he arrived in Canada, they claimed
him as a Canadian boxer. Yeah, that's true. But
yeah, in that case, I think that's the time that
I've got for today. But I want to say thank you
so much for letting me onto the show, guys. It's
really good to talk about that and hopefully
it shines a bit more light into Australian boxing.
Where it is at the moment, because I certainly
think that if we just kept moving in the direction
of Paro and Teramawana and getting behind them
as a country, that we'd be fine. But hopefully
this event makes people realize that. And especially
Opitaya as well, but I think the Zupa news does
change that a fair bit. Very disappointed. yeah
look it's you got to get your money while you
can and if it wasn't him it was going to be somebody
else true or maybe it could have been nobody
in an ideal world sure but unfortunately that's
you know i know i know could happen in moments
man anything could happen the moment you step
inside a ring yeah at least he's getting in on
the ground floor so he's getting paid well now
exactly that's it the people that come off the
end won't get those same deals but definitely
not no but yeah thank you very much guys i appreciate
it heaps and i'll see you next time all right
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bitch. There. So coming out of that conversation
with Jacob, let's see here. What are your spicy
takes on Australian boxing? Do you have one?
833 -589 -7637. Hit me up in WhatsApp. If you
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We're going into the big weekend of boxing. Parting
words. Parting words. I don't really have much.
I hope the ring card actually delivers this time.
Because they've been hit or miss. I hope it's
a banger. I got a cheer for Beru. This no -name,
random -ass German guy shows up to claim a title,
and now he's being thrust into a unification
fight with the expectation that it's going to
be an easy one, an easy title to take. That's
true. I would very much like Beru to prove him
wrong. I would love if Beru pulls off the upset.
William Skull, if you're having trouble sleeping,
that should be fun. That should be fun for you.
Adam Azeem versus Gustavo Lemos, not a bad fight.
Adam Azeem continues to step up his competition,
so that's fun. And Bokrum. Bokrum, Bokrum. Yeah,
actually, it's a pretty decent weekend of boxing
and closing out January strong. Yeah. I very
much enjoy Pro Box kicking it off and them not
understanding their lane and going for Friday
instead of going on Saturday like they have done
in the past. I miss Wednesday boxing. I do too.
I really wish. I kind of understand why, but
I really wish they would just go back to midweek
boxing. But yeah, that card's going to be fun.
Pro box is always fun, but I really like Suleiman
Sagawa. I'm excited for the co -main. All right.
That's going to do it for this edition of Boxing
Before Dark. we'll see you on the other side