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. Here we go. Okay. Holy
shit, it is Boxing Before Dark. We got an old
familiar face. Drip. Holy shit. Hey, you boys
back. Back to talk the fights. How you been?
Been good, been good. Just busy with life and
other stuff, but overall good. Can't complain.
Hopefully you guys have been well. Oh, yeah.
You know why I've been well? I won the fucking
ticket lottery. I get to see Inoue and Nakatani
live in Tokyo Dome. Oh, that's going to be exciting.
That's super cool. I'm so stoked. Yeah, yeah.
I've just been, like, buzzing for three days.
As you should. Buzzing in a more literal sense,
too. Yeah, yeah. Celebrating a little bit. Yeah,
yeah, a little. Maybe. A lot of it. Yeah, the
day I got the tickets, I may or may not have
gotten out and gotten pretty drunk. Some Italians
were visiting. We went and sang karaoke until,
like, 2 a .m. on a Tuesday. Work was a little
rough on Wednesday. I bet. Man, lottery winner.
I was so convinced that the system was rigged
against foreigners. I was, too, because I've
entered, I think, six of these, and I have won
zero of them. But I pulled through when it mattered.
It's fine. Clutch. You won the one that matters.
Yeah. My buddy from Kanazawa that I haven't seen
in person for like a year and a half also got
a ticket. We're going for lunch. We're going
to the fights. It's going to be great. We're
not sitting together, but it doesn't matter.
Yeah, as long as you're there. Yeah. Well, speaking
of winning the one that matters, Punch. They
call him Punchy -kun. in Japan. Little Punch
has a girlfriend and it just so happens that
the girlfriend is a similar shade to his stuffy.
I thought that was pretty cute. Yeah, she's very
orange for that kind of monkey. Very Freudian.
Oh, Punch the monkey, right? Yeah. Yeah, Little
Punch. We've been giving updates on the podcast.
Yeah, the opening bit, it's been Keeping Up With
Punch. Keeping Up With Chuck Norris. Oh my goodness.
Have you heard? Yeah. Yeah. Sad times. He was
definitely up there in age. He was like 86 or
something. 87. Yeah, he was up there. Kicking
Hitler's ass now. Merit. Oh, man. Let's get into
the fight news because we've got some big signings.
Top Rank has signed a multi -year, non -exclusive
deal with The Zone. The approximate budget is
$5 million a year. I've been seeing varying numbers
between 8 to 12 shows a year. So that's pretty
good. Not bad. Yeah. Not bad at all. I think
the, I think Saul was saying in chat that 5 million
a year does not seem like that much when top
rank does have a little bit of star power. So
my thinking is the non -exclusive part is they
take, like they take Xander Zayas off to pay
-per -view somewhere. Yeah. Or they, I wouldn't
be surprised if they're trying to get a deal
with ESPN or someone else as well. That would
be interesting. Eight to 12 shows a year on DAZN,
that's a lot of fighters that you've got to keep
active. And then you have to also feed ESPN?
No, I think the non -exclusive would be same
fight on different networks at the same time.
I see what you mean. Like, it's airing on ESPN
and DAZN. Because some people don't have ESPN.
True. Yeah, I think I got rid of it, actually.
I don't use it anymore. Once UFC left? I mean,
yeah, honestly. That was pretty much the reason
I leave. The Paramount deal, which hasn't been
a great start so far, but I feel like it was...
It looks promising, but we'll see how that goes.
Yeah, like, well, top rank in this situation.
I don't know. I think it's good. Like, they've
been in limbo as long as they have. So they have
a landing spot. So that's good. Well, and the
zone's more worldwide. I wouldn't be surprised
if they get, like, a U .S. provider or something.
Yeah. I see what you mean. Maybe they could do
a rival Zufa and go on Paramount+. Oh, Zufa.
Calm Kimo Sabe will get there. So many questions
and concerns. Top Rank and Matchroom signed a
multi -year partnership. This isn't very surprising.
They're on the same network now. I think whatever
gets cross -promotional fights done. I'm here
for it. I don't think it's a bad move at all.
Do you think we'll get another 5v5 sort of thing?
Because that was kind of fun. I don't think it's
necessarily Turkey if it's DAZN. They're probably
going to source their cash from Turkey, unfortunately.
But I can only hope that this is funded by Ham
instead. That was good. Top Rank and Matchroom.
It's strange to me that they signed something
explicit. Because Golden Boy and Matchroom have
been doing cross -promotional stuff for a while
now. Curious what the need for the deal is. I
wonder if this is sort of just signaling, like,
we're actually going to work together. Not like
those fucks over at Zufa. To the boxers more
than anyone. Like, maybe the fans don't care
so much, but boxers are like, if I sign with
top rank, they're going to work with other people
and it'll be easier to get belts. Yeah, I think
you're right. It's a good signal. I think to
the sport at large. Yeah. If nothing else, it's
a good signal. Speaking of signals, fucking Golden
Boy re -signs with DAZN. Multi -year deal. I
haven't seen any specifics on it yet. Just multi
-year deal. Not surprised with that one. Where
else are they going to go? Right. What, ESPN?
Yeah. Golden Boy's on their last legs, really.
Like, they're losing everybody. Who do they really
have? Just what, Garcia? Virgil. Virgil. Virgil
and Garcia? Yeah, that's about it. Doesn't Virgil
want out? Yes. He's trying. He's trying to get
out. So then, really, all they have is Garcia.
Who has also made efforts to leave before. They're
in shambles, but that's a dumb problem. Yeah,
if anybody needs a partnership deal, it's Goldenboy.
Yeah. But all those guys being on DAZN should
make cross -platform or cross -promoter fights
easier. Yeah, definitely. Well, making cross
-promotional fights, you know who's not doing
that? Zufa Boxing. They've signed a multi -year
deal with Sky Sports. Uh, yeah. I don't have
a lot to say on this one. Did we ever... Did
we get an update on the IBF and Opitaya? I haven't
heard anything. I wasn't going to hear that.
I haven't either. It just kind of disappeared.
So I guess they didn't strip them. But... It's
just kind of weird, though, because... That's
the whole thing that Dana was complaining about.
It's like all these different belts and he's
just kind of playing into it now by letting Jai,
I guess, do that. Does that make sense? Like,
cuck all his belts and the Zufa belts. Like,
alright, well, now which side of the corner do
you want? Precisely. Yeah, the whole thing with
Zufa was to be exclusive. One belt like the UFC
does. But you're letting, again, Jai have the
IVF or whatever it is. Are they going to strip
him? Are they not? And if he does get stripped,
can he really complain? It's almost like, hey,
dude, you knew what you were signing up for.
I don't think Opataya had any fucking idea. I
feel like that's just a fail on his team's part,
then. I think his team knew. But I don't think
Jai did. Everybody knew the whole point of Zufa
was to have just one belt scenario type thing.
If Jai's team didn't inform him, that's... Terrible.
Yeah, I really think he just got scammed. Like,
are they paying him well? Word on the street
is that Zufa is paying him better than he was
getting paid before. But not well. It's not saying
a lot. Yeah, it's a low bar to get over. I mean,
I guess, like, making more money and having easier
fights can't really beat that, right? Can crushing.
Unless you don't... If you don't care about the
belts, but Jai clearly cares about the belts.
Like, that rant he went on at the end of that
last fight. That's all he cares. But it's like,
you can't rant, bro. You signed up for this.
Yeah, I agree. I don't... Either his team failed
him, or somebody failed him. Somebody just outright
failed Jai with that. I mean, I don't know how
long his Zufa contract's for or how many fight
deals it's for, but well, you're stuck with him
now. Yeah. The whole Zufa thing is just so odd
to me, but we'll get into that. Yes. Moving on,
Armando Resendiz is going to be fighting Jaime
Mugia on the Benavidez -Zurdo undercard. I think
it's going to be the co -main. So that's cool.
That is. Sam Noakes, just a little FYI for the
masses, the huddled masses that have been awaiting
news on Sam Noakes. He's going to be on the next
top tier promotions card on DAZN. So that's fun.
I think that might be the biggest name they've
gotten to date. Sam Noakes? Yeah. That's not
saying a lot. I know. Are those top tier? Yes.
Yeah, I haven't heard of them. Who the hell is
top tier promotions? They're on DAZN. They usually
run on Sundays. Oh, they're a UK promotion. Yes.
They're matchmakers, Allie Drew. I sat next to
her at an event once. She's very pretty. All
right. Yeah, it's great. Great storytelling.
Thanks. Go me. David Allen will be headlining
a Queensberry card against a quote, top 15 opponent.
Nice. David Allen, see what you can do, Mr. White
Rhino. That's not saying a lot. Top 15 in this
heavyweight division? Yeah, yeah. If it's not
like top five, it's probably ass. I can't even
imagine. Who's the top 10 heavyweights in boxing
right now? But this is exactly the plan he was
talking about after his last fight. Fight a decent
opponent and then, like, a cash -out fight against
Zhang. That's right. That is the roadmap that
he laid out. Yeah. So. I don't know. I like seeing
Dave Allen fight just because he's going to die
when he quits. Like, his lifestyle sucks. Could
it be Jerry Anderson? Could that be it? Oh, that's
right. He's about to sign with them. I forgot
to put that in the notes. Because top 15 means
anyone from 1 through 15, which is kind of scary.
So, I mean, it could be Anderson. Could it be
a Coley? I don't think so, actually. Is a Coley
with Queensberry? I don't know who Coley's with.
I do my best to not pay attention to that man.
Yeah, no, me either. He's boring as fuck. Right.
If I had to assume. a few names. Just a few from
heavyweight. Who Mr. Allen could be fighting
next? It's either Anderson, Bacoli, or Zhang.
Bacoli's busy. He has a fight coming up. Okay,
so not Bacoli. Zhang, maybe? Oh, Bacoli. I thought
you said O 'Coli, like Lawrence O 'Coli. No,
no, no. Bacoli, like Martin. Yeah, Martin Bacoli.
Okay, that... David Allen's probably going to
get fucking slimed if he fights Bacoli. Well,
really, if he fights anyone in the top 15, he's
probably getting slimed, if we're going to be
honest. Yeah, you're right. Oh, actually, I don't
know. I'd give him a chance against Anderson.
Anderson has a lot of quit in him. Yeah. He doesn't
have that dog in him. He has that cat. Anderson's
got a lot of quit in him. I could see Allen taking
that fight and probably winning. Lawrence Okoli
is with Queensberry. Maybe they give David Allen
an extended camp so that he doesn't come in as
a flubby... Fucking 340 pounds or whatever he
was last fight. Yeah, exactly. I mean, Okoli's
going to come in looking like shit. So David
Allen just has to look less shit by comparison.
And that's a win. Is this going to be a win?
Kell Brook, his April 11th return has been postponed.
Kell Brook. Yeah. That Kell Brook. Yeah. Broken
eyes, Kell Brook. That's the one. He was going
to make his return April 11th in Dubai. That
has been postponed for safety reasons. Who's
he going to fight? His eye doctor? I think it's
a local kid. but I don't really know. The fall
from grace is just amazing. Yeah, there's no
reason for Kell Brook to come back. No, not at
all. Don't get me wrong. I like Kell Brook, but
why? What are you trying to prove? Money. That's
it. That's got to be it. How much is he really
getting paid for a local kid? Good question.
I imagine the Emiratis would pay him nicely,
though. Didn't he get paid like a metric ton
for the Amir Khan fight a couple years back?
That was such a shit fight. Shit fight, but what
were those purses looking like? I'm curious.
Kell Brook, at least three million. At least
three mil? Yeah, when they fight 2022, he blew
through three million in four years. Extended
holidays in fancy resorts or villas. Ebony bridges
demanding nice outings. Is that who he's seeing?
Yes. She's got money too. There's just no way.
What is he doing, man? I mean, if Mayweather
can go broke, anybody can go broke. Yeah, I guess
that's true. I just don't want to see a Broken
Orbital's Kell Brook beat up some teenager. It
just doesn't do it for me. Or get beat up by
some teenager. Or get beat up by a teenager,
yeah. How old is this man now? What would be
more pathetic? For him to beat up some 19 -year
-old boy? Or for a 19 -year -old boy to whoop
his ass? Getting your ass whooped is always worse.
Yeah, getting your ass whooped. like like he
can beat up a 19 year old prospect if people
can be like ah like you know he's a gatekeeper
who still who still got it but if he gets by
a 19 year old then it's like damn dog it's time
to put them up put them back up and don't put
them back down yeah stop stop coming back bro
yeah that's like wilder stop it man leave it
alone Well, speaking of coming back, Bam is making
his plans to return to the ring. It's looking
like it's going to be in Phoenix in June. Fucking
goddamn right I'm going to be there. Right now,
people keep saying in chat, in Discord, they're
saying, like, why is Bam really so focused on
Undisputed? What does that even matter? We all
know he's the best super flyweight, right? And
while that's true, I don't know, it's just Bam's
goal. Just having spoken to the man directly
about it, what he said was he doesn't like being
overlooked in pound -for -pound considerations
because the people that are put ahead of him
all have the undisputed accolade, and he doesn't.
That makes sense. Yeah. Well, and, like, history
might forget. how much better Bam was. And people
in 20 years will be like, well, he was never
undisputed. He couldn't have been that good,
you know? Right, because look at these other
guys that did go undisputed, so. Yeah. I guess
he wants to just cement his legacy. Yeah. Because
it's Willie Baldo's got that last belt, right?
Willie Baldo, and he has to fight his mandatory
Andrew Maloney. which is coming up soon. Such
a fucking waste of time. IBF gonna IBF. So the
idea, at least Eddie Hearn has been saying he
wants Bam to go up to 118. Fight one of the title
holders there. I think they're aiming at the
WBA guy. I think his name's Antonio Vargas. I
don't even know who's in the 118 division. Yeah,
it's Antonio Vargas right now. Because they're
fucking over my boy again. I was trying to think
of a burger pun. I don't want to say a fight
stab at all. He would get wrecked, but... So,
does... What else could he do? Take one of the
mandatories for his other belts? Or... Is 118
get a belt in the third division? Is that the
better move? I say move up to phantom white.
Go back for the last belt. Yeah. Up and down
at those little weight classes is hard. I don't
like when people go up and back down. It almost
never works. I'm sure Bam can do it. He's still
young. I'm sure you can handle it, but... He's
a small frame guy. You definitely handle it.
Last thing. Boots, Xander, Zaius are in preliminary
talks. With top rank now on DAZN, this is going
to be very easy to get done. Boots versus Xander,
Zaius. What? Does Boots just school him the whole
time? Does he stop him? I don't think he stops
him. I don't think he stops him. I mean, Xander
Zayas is like no slouch, but I don't think he's...
He's not on Boots' level. Yeah. Yeah, I don't...
Zayas has been pulling off wins I didn't think
he'd pull off. Yeah, again, he's just no slouch,
but I think he's just too young to be experienced.
Yeah, but I like that he's taking the fight.
Yes. Yeah, for sure. I like he's taking it. Like,
challenging himself. I mean, now, if he wins,
if he wins that fight, you know people are going
to bully Boots. Oh my god, so badly. He will
never recover. Oh my god, it'd be terrible. Yeah.
Is that frame -mocking? Is that what the kids
are saying these days? I just call it bullying.
I've been trying to think of the tagline for
this one. Now, you would think with Zayas being
the unified champion that his name comes first
in the promotional materials. So would it be
Zootz or Booyahs? Zootz. Zootz sounds better.
Zootz does sound better. Zootz does sound better.
We gotta get Saul with his suits. Man, I... I
don't know, man. I mean, Boots is probably gonna
win, don't get me wrong. But man, if he loses
to Xander Zayas, I don't know, tell him. Godspeed.
The running joke in Discord right now is... X
happens before Virgil gets a belt. Doesn't matter
how obscure the thing is. Like Chuck Norris dies
before Virgil gets a belt? There's a member that
competed in the Golden Gloves Masters tournament.
And he won his bracket. And so it was like...
this user got a belt before Virgil did. That's
so funny. So it would be boots is washed before
Virgil gets a belt. Nice. I mean, it's a possibility.
It's possible. What if it's like a close decision?
Would that make it better? I don't think so.
I think it might make it worse, actually. Why
would that be worse than getting... Well, no,
actually, no. No, I lie. Sorry. It wouldn't be
worse. But no, it still wouldn't be great either.
No, of course not. Losing to Zayas would be,
like you said, it would be next to impossible
to come back from that. Yeah. There's just nothing
good that comes out of it, no matter how... If
Boots were to lose, no matter how he loses, it's
just not a good look regardless. But also, if
Boots, which he will, if Boots beats Xander,
and it's like a back and forth, like a struggle
bus, that's not a good look either. It's like,
you won! But it didn't look great. It's kind
of like when we watched Crawford versus Madrimov.
We're like, eh, you won. But they don't look
too good. Not the best. We expected more. Yeah.
Yeah. And I left a lot of questions. So, like,
if Boots beats Sander like that, it's not great
either. He has to, like, really, like, actually
beat him. Like, put on a show. Is that... Aura
farming? Is that what the kids call it? I'm really
trying to... I think that's what old people like
us call it. I'm trying to do my best to just
fuck up this terminology. To get rid of any young
listeners we have. Yeah. Let's see. Anything
more for the news? What do you got? Yeah, I was
going to say, I know that's the last thing you
had, but I just wanted to mention the PSA about
Tommy Hearns. Oh, yeah. So last week we talked
about how he was putting conservatorship, his
sons, in charge. The son came out and said, don't
donate money to any fundraisers that have been
put up online. There was a GoFundMe and there
might be more. They are put up by family members,
but Tommy's not getting any of the money. The
family members are just pocketing it. So he's
asked Tommy's fans to not donate to any of those.
Which is terrible. That you even have to say
it. God, it's so fucked up. Yeah, I know people
want to help Tommy Hearns, but apparently any
of those GoFundMes and Kickstarter, well, not
Kickstarter, but you know what I mean. Those
online things, he's not getting the money. Save
your money, don't give it to his probably awful
daughter. It seems to be that she's the one putting
them up. that's crazy fucking terrible yeah yeah
oh actually wait i do have some news also that
i saw this morning or maybe it was last night
i don't remember i'm sure you guys saw it too
but did you guys see uh john fury's rant how
he like quote unquote separated from tyson fury
he's like no longer no like so i'll give like
a synopsis real quick it's actually the dumbest
thing in the world um I guess John Fury's not
going to be in this camp or maybe camps moving
forward. I don't know if you want to correct
me on that, Leo. But apparently, yeah, he's not
in this Mac Madoff camp. He's not in this camp.
And he's saying that this, like, ruined his and
Tyson's, like, relationship. And he's, like,
not, like, disowning him, but, like, I guess
for lack of better words, disowning him, essentially.
Why? Because he's fighting Mac Madoff and he
doesn't want him to? Because he's not... Because
Tyson didn't want him in his training camp for
this one. Oh, so Tyson more disowned his father.
I don't know if he... Disassociating... Disassociating
him from the training camp? No, no. We have to
be very exaggerating for clicks. Oh, fair enough.
Clip that. Tyson Fury disowned Big John. Yeah,
and I guess Big John is like going on a rant
now over the media saying that like... him and
his son's relationship is like tarnished you
know never be the same yeah never be the same
it's almost like the eubank senior and i was
just just gonna say do you think it's a eubank
thing where it's all just fake for engagement
probably yeah i mean the furies let's be honest
are odd people yeah i i love test and fury he's
a character at one point he was a He's fun to
watch. I mean, he still is fun to watch boxing,
but at one point, you know, he was actually,
like, really pretty good. But, man, that family
is just full of fucking characters. Also, the
timing is because they're with a new season of,
you know, Keeping Up with the Furies is coming
out soon, too, so this all seems very, like,
timed properly. Like, season two of his show
is coming out on Netflix. His fight's coming
up. John Fury's going on a tangent. All of a
sudden, it's... Good marketing. Is John Fury
going to be in the metaphorical cut chair of
the new TV season? Probably. But I also did see
some things that John Fury was saying. Like he
said, Deontay Wilder broke Tyson Fury, and he's
never been the same since those fights. What?
I don't know. I mean, maybe. Those were hard
fights, so maybe. Yeah, Wilder fucking blasted
him quite a few times. Yeah, I mean, the second
fight, Wilder didn't do much, but the first fight
and the third fight, I mean, the third fight,
Wilder, like, he beat the brakes off him a little
bit. But also, so did Nagano. Nagano dropped
him, kind of beat the brakes off him. Yeah, coming
off of a long retirement, didn't take camp seriously,
and a dude known for having fucking nuclear missiles
in his hands. He may not be a boxer, he's still
a fucking fighter, man. You gotta take this seriously.
Tyson getting dropped and going to distance with
Nagano, and then AJ slamming Nagano in two rounds
probably didn't look good for him either. But
it also didn't help that Usyk almost knocked
Fury out in their first fight, so I don't know
if maybe Wilder broke him particularly, but I
think just the recent events of his career maybe
have broken him. Well... Any more news? Let's
check Reddit. I don't know if you might have
gone over this on the UFC one, but the White
House card, all the feedback on that one. We
did. We did go over it. You got anything you
want to throw on it? Pepper on a little bit.
That card fucking sucks. I don't care what anyone
says. Cards. I mean. If you want to defend that
card, if anyone wants to defend that card, by
all means, go for it. But you can't tell me that
shit's not trash. After all the hype they gave
it, terrible. That's where I'll leave it. All
right. I'm going to put in some notes here. Let's
see. The social media handle, LVXMediaNet, all
one word. Fucking hit us up. More internet lingo.
Hit all the buttons. Let's see. Wherever you're
listening, if you could hit us with a rating,
that would really help move us up the goddamn
algorithm. And if you're feeling a little extra,
a review would help too. There's fucking comment
sections on... We know YouTube has it, but Spotify
has a comment section now. Yeah, they do. Leave
comments and we'll address them. If you want
to tell me that I'm a piece of shit for saying
you won't travel 45 minutes to see your relatives.
So, like, whatever, man, like, whatever your
thoughts are, I definitely want to hear them.
If you want a good calendar, lvxmedia .net slash
boxing, and while you're there, go to lvxmedia
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articles, and you can check out the written content.
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All right, into the recaps. Starting with Friday,
March 13th, ProBox TV. In Kissimmee, Florida.
I was unimpressed with the Valle brothers. I
expected better. I know that they're Probox in
-house guys. So they're going to get the hype,
the media push. But still, for how much Probox
hypes them up, I don't feel like they really
lived up to it. You know what did live up to
it? Najee Lopez stops Manuel Gallegos in eight.
What a fight. Hell of a fight. If you haven't
seen it, go watch it. I'm going to go watch it
again. It's so good. I have watched it again.
Knockdowns on both sides. Just high action. Blood
everywhere. Yeah. No, it was great. Gallegos
is pretty tough, too. He was taking some bombs.
I was surprised that he never... I thought there
would have been more knockdowns with how cleanly
Gallegos was getting hit. Yeah, no, he was eating
some big punches. And it was the 7th, right?
Najee had him hurt. And then Gallegos came back
and knocked Najee down. Yeah. Yeah, that's right.
Gallegos looked like he was out on his feet.
Like, completely, like, punch drunk, just out
of it. I didn't know how he survived it. And
Nagi came in to finish it and, you know, was
a little not careful enough. And Gallegos caught
him real good. Like, that wasn't a flash knockdown.
That was a real knockdown. Yes. Isn't that what
the first knockdown was? A bit flashy? Flash
-ish? I think. Yeah, yeah. Well, it was early
in the fight. That was like the second round?
No, second round was the head clash. I'm looking
at... They cut Najee. Lopez down in round seven.
That's all that's listed, though. That's weird.
Oh, did they not? It was... Yeah, they didn't
count it. Oh, no, that was the head clash. That's
right. In the second round, there was a head
clash, and Gallegos did land a punch as Najee
was going down, but the ref did a really good
job and called it a head clash, didn't call it
a knockdown. Man, this is an instance, I like
to call it victory and defeat. Gallegos put his
name out there, put on a hell of a show. Pauly
and Chris were saying, yeah, we're definitely
going to be having him back. He'll be back on
Pro Box, and I'll be watching. Hell yeah. Yeah.
Man, another chapter in the Puerto Rico -Mexico
rivalry. Moving to Saturday, March 14th. Just
breezing over this one really quickly. Fucking
Anthony Caccacci. gets the WBA 130 title off
of Jazza Dickens. Josh's favorite Brit slayer
continues to rack up the wins. Kikachi's a Brit.
The whole Irish thing is just marketing. What?
That's interesting. Anthony Kikachi? He's Italian.
I don't know that. I always thought he was straight
Irish. Oh. Don't fool me. Well, I mean, his parents
are Italian, but you know what I mean. He was
born in Belfast. Moving on to Golden Boy at the
Honda Center in Anaheim, California. How was
this one? I missed it, but it was kind of like
a forward to Barbosa, kind of Sims. I really
started keeping track at Gabby. She beat the
shit out of Viviana Ruiz. Ruiz was game, but
she beat that ass. It was just another Gabby
fucking schooling. Gabby getting knockouts. Small
women don't get knockouts, and she's had four
in a row, I think. Women typically don't get
knockouts. Smaller dudes don't get knockouts,
typically. And Gabby's over here racking them
up. What's her weight class again? 112. 112.
She's talking about going down to 108. Why? No
need. Why do you just have to continue to sweep
up? Are you going to go for triple undisputed
as well? I mean, it'd be cool. Sit on the throne
next to Bud. Hold on. I'm trying to make a hypothetical
fight here in my head. I just got to look something
up. Like the broadcast team, we're talking about
Sanisa Estrada or Sanisa Mannix now coming out
of retirement to face Gabby. And Chris was like,
no, I don't want my wife in the ring with her.
I say Gabby move up and fight Skye Nicholson.
Gabby would fucking destroy Skye Nicholson. That's
10 pounds away. I don't care. Sharnika Johnson
is in 118. That'd be a fun fight, actually. Sharnika
Johnson. Yeah, she's fun. Ebony Bridges is around.
She's fun. Her weigh -ins are interesting. Fun
to look at. There's not much else, though. Yeah.
I mean, maybe Gabi moves up, fights Skydeck from
saying, like, a blockbuster fight. Just saying.
Be a fun fight to watch. Absolutely. She could
go up one weight class and fight Trenica Johnson.
That would be fun. Yeah. Yeah, Nyx is good. I
like her. I support. Shanada, did you put together
a formal speech? About JoJo? Alexis Rocha, UD
over Joseph JoJo fucking pedo ass BS. I heard
this fight was terrible, apparently. It was bad.
I'm disappointed in Rocha. Like, if you can't
get fucking JoJo out, what are you doing? And
how is JoJo still getting fights? Golden boy.
Oh, yeah. I mean, I guess that's all you got.
Yeah. Yep. I don't know. This was disappointing
all around. No, I didn't put together a formal
speech because it was so ass. Yeah. Well, I'll
play the diplomat on this one. This is... A formal
apology to anybody who might have heard that
clip that I put out on social media where we
were talking about Alexis Rocha whooping up on
fucking JoJo. And that certainly did not happen.
Yeah. If you were watching, hoping to see a diddler
get his comeuppance, you definitely did not get
that. So, apologies. Yeah. Disappointing performance
by Rocha. Not the diddler. Let the diddler live.
The worst of the Batman villains. The diddler.
Jared. Moving up. Oscar Collazo retires Jesus
Haro to retain his WBO minimum weight titles.
Not surprising. No. But also not the fight I
wanted to see. So I'm still angry about that.
Well, now that they have DAZN money, they can
get Melvin back. They can pay the Filipinos finally.
Yeah. Even though the Filipinos floated themselves
to get there. Bullshit. But yeah, no, Colazo...
Did collazo things. I thought he looked good.
Yeah. It was a clear mismatch. We had said that
from the beginning. Not much else to say beyond
that other than this is an instance where undisputed
is necessary. Just because no one's going to
pay attention to minimum weights. Even when they
are undisputed, nobody pays attention. I'm good.
Collazo did Collazo things, as you put it. Arnold
Barbosa beats Kenneth Sims by decision. Sims
didn't look... He started off okay, but he did
not finish very well. And, yeah. Rocha came into
the ring to confront. quote -unquote barbosa
so i don't know i honestly those two deserve
each other yeah this card overall like other
than gabby was kind of disappointing yeah it
was so let's get to something that wasn't disappointing
sunday march 15th taken promotions in yokohama
japan What do you got, Shanada? What were some
things that maybe weren't on the, wasn't on the
televised portion? I think the televised portion
started at Matsumoto Takada. Yeah, so it was
only the first fight wasn't on the televised.
It was a really good fight. It was just four
rounds, ended in a split draw, which, like, it
was really close. Split draw was not upsetting.
Neither of them really stood out to me, though.
Like, I didn't find a new favorite. So, that
first fight was fun, but nothing special. Basic
Japanese four -round war. They just come out
swinging. Clobber session? Yeah. Hmm. How did
you feel seeing the legend get stopped? Doctor
stopped it, and he got swept on the cards, I
think. Knockout CPFreshmart versus Iwata. You're
skipping the Matsumoto Takada? Because Takada
comes out to Uptown Funk, which is a great walkout
song. Fucking love it. Yeah. So I knew he was
going to lose, but I had to cheer for him. But...
Matsumoto's looking good. Like, I wouldn't mind
seeing him and Kalazo after Kalazo cleans up
the Filipinos. I like Matsumoto. He's the WBA
regular, I think. So he is mandatory -ish. Yeah,
he's something. He also has fun t -shirts. I
was an adult and didn't buy my 11th t -shirt,
but... They are fun. I would have gotten one.
Doesn't matter how many I have. Yeah. But yeah,
no. Seeing CP Freshmark stopped was... I mean,
I kind of expected it. Iwata's for real. But
I was really cheering for CP Freshmark. They
don't use his real name at all here. And, like,
you can't yell out Fresh Mart. That's just...
People did. But... So I was attempting his actual
last name. Neomto? I think... Yeah, I think he
heard me once. In between rounds. He looked at
me anyway. Did he? But no. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cool. I wasn't very far back. Actually, I was
too close. I wasn't high enough in the stands.
The ropes were in the way. Oh, yeah, I know what
you're talking about. Yeah, like, I was in the
section I wanted, but I was the third row of
raised seating. And I'd prefer to be about the
tenth row. A little bit of a downward angle?
Yeah, well, especially with these small guys,
so you can see over the ropes. So Iwata has the
WBC 108. I don't know who his contemporaries
are. 108. I'm so bad at weight classes. Light
flyweight. Rene Santiago has two belts. He's
got the WBA and the WBO. And then... The Nongsak
Simsri has the IBF. Okay. Simsri has a fight
coming up. I don't remember talking about him.
We've devolved into the degeneratist of degenerates
drip. You weren't here to keep us casual. I like
the little guys. Oh, yeah. But for Iwata, it's
got to be one of those two. A unification with
Santiago would be awesome. Yeah, definitely.
And Santiago fights in Japan fairly frequently.
He comes here a lot. Who is this? BoxRec has
somebody else at number one. Sergio Mendoza.
Mendoza. I need a pitcher. Sergio? Yes. You Hispanic
-ed on me. I wasn't sure. Alfonso. Oh, I've seen
him. He's fighting Sims 3 next. Oh, okay. Cool.
And Korakuen. When is it? April. And Koh Rukun.
Are you going to go get another t -shirt? Might
have to buy a ticket. They won't have t -shirts
because neither of them are Japanese. Well. Because
I wanted to buy. I've wanted to for a long time.
I even sent him messages on Instagram asking
how. I've wanted an Ola Squaga t -shirt. He's
got the A. with the tiara as the O over top of
it. Very cool. They're super cute. They're super
cute t -shirts, and I want one. I want Baby Blue
on a black t -shirt, and he has them. His team
wears them, but he doesn't sell them. Butthead.
Yeah. Moving up. Speaking of Olaskwaga, Stoppagen
9 over Jukia Imura. this might be beat down of
the year so far i was gonna say did you watch
it like that was just a fucking beating all the
squaga does all the squaga things imura is tough
as nails like i was hoping his corner would stop
it sooner somebody should have But it was super
cute. There was this tiny little Japanese voice.
Like I bet you the kid was like eight. And he
just kept yelling Ola Squaga over and over. Because
Amura had a ton of fans. He's from Tokyo. And
Yokohama is not very far. So they had like chants
going for Jukia. And this tiny little voice would
cut through in between. And be like Ola Squaga!
It was so cute. Very cool. Yeah. Little Japanese
boy is a fan of Ola Squago. Ola Squago fights
here a lot. He's got quite a few fans now, actually.
That wasn't the only voice, but it was the cutest
voice. Yeah, he does the same type of shit with
his hair and his outfits and stuff. The same
type of stuff the Japanese do. Yeah, yeah. His
hair was disappointing this time. It was like
a... off -colored, greeny -yellow. Weird. Yeah.
But yeah, Ola Squaga looked dominant. He gets
hit, but I wonder a little bit if he gets hit
because he knows he can take the punches from
these guys. I usually give people the benefit
of the doubt and assume that that is the case.
Boots, for example, gets hit a lot. Yeah. I imagine
he's a very intelligent fighter. Like when he
fought Royman Villa, who is like a club level
guy with world level power. He did not let Villa
touch him. So I think Ola Sklaga is just not
concerned. Yeah, like I think Ola Sklaga really
chases the knockouts. And if you're chasing knockouts,
you're going to get hit. Yeah, that too. Speaking
of getting hit. Nonita Donair stopped in eight
by Riku Masuda. This one was kind of sad. Have
we seen the end of Donair? I mean, we should
have. This should be the end, right? I think
so. Like, so I know not many people know Masuda,
but Masuda's got power. Like, and he was really
nervous at the beginning of the fight. Just like
Seiya was. And he got hit once. Masuda got rocked
early. But then Masuda figured out the timing
and Donair's old and slower than he used to be.
And then Masuda just started piecing him up.
Like, it was bad. And Donair was hurt. His team
tried to stop it at the very end of the 7th.
Like, they were waving the... at the ref to stop
it but there was only like three seconds left
so when he no need to walk back to the corner
he must have talked him into letting him go back
out man i've seen enough of donair getting hit
he's he's bright he's a good analyst like he
and he's eloquent i think he would be good on
comms like bro he is good on comms he does calm
sometimes he's in his mid 40s it's It's time,
man. It's been time. Like, you don't need to
be getting... Donair has his own theme song he
walks out to. I don't know if you watched The
Walkout. No, I didn't. That song fucking slaps.
I don't care what anyone says. Yeah, anyone who
hasn't heard the song should go find it. Donito
has his own song. Who else? Roy Jones obviously
had a whole album. Yeah, he did. Joe Joyce. had
his own intro music. The song must be up on...
It's gotta be somewhere, for sure. Yeah, it's
on YouTube. It's called Filipino Flash Nonito
Donair Theme Song by Respetados of Brown. Whoever
they are. But I think the song slaps. Like...
And Nonito's... outfit was fucking awesome. The
flames? I love the flames. That's like throwback
Filipino style. Yeah. Yeah. Masuda looked pretty
good, but Donair shouldn't be getting beat by
people like Masuda. Yeah, if he was still himself.
Yeah, like 10 years ago, Donair fucking stomps
this guy. Overall, how would you rate the event?
I thought this was a great card. The fights were
all fun. It was in a... They called it a stadium,
but it's more like a gymnasium in Yokohama. Nice
venue, and they actually had food and drinks,
which is always a plus. Nice. Yeah. Anything
more for Yokohama? No, I don't think so. All
right. Let's get these last notes out of the
way. Phone line. If you don't want to leave a
YouTube comment or Spotify or whatever else,
833 -589 -7637. Send me your spiciest takes.
WhatsApp is ideal, but I'll take whatever you
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heard me reference the chat quite a few times.
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bees. Be the change. And into the previews. Wait,
what? Upcoming shit. I have it written. Wednesday,
March 25th. Yvonne Michelle is putting on a card.
Alexis Barrier is a name that I recognized on
there. So, that's fine. He's fighting Robert
Sims. Like, who really gives a shit? Saturday,
March 28th. Queensberry at the Co -op Live in
Manchester. Woof, woof. Let's go from the bottom
up. Let me see if there's anything. Liam Davies
versus Zach Miller. I recognize those names.
Willie Hutchinson versus Ezra Taylor. And the
headline, Moses Itauma versus Jermaine Franklin.
How quickly does Itauma get... Franklin out of
there. Ah, dude, it's going to be quick. Faster
than Dillian White? I don't think so. I give
it... I give it no more than three rounds. No
more than three? Yeah. Franklin's pretty tough.
And he's also crafty. I don't know. I think he'll
be able to survive quite a bit of ways. Maybe
I'm not giving enough credit, but... I don't
know. I like Atomaw a lot, so... I'm going to
stick with three. I'll say no more than three.
That would be a statement. That would be a big
statement. Yeah, Atama is definitely... He's
like the guy of the next generation of heavyweights.
He is the guy already. He's establishing himself
as that. And he's... I don't necessarily know
if he... If it goes longer rounds, is that to
Atalma's detriment? That he didn't spark him
out faster? At some point, Atalma needs to get
rounds. Exactly. That's what I'm thinking. He
needs to get rounds with someone. This is not
a bad guy to get rounds with. Fuck it, I saw...
That one article, like, last week, they kept,
like, asking Yusuke about, like, him fighting
Atamo, and he was like, no, because he's too
young, I would break him. Honestly, very fair.
Like, that's very fair. Like, he would ruin that
kid's career. It's like, there's no point to
him to fight Yusuke by any means. I don't think
he'd ruin his career, but, I mean... Maybe not
his career, but I feel like his spirits, maybe.
Maybe, yeah. Like, that would just be, like,
a painful beating to watch. Mayweather, Canelo.
That's what it makes me think of. Yeah, exactly.
Snipe him while he's young. I'm trying to look
up something real quick. Fuck, dude. Who's Fabio
Wardley fighting again? Is that... Daniel Dubois.
Dubois, Dubois. Yeah, it was Dubois. See, I would
have said maybe even like... Wardley versus Atoma
would have been a real good test. Oh, that's
the... That's too dangerous. That's the Super
Bowl. They're going to build to that. They're
going to make the shit out of that. I think that's
going to be a good fight, though. That will go
gangbusters, for sure. Atoma, Wardley. If they
keep going at the rate that they are, because
just non -stop stoppages. Well, so I guess the
other side of the coin of that, right, is maybe
I'm looking too far ahead, but like... Wardley
versus Dubois, what do we think? I think Wardley,
I've bet against Wardley enough times that I'm
not doing it anymore. I genuinely think Dubois
is going to have a good opening stretch until
Wardley figures it out and sends him to the canvas.
Until the Wardley slot machine hits sevens again.
Like, every fucking time. He will hit triple
sevens. He always does. Yeah. This might be a
hot take, but I feel like Dubois is kind of sloppy.
Like, he's pretty sloppy, I feel like. And that's
where Wardley's going to catch him. His play
with AJ, even though he sparked AJ, like... He
just went in there like a bull in a china shop,
right? Just went in there swinging for the fences.
Yeah. And maybe someone like Wardley would actually
catch Dubois coming in like that, like just meeting
fire with fire in a way. Yeah. Just meet in the
middle and throw punches. I don't know. I've
been a Dubois hater for as long as I can remember.
And I just feel like he was hyped up so much.
like in his beginning of his career what he quit
against what was it Joyce right with the eye
thing which was fair I give him that like you
got your elbow broken take a knee that's that's
fair right no denying that one but he was getting
the shit behind with that one and then who else
made him Usyk made him quit off a jab and then
all the build -up before the Usyk 2 fight where
His team was just talking so much shit. It's
like, dude, like, your guy quit off a jab. Let's
be real. And I just feel like the whole Dubois
thing is like a failed Frank Warner experiment.
Like, just try to build up so much hype. He gets
the hype, gets slimed. Now I gotta build him
back up again. And let's be honest, like, if
Wordly slimes out Dubois again, then what? Do
you build him back up one more time? Nah, Dubois
is done if he gets KO'd. That's what I'm saying.
Like, I get he's young. He is young. I get that.
But, like, how good really is he? Let's be honest.
How good really is Dubois? I get it. He caught
AJ and beat him. Respect to that. Who else can
he beat? He was giving Usyk good work before
the jab. Right. Yeah, we'll give him that, too.
But quit off a jab. That part to me is insane.
I think the... the low blow, like the controversy
with that, I think that kind of messed with his
head and it took him out of the fight. So he,
I don't think that like the jab hurt him or like,
or he mentally checked out. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
He's not a very mentally strong boxer. He had
like, had he struggled with Gerald Miller? Yeah.
Oh my God. Yeah. I remember that. I forgot what
that fight too. I tried to forget. And then,
like, maybe even, like, Dubois versus Caballel
would be a good fight, but Caballel, I think,
is just, he needs to get his title shot. Yeah,
Caballel's been waiting too long. He's done his
waiting. Yeah. 12 years of it in Azkaban prison.
That was, that was, that was my whole spiel.
I think, I'm sure, I'm going to root for Wardley,
that he gets past Dubois, and then, obviously,
I think Otomo. smokes Franklin at some point.
That blockbuster fight of Wardley and Atauma
will be amazing to watch. Imagine if Wardley
hits triple sevens against Atauma. Oh my goodness.
Scenes. Absolute cinema. Because I don't think
Atauma's been hit hard at all. Nobody's caught
him. Nope, he hasn't been tested. Not at all.
That's why I'm hoping that Franklin Give some
good work. I think it'll go into the mids, the
mid rounds, like the middle four. Six to eight?
Yeah, somewhere in that area. Let's roll on.
Probox at Thunder Studios in California. The
only two fights on here really worth pointing
out, Brian Acosta versus Ronnie Rios and Rene
Taez versus Malik Montgomery. I'm not familiar
with him. I have no idea. Or whatever that's
worth. He's lost his last two fights. But that
might just make him hungry. That's prime setup
for Probox. It's Probox. Probox good. Enjoy it.
The undercard of the PBC on Prime event was announced.
Let me see if I can find the post. Because it's
not very good. Oh, my God. PBC Saban fights?
I forgot about them. Yeah. Holy shit. Their quarterly
pay -per -view? Yeah, fuck. What do they even
have? A few people. They have Roach, right? Lamont
Roach, I think, is with Probox. Really? Yeah.
Wow. Here it is. Okay, so the undercard is...
That's... Very unfortunate. Yeah, I don't know
who any of those are. The... Getting to, I don't
know who these people are, gets better. Gergen
Hovenissian versus Cesar Navarro. Isn't that
fun? We know who Hovenissian is. Do we? Yeah.
I think you're thinking of a different Hovenissian.
There's more than one Hovenissian? Yes. Oh, then
yes. You're thinking of Crazy A. He fights at
the lower weight classes. Okay. Yoendly Hernandez
versus Terrell Gachet. Yoendly is looking like
a decent middleweight guy coming up. And, like,
Lord knows that middleweight needs more names.
So, that's fun. And the main event, Sebastian
Fundora defending his WBC super welterweight
title against Keith. One time. Ah, God. I mean,
Fandora's just going to beat up an old man, right?
Yeah, dude. What are we doing here? Yeah. I have
the same question, Drip. I have the same question.
The state of boxing, ladies and gentlemen. The
state of boxing. I mean, given what the recent
signings to Top Rank and signing to DAZN, Golden
Boy re -signing to DAZN, Queensbury and Mattrum
are on long -term deals. Boxing's not in a bad
state. it's pbc's in a bad state yeah you know
what you're right let me take let me retract
that the state of pbc is it's fucking dire um
yeah this like quarterly pay -per -view shit
needs to stop um there there should be for what
pbc started out as like in 2015 2016 time frame
it was there was developmental series contender
series and then like the big big name pay -per
-views But now, you're going to charge me like
$80 for this? Get the fuck out of here, man.
Nah, dude. They need investors. They need investors
and they need fighters. I said in Discord that
PBC, with Top Rank and Golden Boy going back,
that PBC should be looking at DAZN as a new home.
And they should be signing those partnership
deals with the other promoters. Long before Sufo
comes through and takes all PBC's fighters. Yeah,
you gotta do something with them. I don't know,
do you guys have anything more on this fight?
This card's pretty fucking abysmal. Yeah, that's
not worth my time to even watch it. I mean, I'll
watch Pandora, but... Right. Even that, I'm like,
tell you what, if I'm not doing anything, I'll
throw it on, but I probably won't make time for
it if it's like the morning out and about. Yeah,
that's fair. So, as we transition out of the
previews, Drip, you've got a lot to say. Let
her rip. There's a lot of questions and comments,
but, I mean, let's start with Zufa. What do you
guys think about it? I watched the Wong card,
I think it was last week, two weeks ago. I didn't
think it was terrible by any means, but when
they first announced Zufa becoming a thing, I
thought it would just be that, like, up -and
-comers, low -level guys to kind of, like, start
off at, get their names out there, put on some
fights. And then suddenly we're signing Conor
Benn for $15 million, and... Jaya Pataya gets
a Zufa belt with his IBF controversy. And I'm
just like, what are we doing? What's the actual
end goal here? I thought, again, it was just
going to be up -and -comers, low -level pros
to kind of get in there and build their names
up and maybe leave after their contract or so
on and so forth until Zufa can afford these high
-level names. But right now, it's just all over
the place. It's like a spider web. Zufa has...
no real, like, business plan right now, I don't
think. Like, oh, we're going back to the original
weight classes, unless we can sign someone famous
in a different weight class. Oh, we're not working
with anybody, it's only gonna be the Zufa belts.
Well, except for these guys that want the other
belts and already have them, I guess they can
keep them. Yeah, I guess make an exception. Well,
now it's like, okay, you do it for him, you gotta
do it for everybody. And at that point, you're...
You're already breaking your business model.
Yeah, you're doing the same exact thing that
you were bitching about that boxing was broken.
Now look at us. You're bitching about the titles
that are being too many titles and then you're
adding one to it. You're adding a belt. You're
adding a belt. What the fuck? I've been seeing
this post go around on Instagram. It said, which
belt do you think is most prestigious in the
six belt era? Six. Six. No. It's disgusting.
Absolutely abysmal. So we already have... It's
already bad enough with the four. Alright? They're
fucking shady organizations. But adding Zufa
and I continue to have this discussion. It keeps
coming up. Is The Ring a title? Ring Magazine?
No. Is that a title? No. I wouldn't say this
now. Well, if they're saying six belts, it has
to be the ring is the other one. That is the
other one. That's why I'm asking. Yeah. I would
view it as like a, I don't even know, like a
prestigious award. Not so much a belt. Yeah,
like more of a trophy award type thing. Yeah.
And that's what it's supposed to be. Congrats.
You're number one. Here you go. Yeah, exactly.
Kind of like the Muhammad Ali trophy. It's a
trophy. It's like. uh prestigious award i wouldn't
consider the ring magazine belt as a belt but
if that's what we're aiming towards i mean i
guess but now what yeah we're in a six belt era
like how do you even keep up all this shit be
a fucking filthy degenerate like me uh listening
listening to boxing before dark and boxing b
-sides and that's how you keep up with all that
shit because i do it for you great plugin that
was a great plugin a great layup yeah thank you
that was alley -oop from drip Right on. Yeah,
I don't know. Like, I guess with Zufa also, like,
I know a lot of UFC fighters were, like, speaking
up about, like, why the fuck is Conor Benn getting
$15 million? I'm sure you guys already went over
this in the UFC podcast, but... We're going over
it everywhere. Keep slapping him with it. It's
like... My thing is, too, like, it's going to
go with the fucking spider web, like a spiral,
but... Okay, Conor Benn. Huge name in England,
right? That's about it. No one knows the fuck
Connor Bennett is in America. No one cares. Yeah,
no one cares either. Maybe this will kind of
get him some publicity in America, some star
power there. But, okay, who does he fight? Who
does Connor Bennett fight for $15 million? Regis
Progray. Yeah. Crazy. Are they going to pay Regis
Progray close to $15 million also? Hell no. Well,
they got to pay him something, right? Actually,
I saw some articles that Eddie Hearn is trying
to prove that Conor Bent isn't getting $15 million
for that one fight. It's going to turn into a
two -fight deal. And that means he didn't have
the opportunity to match it, which breaks contracts
or some legal bullshit. So Eddie Hearn's trying
to take him back to court, I think. Connor to
court or Dana to court? Both. Both. Interesting.
I mean, I know Dana and Eddie Hearn are having
a war of the words, but I don't know. Even then,
so, like, let's say it's a two -fight deal, so
you're still going to pay Connor or Ben, what,
seven and a half million to fight Regis Progray?
Yeah, that's ridiculous. On top of what they
have to pay Regis Progray, too, which I'm assuming
is going to be, like, at least Maybe like, what,
2 million maybe? They gotta give him something,
right? I don't know how true this is, but I had
heard somewhere that it was a 500k. That's insane.
That's absolutely insane. Regis is dumb for taking
that. Sorry, Regis, you ever watch this podcast?
Sorry, but you're an idiot for taking that. I
know you're listening, Regis. It's all good.
I hope you're not getting off the 500k and accepting
it while Connor Ben is getting 7 .5 million,
supposedly. That's insane, brother. It's fucking
crazy. That whole Connor Ben signing is just
to piss off Eddie Hearn. No other reason for
it. 100%. That's why Dana, he didn't take Tom
Aspinall, but he signed him to his talent agency
or whatever. He was on the Ariel Helwani. I'm
sorry. Eddie Hearn went on Ariel's podcast and
he was ripping into Zufa and Dana and how the
business model is not sustainable and everything.
A lot of valid points, honestly. But after, like,
after Conor Ben's fights are done, does he re
-sign with Zufa? Does he go, where else does
he go? Like, what happens then? Because that's,
I mean, Conor's going to be what? Zufa's the
biggest star, right? Do they lose him? Oh, yeah,
you just sink 15 mil for two fights, and then
he's gone? Yeah, like, then, well, that's your
biggest star, because rumor is that they also
reached out to AJ, too. They wanted to sign AJ,
but he obviously shut it down, because he's...
They reached out to everyone. Yeah. They tried
Usyk? Yeah, that was never going to happen. Imagine
the insane amount of money they have to pay AJ
or Usyk to even come over. It would be abysmal.
Right. Like, you show AJ 15 mil for a two -fight
contract, and then he's going to say, I haven't
made 7 .5 in one fight in, like, a decade or
more. You are fucking out of your mind if you
think I'm going to take that. I'm just wondering
if, like, these signings, like, Jabba, Taya,
Connor, Ben, I don't know if they have anyone
else bigger than those two, right? That's, like,
their main stars right now. No, that's their
two. Those are the biggest ones they got. So,
like, let's say, like, I wonder if they signed
those two to get, like, traction into Zufa, and
then they'll have more eyes on it now. It's kind
of like a way to, like, bring people in. Like,
hey, look at these two big stars we have. You
know, I don't think that... Boxing fans are the
target demographic for Zufa. Zufa is their target
audience is people who like the UFC structure.
That's it. One belt divisions. Yeah. It's there.
Zufa is going to be operating at a loss for a
while. because they're going to have to pay fighters
to come over, and it's going to cost them more
than it would for the no -name Russians and Mexicans
that they have on the prelims. But right now,
to their benefit, they don't have to pay site
fees. The Apex is their venue, and it's going
to be their venue for the foreseeable future.
And it's a shit venue. It sucks. It's so small.
It's dead in there. But... It is small. While
they're building up, it's a free space to use.
I will say, the one thing I like about the Apex
is because it's so small and it's kind of quiet,
you can hear all the punches. So that's the one
thing I do like about the Apex. Yeah, but there's
no crowd noise. Like, it's not... It's just a
fighter's family that you can hear. Yeah, it's
just like a garage with a boxing ring in it.
The... The dude that fought Opitaya, Brandon
Glanton, he was saying on an IG Live or something,
he was saying that Zufa has been treating him
better than any other promoter ever has. He has
access... All the stuff that I'm about to list
out are free. Meals, training facilities, and
I think room and board is not... fully comped
but there is assistance for it if you stay in
the vegas area so for a guy like glanton or mark
maxio that honestly this is a really good career
move for guys like that they're gonna have a
steady schedule of fights the pay is not gonna
be as good as you're gonna get elsewhere but
you're never gonna wonder when is my next fight
because it's gonna be in like six months That
makes sense, yeah. And Brandon Glanton isn't
going to win any of the titles anyways. No, he's
not. This is the perfect spot for him to be at.
He's not going to beat Opitaya. He's not going
to beat Zerdo. He's not going to beat Benavidez.
Yeah, now he's just making steady income on Zufa.
It's funny to me because before Zufa and all
these big name signings like Ben, whatever. Dana
White was like, boxers make too much money. You
can't run a business like that. It's crazy. And
then he fucking switches it. Now Dana's like,
why is it a bad thing when guys make more money?
Well, then which is it, Dana White? Do you want
to not pay too much? Or do you want to pay him
more? Dana White is a smarmy fucking cocksucker.
I cannot stand that piece of shit. If he has
a heart attack tomorrow, I will pretend to call
911 just to make sure that no one else does.
I mean, he built up UFC from like ground up,
like 20 plus years. I get that. He did phenomenal
with it, but I just don't see him doing the same
thing in boxing. Honestly, I think it's kind
of like you said, it's going to be good for those
guys who will like really never touch gold, but
they'll still make good money off of fighting
career. Right. They'll have steady work. They'll
have access to a gym, to, to a chef and all that
type of stuff. All the accoutrement that goes
into being a fighter. that most people don't
really think about. Who do you think their next
signing would be? I saw rumors of Andy Ruiz.
Actually, you know what? That makes a whole lot
of sense. I could see Ruiz definitely going to
Zufa. They tried to court Gerald Miller, but
he signed with Mattroom. I don't know if it's
been announced yet, but Gerald Miller has pretty
much confirmed it. I think he went on a podcast
where he said they weren't offering him as much
as Mattroom was. Yeah, of course they're not.
Because Miller, the hairpiece situation, that
was the most perfect thing that could have ever
happened for Gerald Miller's career. The best
thing for his career. Yeah, I mean, I guess to
sum it up, I like the Zufa cards I've watched
so far, but I just don't see where this business
model is going. What's the end goal here? Because
first it was, you know, Fox is making too much
money. Now what's wrong with paying them more?
And now you're trying to poach these high -level
stars from, like, their contracts and everything,
but they're not going to come over. Usyk's not
coming over. AJ's not coming over. Fuck, you
might get Deontay Wilder. Maybe you might get
Deontay Wilder. At this point of his career,
yes. Yeah. But is that what Zufa's going to be?
It's going to be low -level pros and washed -up
stars? Retirement League and Development League?
I mean, if that's what they want to do, then
so be it. But I just... I don't know. The whole
model to me just doesn't make sense. I know that
Robert Garcia does... He doesn't mind Zufa. Because
all of his... All the kids at his gym... boxing
academy the rgba all of his kids like they're
he's getting calls for them to get work so he's
like fuck yeah i want to get my kids paid that's
fair i mean listen hopefully it blossoms to something
great otherwise i hope it fucking dies pro pro
box is in the same like kind of niche that zufa
is right now and pro box does a better And when
their guys get too good for pro box, they're
like, go spread your wings. Like we're not going
to keep you caged here. Yeah. Yeah. That I, that
is something I absolutely appreciate about pro
box, like Lamont Roach, Angelo, Leo, Leo, Lester
Martinez. Martinez is getting on the verge. He's
going to be leaving. Yeah. And, like, career
rehab? Like, what I don't like, and it's what
we don't know about their contract model. Because
if we're talking about it as a development league,
Zufa, I mean, then cool. If they're on, like,
a four -fight contract, cool. But what happens
at the end of four? Are they automatically renewed?
Like, the way that UFC guys are? I think those
young guys are signing the six -year contracts.
Six years? Well, if they're, like, 18, that is,
like, development time. Sure, that's fair, actually.
Yeah, that makes sense. But if they stay there,
that's the problem. I don't know. Fuck Zufo.
Yeah, there's too many unanswered questions about
it. Also, it's not fun. They don't get to wear
cool clothes. They don't get to, like, Zufa's
anti -fun. The belt's ugly. They have to wear
uniform shorts. I saw one fight they didn't even
have the guy's names. Or, like, you know how
it's, like, black shorts, white shorts? Yeah,
yeah. Yeah, I'm like, this is, this sucks. Everything
about this sucks. I think it's, I think they're,
like, doing the UFC model, right? Where it's
like no sponsorships, nothing on the shorts or
anything. Yeah, but it's boring. Like, I know
you were saying how Dana built up the UFC, but
the UFC was fun when it started. It was. It was.
After he got rid of all the competition, Dana
stripped all the fun from the UFC. Yeah, I mean,
I know, and I'm sure Leo, you guys talked about
the UFC podcast too, that UFC right now itself
is like not in a good place. It's a plateau almost,
right? It's plateauing. It's not getting better.
It's not doing too hot either, though. The last
time I watched UFC was the early 2000s, and they
were still allowed to have fun shorts and stuff.
It sounds so stupid, but I like that the fighters
in boxing can express their personality a little.
Oh, that's fair. I get that. UFC has stripped
the personality from the fighters. They want
you to not even care about the individuals and
just like, oh, it's a UFC fight, I'll watch it.
It's not like they don't want you to be fans
of a certain person. Yeah, I mean, at the end
of the day, they're employees, right? Their whole
motto is like, hey, you're an employee to the
UFC, so it's not like boxing. Yeah, boxing, you're
like a person. Yeah, like... It's promotions,
events, contractors, whatever. Like, I mean,
I guess with the UFC, they are technically 1099s,
if I'm not wrong. Yeah, they are independent
contractors. Yeah, but they're under UFC's, like,
rules, regulations, and shit like that. Whereas
boxing, it's like, hey, you're contractors, but,
you know, do your thing. Yeah, if you can make
money off of your own name, go for it. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, that's pretty much it. I wanted
to go over that, because I wasn't sure what your
guys' thoughts were on Sufa and, you know, maybe
his future. I don't like it, and I'm kind of
hoping it bombs. I'm hoping they blow all their
money on these big signings and it doesn't work.
I don't know, with Turkey backing it, I don't
think they were going to go broke. Because Turkey,
I think Turkey's like a 60 % owner of TTO. Turkey's
going to get bored. Turkey's going to get bored.
As Josh puts it, it's like he's going to get
tired of playing with his action figures. Yeah.
On to the next sport, right? Yeah. Like, they
do tennis, golf. They have a... Saudi Arabia
now has, like, a fucking soccer league that they
signed Cristiano Ronaldo. Yeah, I didn't see
that. Wait till they discover American football.
We'll see, I guess. Maybe he'll get more. Well,
this has been a fucking good conversation, but
we gotta get it out of here. Yep, let's wrap
it up. So, we're heading into Moses Atalma Weekend.
Parting words. Moses in three. And that's coming
from me. I'm more excited about Fundora. The
card's not as good, but... Yeah, Fundora beat
on Old Man Thurman. It'll be fun to watch, too.
We'll finally be rid of Thurman. Wait, can I
add in one piece real quick before we wrap it
up? Fire away? Fury versus Makhmudov. What an
interesting fight. We know what it's for, obviously.
Yeah, they just picked the guy that looks like
a bad guy in the movie. Fury, the superstar Brit
versus the scary Russian. Yeah, yeah. He looks
like a Neanderthal. He really kind of does. I'm
sure you guys already talked about it in my absence,
but... The Usyk versus the Rico one. Boo. That's
just such a waste of time. Get your money, Usyk,
but this is a stupid fight. He said he's only
got three fight stuff that was like Rico, maybe
Dubois. Wardley Dubois winner. Wardley Dubois
winner. And then Fury 3. Nobody wants Fury 3.
Nobody wants Fury 3. But I guess I think I said
it in the chat earlier. I wonder if Usyk wants
Fury 3 just because he knows he can bully Usyk
into an easy payday. I mean, bully Fury into
an easy payday. Like, because he knows Fury can't
hurt him. He knows he can beat him pretty comfortably.
Yeah. I wonder if he's taking that third fight
just to, like, kind of bully him for, like, an
easy payday. And Rafa's on set. Honestly, I kind
of wish Usyk would have retired after his last
fight. That was the perfect place to retire.
Yeah, I agree. To me. I agree. I agree. All right.
Nothing more for me. I don't want to hold you
guys up anymore. Well, I'm going to leave you
guys with maybe something to think about. Do
Roman paramedics refer to IVs as fours? If only
you all could see how far back in your skulls
your eyes rolled. Don't worry, Leo. They'll all
have the same look on their face. That might
be when someone just closed out the podcast.
Yeah, done. All right. That might be like the
slams laptop moment. That's why I put it at the
end. All right. Drip, it's been great having
you back. Likewise. That is it for this edition
of Boxing Before Dark. My batteries are getting
low. And it is getting dark.