Boxing with Chris Mannix - Another Mega Card in Saudi

Joining Mannix this week is longtime boxing writer Dan Rafael. Mannix and Rafael discuss a lackluster performance from Jared Anderson last weekend, the official announcement of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol, a fantastic Matchroom vs. Queensbury 5 x 5, Boots Ennis signing with Matchroom, more. Later, Devin Haney on his beef with Ryan Garcia, why it's become personal and more. #Volume #Herd

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
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(00:30):
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This playoff mix is incredible.

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Speaker 1 (02:00):
This is boxing with Chris Manning. Oh, somebody punch him
in the face.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Empty Joshua is a composed and ferocious finisher.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
Watch this handar weeks. This a heavy weady.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Hosted by SI's Chris Mannix.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
That was my moments now with interviews, analysis and everything
going on in the world of boxing.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
When you have talent, you are given another chance.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Here's Chris Mannix.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
And we are back boxing with Chris Mannix, part of
the Volume Sports podcast network. As always, I want to
welcome in everyone that is listening on the podcast speed.
If you are not a subscriber, get over to the
box of Chris Mattics feed, hit that subscribe button. Make
sure you get this pod in your feed every single week.
And it is going to be a busy week on

(02:47):
the podcast. The first show of the week and I'm
thinking there are going to be as many as three
shows this week. That's my thinking right now. It's a
huge week in boxing. You've got the Ryan Garcia Devin
Hainey fight finally happening Saturday night Barclay Center on Dezonne.

(03:09):
That's just a massive event and that's worthy of talking
about a few times this week.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
So we've got a.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Show today, We're going to have another show before the fight,
and most likely I'm going to tape a third show
after the fight, a recap show after the fight. So
you want to be a subscriber to get into that
feed and make sure you get all three of those
likely shows. This week, We've got a good one today.

(03:36):
Dan Rayfield, the longtime boxing writer covered box for the
USA Today ESPN now has his own substack. We run
through some of the news of the week from a
lackluster fight featuring Jared Anderson this past weekend.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
We've got some.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
News in Saudi Arabia. The mattch Room versus Queensburry five
on five is set. It is headlined by the Dimitri
bevil Archer Better bif fight. That's right, the massive fight
at one seventy five is going to take place June
first in Saudi arabi We also talk about the Boots
Ennis signing with Mattroom that happened late last week. We
didn't get into it, but that's a big signing for

(04:15):
Mattroom and a big opportunity for Boots Ennis to stay
busy in twenty twenty four and beyond. So a good
conversation with Dan Rayfield. A little bit later on Devin Haney,
the former undisputed one hundred and thirty five pound champion
now one hundred and forty pound title old.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
He joins me to.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Talk about the beef with Ryan Garcia, like where does
it stem from? Why has it gotten so nasty over
the last couple of months, and what is Devon's plan
for this fight with Ryan Garcia? Is going into it
as a pretty significant favorite, and that's partly due to
the fact that Ryan Garcia has behaved erratically during this

(04:54):
training camp. But Devon's got to be wary of that
power of Ryan Garcia because that left hand and can
erase you in an instant. I think Bill Haney, the
father of Devin Haney, calls it Ryan's good night, Irene,
and that is a apt descriptor of it, because he's
put a lot of guys down with that left hook.
And if Devin isn't on his toes and on his game,

(05:17):
canet clip with it as well. So stick around for
that good conversation with Devin Haney. All right, when we
come back, my conversation with Dan Rayfield. All right, Dan
Rayfield is back, longtime boxing journalist. He's got a terrific

(05:38):
newsletter on substack called fight Freaks Unite. Can subscribe there
or via any of Dan's social media channels. Dan We've
got a lot to get into on the show this week,
but we have to start by looking back at whatever
that was Jared Anderson and Riad Murray this past weekend,
because that was I mean, I'm not a big UFC guy,

(06:00):
but I found myself paying the eighty bucks or whatever
it was for UFC three hundred when I was watching
that debacle take place in the ring. Just a recap,
Jared Anderson beats Rihod Mercy Murray by wide decision. Anderson
was one hundred and twenty eight of six hundred and
sixty two punches thrown. That's nineteen percent connect raat Riad
Murray was thirty four of one forty four, so landed

(06:24):
thirty four punches in that entire fight.

Speaker 5 (06:26):
Fight.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
The one hundred and forty four punches thrown for Mary
was the third fewest in a ten round fight in
copy box history. So his only goal coming into this
fight was not to get knocked out, so he succeeded
in that. But I guess the question is, with the
focus on Jared Anderson and the belief among some people
that he is the next big thing in the heavyweight division,

(06:50):
watching that fight, how much did you put on Jared Anderson.

Speaker 5 (06:55):
I think it was mostly Mary's fault. I mean, the
punch stat is not the end'll be all, but that
serves as a good guy. And when you throw that
few punches, I have to believe it's somewhat accurate. It's
not that hard to count. Frankly, and I mean, we
could think of the action fighters that we've seen through
the years, where there are certain fights where you may
have seen a guy land thirty four of one hundred
and forty four in a single round, much less do

(07:18):
that for the entire fight. So I placed most of
the blame on Mary because he just put his hands
up at the side of his head, He slid along
the ropes, he did not engage whatsoever. I don't know
if he ever threw like a legitimate combination the entire fight.
So he definitely has to take some of the blame.
And as you mentioned in the Jared Coffy Box statistical breakdown,
he was busy. He threw a lot of punches. Six

(07:39):
hundred plus punches for a heavyweight and ten round fights
a pretty good pace. I can't argue with that. You know,
he didn't maybe land as many shots as he would
have liked it only at nineteen percent, But again, part
of that was because the opponent was so defensive minded
that if all you're focusing on is the defense, can
be hard to crack that nut, so to speak. So
I guess if I had to spread out the blame
quote unquote, I would probably say it's like eighty five

(08:02):
percent on Mary and you know, fifteen percent on Jared,
only because you'd like to see Jared knowing that there's
nothing coming back to maybe press the action a little bit.
But again, if you want every single round and you're
not even breaking a sweat and you've got the guy
completely under control, it's hard to get mad at the
guy for not doing what he typically does because even
if you take a look at the rest of his fights,
he mostly has knockouts. So the odd fight that goes

(08:25):
at ten round distance with a guy that's so ultra negative,
can't really get too mad about it, you know. And
I know that even though the fights you know, was terrible.
I know some of the people that are, you know,
with part of that Jared Anderson team, they're not unhappy
that he got in the ten rounds. And it's good
sometimes for a younger fighter to have some element of
that frustration in a fight before you step up to
the big time. So you know, I don't, I can't.

(08:47):
I blame him a little bit, but this is all
on rihad Mary. I make the point that they should
ship him back and make TSA not allow him back
into the United States.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
I mean, certainly not for a fight, because imagine showing
up for a big event like that, headlining event like that,
and just fighting not to get knocked out. Not that
it's it's unique per se, but you know that's not
how you I.

Speaker 5 (09:07):
Was extreme though, that's the problem, and we've seen yeah,
but point where he literally won't throw a punch.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, yeah, that was a bit I grew through on
the Anderson part, where like if a guy's not given
you anything, maybe you just go in there and try
to take his head off at some point. Never really
did that, you know, during that fight. That's probably the
only critique I have.

Speaker 5 (09:29):
And just say one other thing about Anderson. I'm not
I don't need to like defend him anything like that.
I do suspect that there was you know, there has
been some distractions in his world because he's there on
the on the on the card Saturday Night fighting in
a boxing match, and it's got to be on his
mind to some degree that he's going to court on
Monday to appear before the judge in the in the
most recent legal case he has gone for him. So

(09:50):
if there's some distractions, I mean, it's understandable. I'm not
saying I condone his activities and his ill behavior. Let's say,
but I understand that life happens, and you're not always
going to be at your absolute best every day when
you go into work. And even at that, he still
won every single round. And by the way, let's just say,
for the for the record, here you had two judges

(10:10):
that squarted a clean shutout, which was obvious. I scored
a clean shutout, and you had one judge, David Sutherland,
who actually gave the tenth round to read Mary, which
I find to be detestable because it will be lost
in history because pople just look, Oh, I was a
close fight, you know, as a one sided fight, which
it was. But I just find it no possible way
you could even give the guy one round at all.
Not acceptable.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
I agree, I agree.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
I there was no rounds he won, not statistically, not
to the eyeball test. It didn't look like he won
anything at all. Andrews is the prospect here, right, and
we're all looking at him wondering if he is going
to be the next US heavyweight champion. Now, top rank
is not going to put any pressure on him in
the near future, not that they could anyway. The heavyweight

(10:53):
belts are likely going to be tied up for the
rest of the calendar year. But there's a nominal plan
in place to have Anderson in bigger fights in twenty
twenty five and potentially world championship fights in twenty twenty six.
Is that the plan that makes the most sense in
your mind for Jared Anderson? Do you still think he's
you know, capable of being that next heavyweight champion.

Speaker 5 (11:14):
I mean, obviously I love the skills that the man has.
He's obviously got the size and the power. I'm not
sure he's got the the perfect mentality to be the
heavyweight Shavean of the world. And I'm not like a
hater or anything like that, but you know, you see
a guy on the way up, you look at the
just the raw skills, you see the way he performs.
What's concerned about Anderson is his utter contempt for the sport.

(11:35):
It seems that he doesn't ever take an opportunity to
not tell you how much he doesn't like boxing. And
if you're gonna be the absolute best and it reached
the pinnacle, I feel like, no matter what your profession is,
you could be you know, whatever your job is, If
you're going to be the best at it, whatever it is,
you have to have somewhere in the recess of your
mind and your heart a love for it, or at

(11:56):
least an enjoyment or a like I don't know, you
could be a freaking you know, cleaning up Messa's or
you know, a janitor. You got to at least take
some pride in that. So if he is telling you
all the time how much he doesn't like it and
he only does it for the money, you know, chickens
come home through set point at some point, so that
that's getting me pause. That sort of attitude. You combine
that with the problems he's at outside the ring. I

(12:17):
hope he gets that under control, and it's you know what,
we'll we'll chalk it up to, you know, youthful indiscretion.
He is only twenty four, you know, he's still a
grown man. But you know, it's still on the younger
side of things. He's got plenty of growing to do,
both as a human being and as a as a
professional fighter. So I hope the best for him. I
picked him as the prospect of the year a few
years ago. He's got all the skills and the tools

(12:38):
you want to see. Now it's just a matter can
he harness it in terms of the top ranked plan. Look,
you said that the titles are tied up for the
time being. There's no obvious pathway through that belt. Obviously,
you know they can move him to become a mandatory
at some point, but even that was take while to
occur if you have unified belts, because they use the
rotation system and there's a lot of guys ahead of
him in line at the moment. I think what they

(12:59):
need to do was just, you know, keep him busy
and try to find the best possible opponus that they can,
and you know, continue to build his record, his profile,
his confidence, whatever elements you think he needs to work on,
and when he's ready, he'll be ready. And you go
and you find the biggest and the best way you
can if it have to be brutal, terrific, If not,
you know, you got to wait your turn.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, the mentality is what needs to be monitor here.
He's someone that has been very vocal about how he
doesn't love boxing. He's just in it for the money.
He said he wants to retire as early as twenty seven,
which is only about two and a half three years away.
You've got to keep an eye on that because when

(13:41):
he steps up in competition, he's going to have to go.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Through some fires here.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
You know, whether it's at the World Championship level or
a cut below it, You're gonna have to see what
this guy's made of. And you know, guys like Marhi
and even Charles Martin and some of the other guys
he's faced over the last couple of years, they're not
going to test that metal in the same way guys
like herkiv Jaranthony Joshua or even Fury or Usik will
will ultimately do. So that that's what I'm watching most
closely with with Jared Anderson. All Right, So on Monday,

(14:10):
we had the formal announcement of the next Mega Card
in Saudi Arabia on June first. The show will be
headlined by the light heavyweight unification fight between archer Betterbiev
and Dmitri b Beevill, a fight that I don't believe
would have ever happened if the Saudis didn't get involved,
So give them credit for stepping up and doing that.

(14:30):
Also part of that card is the Matchroom versus Queensbury
five on five, the heavily anticipated in the UK for sure,
five on five between Matchroom and Queensberry. Some good fights
on that card. You've got Deontay Wilder against jay Lee Jeong.
You got Raymond Ford taking on Nick Ball. I think
that's going to be a pretty good fight. Let's start though,

(14:52):
with Beevil against Better beev Dan. What we've seen of
Beevil and Better beev over the last year. Does that
make you right now lean one way or the other
going into this fight or is this a true kind
of fifty to fifty coin flip fight.

Speaker 5 (15:09):
First of all, it's a great fight. I mean that's
the main thing. It is. Literally, if you were to
write down your list of you know, a handful of
the fights that you most wanted to see in boxing,
I believe this would be or should be anyway on
anybody's top you know list of the first you know,
two or three fights that spring to their mind. Maybe
number one. To be honest, as far as you know
which way you might lean having witnessed their recent fights,

(15:31):
it is a fifty to fifty kind of fight. There's
reasons to pick both fighters. A lot of people will
look at better be Off and say, yeah, he's got
tremendous punching power. He's obviously talented, he's skilled. He's a
two time Olympian, but he ain't getting any younger. I
mean he's getting a bit older now. He's taken some shots.
And in terms of bevol you know, he is a

(15:52):
tremendous technical boxer, not a big puncher at all. In
terms of the certainly not compared to the better Be
It was maybe the best one punch guy, you know,
guy that breaks you down anyway, Maybe not for one punch,
but in terms of just punch or overall in the
whole sport. And you know, is it the puncher versus
the skills of people or the skills to how box
of bet or BV And you know, I mean Biovoll
can still crack a little bit the same way. You know,

(16:14):
better Be a certainly capable of boxing to a degree.
So I just think this is a fantastic matchup, and
I'm part press of the moment to give any kind
of definitive thought about who actually wins the fight. I got,
you know, plenty of time to make that pick down
the road, but I'm thrilled that the fights happening. I
agree with you one thousand percent that if there is
no Saudi Arabian money tobacco fight like this, it wouldn't
happen because the two fighters had certain expectations for what

(16:36):
they wanted to make and the money, frankly, just did
not exist. Because neither of these two guys, as great
a fighters as they are as they are, don't have
big fan bases. They don't they can't go fight where
they're from and draw a crowd because of a lot
of different reasons, and so you have to find somebody
that's willing to spend the money. There's no big outlet
that's going to be a huge license fee they'd pay

(16:57):
millions of dollars, just not at the level of two
guys want to risk what they uh what they're what
they're gambling on. So you know, when you have the
folks at Sardi Arabia that have you know, essentially an
endless amount of money to spend on you know, whatever
Turkey al Sheet wants to buy, you know, any fight
that he wants, If he wants to fight, he can
pay for it. I mean, it's it's as simple as that.

(17:18):
And and and he made the decision and work with
his partners, so and you know, obviously he's done a
lot of business with Matchroom and and Queensberry, and obviously
with top rank they would have been able to do
this deal. It's a it's a beautiful thing. How long
is up? I don't know.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
It's gotta be one of the biggest light heavyweight fights
in boxing history. I don't know where it ranks on
that list, but it's got to be up there on
that list. Two undefeated guys with this kind of power,
this kind of skill set, it's up there. And I
wouldn't frame it as the boxer versus the brawler because
we both know Better BV is not just a brawler.

(17:54):
There is a matter, yeah, boxer versus the punch. Although
when I watched Better BV, there is there's a lot
of technique to what he does, right, Like, there's there's
a skill level to what he's doing. He just finishes
it off with blunt force trauma. That's it's kind of
what he's become known for. My question, coming into this fight,
you mentioned that Beevil's got some pop. He has not

(18:17):
had a knockout since twenty seventeen, and it's not like
every fight he's been in has been against some granite
chinned contender. He has gone the distance with some rather
ordinary guys. So I'll put that question to you, like,
does to beat Better Beev? It feels like at some
point you've got to make him respect you. You've got

(18:38):
to keep him just from being on you for twelve rounds.
Does Beevil have that kind of power? Does he need
that kind of power to beat a guy like better Viev?

Speaker 5 (18:47):
I don't know if he needs the power. What he
needs is he needs the accuracy. He needs to just
be able to place his punches to at least let
Better be of know. Okay, this guy is real. He
may not be able to knock down with one shot,
but he can score points with those punches. I mean,
but obviously for people to win the fight, it's going
to be more a box this guy. You're not gonna
go brawl with Better VF. That's stupid. That doesn't make

(19:09):
any sense. You may not refer to them as a brawler,
but if you had to compare the two, which one
is more of a brawler than a kind of boxer,
you would certainly take better VIM in that respect. My
concern though, is, you know better BV has been uh,
he's been cut a number of times. Beobles a very
actor and sharp puncher, you know, so there's a lot
of factors when you think about how that can go.

(19:29):
I just think this is one of those kind of
fights where you mentioned at the beginning of the conversation
about this, you know, is it a points to the
kind of fight, And at least at the moment I
see this, as you know, I haven't look to see
actually what the official odds are. They just formally announced
the fight on Monday, but I have to believe they're awfully,
awfully closer will be anyway, and one of those fights
where I have no bested interest. So you just sit

(19:49):
back and enjoy what I think is a great matchup
at historical kind of matchup. And I mean I think
both these guys are on Hall of Fame trajectories at
this point, and you need these types of fights against
your natural rival to prove your metal, and this is
that fight for both of these guys. I mean, I know,
Bioble has to win over Canelo, and he's got some
other outstanding victories also better Beev has gotten a lot
of quality wins and unified titles and all that. But

(20:09):
when you really looked down at the at the resumes
and this is you know, I'll just put Canelo to
the side for a minute, because obviously he's a huge name,
but he was coming up to a new weight class.
This is this is the natural fight. This is like,
these are the last men standing, if you will, in
the light heavyweight division. They've got all the belts, They've
had them for quite a while. It's not like one
guy just happened into a belt and now they're going to,
you know, go for the biggest fight possible. The Bible

(20:32):
has been defending and defending for years and and Bople
I think one is first. You know, he won his
first title several years ago, and it took them all
the time to collect the other two belts that he
put together. But this is, this is what we've all
waited for. This is the summit meeting in this weight class,
and it's it's gonna be great.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
You know, when when I'm evaluating, you know, who I favor,
who I bet on in a particular fight, I often
look at, you know, the most recent fights, and you
look at the two most recent perform ormances by better
In Bevil, and they both kind of go in different directions.
Right Like two fights ago for Bevil, I was wildly

(21:08):
impressed what he did with Zerdo Ramirez, a win that
has aged even better given what Zerto just did at
cruiserweight to become a champion there. His most recent fight
on the day of reckoning card not all that impressed
with Lindon. Arthur is a fine fighter, but I thought
Beevie missed opportunities to get him out of there. And
I just didn't leave that fight feeling really excited about

(21:31):
Bevil being.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
At the top of his game flipping it around.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
And two fights ago for Archer better Biev when he was,
you know, going shot for shot with Anthony Yard at
times was hurt in that fight. I wondered if maybe
has Archer Bettterbriev missed his opportunity to fight this fight
at his prime, Maybe he's lost a step. Fast forward
to Callum Smith, and look, Callum Smith is probably never
going to be as good as the sum of his parts.

(21:55):
He's always kind of looks better maybe than he actually is.
But the way that Better BV just systematically beat down
the knocked out Callum Smith was really impressive.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
So I don't know.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
I don't know which fighter has momentum.

Speaker 5 (22:08):
They both have good resumes, they both have a lot
of good wins on their record. They've both done what
they're supposed to do. You know, styles do make fights.
It's the oldest saying in the book. Obviously, the yard
fight with with with Better BV was a fantastic fight,
but that was sort of it was destined to be
that kind of shootout. Having watched both of these guys
fight for any period of time, you know that that

(22:29):
was sort of the fight that was gonna unfold. You
didn't know what round or you know, all the back
and forth, but in the end it was still a
clear victory because he did to get the knockout. So well,
I agree with you. You look at what they've done in
the recent fights. I try to try not to get
too hung up on one specific performance because if you did,
you drive yourself crazy. I look at maybe the more
recent body of work and as an overall, over the

(22:51):
last few fights, they both looked great, with a couple
of fights where they maybe didn't look great. But again,
you know, in the business of boxing and the sport
of boxing, you're not going to be perfect every single night.
It just not like that, and you know they keep winning.
I wouldn't call the yard performance by Better be a
quote unquote off night in the same way I wouldn't
say it was an off night for Dimitri Biople against

(23:12):
lynd and Arthur. Uh, there's nothing wrong with what he did.
He won, but basically every single round of the fight,
scored a ton of points and kind of was having
fun in there. And actually, if you really examined it,
there was a couple of times in that fight where
he seemed like he was close to the stop, but
you just couldn't finish it off. I mean, I don't
know you Again, It's sort of like we were talking
about with Jared Anderson. You know, in the fight between

(23:32):
Dmitri Bioble and Lyndon Arthur, the endres quote was one
twenty to one oh seven on three cards. What's there
to complain about? I've never been one to hold the
lack of a knockout against the guy.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
Completely dominant performance, that's for sure. So we've got plenty
of time to talk about the five on five in
the weeks ahead. But as you look at these five matchups,
which are Deontay Wilder against Jaylee Jeong yet Herkovic going
up against Danny Dubaugh, Ray fo facing Nick Ball, Richards
versus Hutchinson, Williams versus Shiraz, which one of these gets

(24:07):
you most excited.

Speaker 5 (24:08):
Well, that's a great question. I hadn't really thought about that.
I'll say this just in terms of the overall fatality,
especially when you include the main event, because obviously this
could be its own card. I mean, it's just sure
they're doing this is so unusual. I was thinking to
myself because somebody else asked me about this like that,
you know, this is a great show. It reminds me
of back in the in like the in the mid

(24:30):
nineties when Don King was doing the big cards and
there was just one great fight after another on paper. Anyway,
you never know how they're gonna work that in the ring,
But at least going in you were excited because there
was a lot of interesting adviights. I think this and
I've thought about this a lot, so I'm not not
being emotional about it. I'm not trying to hype it up.
I'm just being real. I think this is literally the

(24:51):
best overall pay per view or big mega card if
you will, since those days of the big Don King
cards in the mid nineties. I don't really and there's
been a lot of good paper cards. I'm not knocking
the other promoters. There's been a bunch of them with
a great Man event and you know, maybe one or
two other fights, but this is like literally every single
fight on this card has I'm interested in. I mean,

(25:12):
if Craig Richards, you know, a solid veteran former contender
or former title challenger still what I would consider somewhat
of a contender against an excellent up and coming fighter
like Hutchinson. If that's the weakest card, which you know,
weakest fight on the card, which it is, but I'm
not I still like the matchup. So if that's the worst,
it's that's freaking tremendous because I love Williams and Shiraz.

(25:33):
That's a fantastic by two younger, undefeated middleweights who can
stamp themselves as the future of the weight class in
a division that's pretty uh on the on the you know,
on the bottom right now, it's certainly one of the
weaker divisions, but these are the two it's the sort
of shining lights of the up and coming guys. So
this definitely gives it some pop. Ray Ford, nick Ball,
I think is going to be a fantastic fight. Love

(25:54):
to fight. Ray Ford was was had a dramatic and
exciting victory when he won the belt against Comotov in
a tremendous fight. Uh nick Ball, We've seen him now
for several fights in a row. Always comes in like
a little spark bug, just never stops punching in just
a bunfighter to watch. Tremendous battle Pergovich and Duoi, both

(26:14):
guys who've shown some vulnerability but also some outstanding qualities.
Also very quality heavyweight fight. Now, when they announced it,
as you know, Chris, they announced it's just a twelve
round heavyweight fight. But you and I both know that
come May nineteenth, post Undisputed Theory versus Usik, between then
and June first, the title of the IVF will become vacant.
This fight will become for the vacant IVF title, like

(26:37):
ninety nine percent chance that will be the case, So
that will upgrade a level of that matchup. And Wilder
is Jang, that's like, you know, yeah, they're coming off losses,
but I mean, good lord, it's like the right hand
of Deontay against the left hand of Jang. Whoever's gonna
land first is probably gonna win by a knockout. And
it's a must win for both these guys that are
sort of in the old they're older, they're you know,

(26:59):
obviously in the twilight of their career, and it's a
it's a career savior for wherever wins this fight. So
you say, which fight do I like the best? Good lord,
I don't know which one do you like the best?
I'll turn interviewer this time, which one do you like them?

Speaker 2 (27:13):
I tell you I've got to lean towards Wilder and
Jang just because it is bombs away and it really
is win or go home for both these guys. When
we kind of say that a lot when it comes
to boxing, and it rarely ever is but the pathway
back for either one of them if they absorb a

(27:34):
second straight loss on this level. It's going to be
our du wish and it's not going to be particularly lucrative.
I would imagine, you know, if they're coming off double
back to back loss. So that's the one that appeals
to me the most. But I'm with you. Not only
are the fights on the quote unquote undercard relevant, but
they're also really well matched, right like them like that

(27:56):
that Amma Williams fight.

Speaker 3 (27:58):
Look at it.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Two guys that can bang and two guys that believe
they belong on a championship level, and the winner will
take that big step forward to the championship level. I
would have loved it if nick Ball could have completed
the comeback against ray Vargus to make this a title
unification fight against ray Ford. But I love the style
right nick Ball does not stop coming in ray Ford,
even though he took the fight to uh to automack there,

(28:21):
autoback there. He is more boxer than brawler in that sense,
So you're gonna get a good style matchup out of
that one.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Uh. I lean towards the heavyweights, the top of the
bill heavyweights, But.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
I want to say something, Glue.

Speaker 5 (28:33):
You talk about the wilder in the in the in
the Jang fight. The ending could be the most explosive
on the car. Yeah, I think getting there though might
not be because I don't think it's gonna be a
great fight in terms of the all out action because
they're both so uh you know, they just they're looking
for the one shot. They don't throw a lot of
other punches. Besides that, not a lot of combinations, not

(28:56):
a lot of activity, So round for round, you know
it by a minute. I'm not sure it's a super
exciting fight, but there'll be a lot of tension because
of the notion that either guy can get the fight
over with with literally one punch, like I said, either
the right hand from Deontay or the left hand from Jang.
So while I'm anticipating that fight just in terms of

(29:16):
the overall action, and it's also you know, very meaningful
as well, but in terms of what could be the
best action you know, sustain over the long course of
a fight that goes, you know, several rounds or perhaps
even deeper into the fight, I think you gotta look at,
like you said, either the Ford nick Ball fight or
the William Sharon's fight. Those two guys have been had
some interesting matchups. I love that matchup. I love the

(29:37):
fact that both these guys, who are still on the
younger end of things, you know, are risking their undefeated
wreck is not a world championship fight, at least not
at the moment. It's not a world title eliminator. They're
just they're put it out there. I mean, obviously they're
being very well paid, I am sure, because of the
lucrative aspect of fighting on these cards in Saudi Arabia.
But you know, I take my hat to both those
guys to take this kind of match up at this
stage of their careers. There they're still on the upswing,

(29:59):
and and the loser I think will be able to
absorb the loss and move on with Dirk. Yeah, bottom line, Chris,
just an awesome card. And I don't I know, I'm
not kissing anybody's we are in. I just truly believe that.
When I looked at the matchups, I was like, good lord,
that is a tremendous, tremendous card. And then on top
of that, you gotv against be Ball, So now you

(30:19):
know what are we talking about? I mean, how good
is that?

Speaker 3 (30:22):
Incredible?

Speaker 2 (30:23):
And with the Zang Wilder fight, there's so many like subplots, right, like,
is is Wilder going to be experiencing? Is it adahuasca?
You know beforehand? That might you know, make him less
violent than he's been in the past.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
Does does Jang have anything left?

Speaker 2 (30:40):
I was so disappointed in Jang in that fight against
Joseph Parker because he had him hurt in the third
round and then just went through the motions, had him
or twice really but in the third round, kind of
went through the motions after that, Like, does he have
anything left in the tank? As he's in his early
forties as well? There's just so much.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
It could be a dull fight like throughout, but one
of the those guys is going to land something big
and that's going to make that fight, that ending really dramatic.

Speaker 5 (31:05):
All Right.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
A couple of things I want to run by you
for let you Go. One A big announcement by match
Room last week that they have signed Jeron Boots Ennis
to a multi fight deal, a three fight deal, which
is kind of typical for Matchroom, is what I've been told.
I'm not I wasn't shocked by this, Dan, because Mattrium
has been doing business with Bozy Ennis and Andy Cruz,

(31:27):
so they've they've had a connection there, and Boots is
the kind of guy that wants to stay active. And
say whatever you want about Eddie Hern, but he keeps
these guys active. They fight two or three times a
year if they want to. What did you make What
was your reaction to Boots Ennis signing with Mattroum.

Speaker 5 (31:41):
Well, similar to you, I wasn't totally shocked by it whatsoever,
I think, And I wrote a piece about this on
my substack just recently, right, you know, in a few
days after the signing was announced, And I think this
is the perfect marriage. You know, I don't always say
that about certain signings, but in this particular case. Look,
we all know Eddie's a great promoter. You love him,
hate him, but he's going to get the word out.
He's going to screen from the rooftops about his guys.

(32:01):
He's gonna start talking about you know, Boots Ena should
be fighting Crawford's. Pretty soon we'll be talking about Boots
and should be fighting sugar Y Leonard. I mean that's
what Eddie does. You know that? So I think Eddie
has himself a real top level talented fighter. He is
not going to be fearful whatsoever. Anybody they match him
up with, he's gonna like his chance of his guy
winning the fight. So without question, they're gonna be a

(32:23):
shout his name, you know, at Mattroom Boxing and getting
the word out for him. So that's a great thing,
and that's what Boots end needs because even though he's
still on the younger end of his career, he's already
got what thirty one fights. I want to say, he
has had some of the worst promotion for a very
talented fighter that can ever think of in my almost
twenty five years of covering professional boxing. Just a terrible,

(32:44):
terrible job of being promoted. And I don't even like
in his recent fights. Of course, he's been on the
PBC cards and TGB cards, but I don't blame them
at all because he was never signed with them. So
when he was on those shows, it was because of
the showtime relationship to the head he was signed to
the network, so they put him on those cards, but
they were under no real motivation or obligation if you will,

(33:06):
to do anything specifically for Boots's career. They put him
on obviously, so he hasn't really had a real is
official promoter. Now boxing was like a glorified booking agent.
They didn't do shows, they never put out any material
about him, they didn't promote him. They had no social
media presence whatsoever. Mattroom boxing, it's the entire opposite. They're

(33:27):
gonna have the full force of everything that goes in
with Mattroom, with Eddie obviously with the owne, and it's
going to be I think it's the perfect marriage at
this point now, you know. I say that also if
Boots had ended up going with another promoter, if he
had signed with Cop Rank, for example, they would have
done what they'd do also. But I think Mattroom and
Eddie right now for this young man is the perfect situation.

(33:49):
They're going to take him home, hopefully to Philadelphia, maybe
somewhere in Atlantic City, but in that region, put him
in the fight. He's got the mandatory, whether they'll get
the Crowley fight done or it'll be some other mandatory
that's next that probably doesn't take the fight. Point is
he'll fight this summer and then go try to get
the biggest fight possible. I mean maybe just maybe, who knows,
maybe they could possibly or Crawford. I doubt it, but

(34:10):
you never know, but there there'll be opportunities. The main
thing is you sign the fighter and you figure out
the big fight later, because they know fights have a
way of making other fights.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
And I think there's a pathway to big fights that
don't include Terrence Crawford. And we'd all like to see
it because I think that's the most competitive welterweight fight
that's out there. But I think there are other high
profile events that Mattroom can put Boots and Us in with.
So I agree with you, it's probably gonna be the
mandatory at some point this summer is.

Speaker 5 (34:35):
The big fight for wealth, right, other than Crawford.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
Well, I mean, has Connor been a big fight? Like
you go over to the UK and take a Connor
Ben fight.

Speaker 5 (34:42):
So I think the Connor bentfight would happen in the
United States because they can sell either way, and they
can put it on you know, the prime time, in
the normal his own time and still and make make
ay from both ends of it. So I actually had
mumped about that as a possibility because Connor still can't
fight in the UK at the press, right, but he
certainly can't fight here in the United States. He's license,
he's fought here twice in his most recent two bouts,

(35:04):
so that's probably the biggest fight. But I'm still not sure,
you know, is there still a movement for them to
make that fight that was being heavily discussed between Connor
Ben and Nanny Packyo. I have my reservations only because
if you can't fight in the UK, that's one thing.
I still question whether they would be able to fight
Connor Ben in the Saudi Arabian market because of the
fact that the cards that take place there are regulated

(35:26):
by the British Box Board of Control, where he cannot
get a license. So just because the fight would perhaps
be in Rihaed, would he be able to get a
boxing license. You know, I don't know the answer, but
it seems a little shaky. But yeah, I think that
at some point in those three fights that he has
with matrim that I can't say that the connor Ben
fight will happen, but you have to believe it's going
to be a high level discussion of will maybe it

(35:48):
will happen.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
And the third fight to me is Devin Haney and
that wouldn't be for another year or so. But if
you know, you can Handy Garcia coming up this weekend,
if Hany wins that fight, and look, Devin has constantly
chased the biggest fights out there. If he wins one
or two more and wins a couple of belts at
one hundred and forty pounds, then all of a sudden
he becomes a lot more marketable at one forty seven,

(36:10):
the four hundred speed champion at one thirty five, now
the unified champion at one. There there'd be a market
for that, you know, two guys like that, you know,
fighting maybe in New York City in a big fight.

Speaker 5 (36:23):
Yeah, I hadn't actually thought about that one, but that
would be that would be tremendous. Obviously, you know, Devin's
got some work to do for the next you know,
with the Darcy fight and then whatever, maybe the fight
after that, but yeah, that would be very exciting. The
point is, as long as Boots does his job and
wins his fights, I'm very confident that Eddie and matching
team will do their job and then make the big
fights for the guy. I mean, they have a track
record of doing that for most of their fighters. So

(36:43):
that's that's good for Boots And the bottom line is,
for the first time in his entire career. He's gonna
have a promoter that well, as I wrote, you know,
actually promote him.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
Yeah and yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
I have to imagine that Boots, who is a stablemate
of Andy Kruz, had to have watched Eddie just lavish
praise on Andy Cruz over the last year, like every
time Andy Kruse fights, Eddie's in the ring right afterwards
saying that's the best lightweight in the world. That guy
can beat your Vonte Davis, that guy can be key
Sean Davis. Like he has done everything humanly possible to

(37:18):
turn a non English speaking Cuban Olympian into a name
in the US, and he hasn't gotten there yet, but
he's built him up as best as he possibly can.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
I have to imagine some of that.

Speaker 5 (37:29):
Resonated and three and at this point, I mean.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
Yeah, three and oh and you know we're we're having
those conversations. I have to imagine that resonated both both
with Boots and with his father.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
Who's the trainer and manager of Andy Kruz.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
Last thing for you, Dan, I want to ask you
about kind of what has been going on a little kerfuffle,
if you want to call it, between our good friend
Sean Porter, and let's just call it the people of
Japan or the market of Japan. Sean Porter, who came
out recently and said that from in a way to
become a megastar in boxing, he has to fight in

(38:06):
the US now in a way, has fought in the
US in the past, but as his profile has raised,
he has fought exclusively in Japan.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
He has fought.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
It's a big venues in Japan. Next fight, it's going
to be at the Tokyo Dome, just a massive event
for in a way, but John Porter believes that in
a way needs to fight in the US to achieve
that next level of greatness.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
Where do you stand on that opinion?

Speaker 5 (38:30):
All do respect my man Sean Porter, who I've known
for many many years, covered his entire career. Like Sean
and Off, a lot will have to disagree. This is
a big world of the United States at one time
was the destination, the end all be all for the
top level fighters. It was the home of the heavyweight division.
It was the home of boxing period in terms of
the biggest fights. It's just not the case anymore. You know,

(38:52):
we don't have that type of fan base in this
country anymore. We certainly don't have the broadcasters that we
once did. And in terms of in a way you
did say like you said he did fight in the
United States. I know because I was ringside for one
of those fights. In Japan. He is the number one
sports star in Japan. He can sell out or come
close to selling out the Tokyo Dome. They will do

(39:13):
a gate in the Tokyo Dome. That's on the level
of the biggest fights we see in Las Vegas, like
the Canelo fights that are taking place there. Are are
when Tank and Ryan fought those types of fights.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
And but for context, we're talking like fifteen to twenty
million dollars right, like real numbers.

Speaker 5 (39:29):
So besides the gate that Dey'll generate, he's making for
his fights, he's making eight figures per fight. But the
thing about it is, there's not a single boubt that
he could have, at least not to my way of thinking,
that he could come to the United States to have
where he could come even forget about there are some
fighters that will leave money on the table, even if
it's all a little bit of a bigger amount, because

(39:51):
they want to do something. They want to fight in
the United States or they want to fight in New
York City, or they want to fight in Las Vegas.
This is so far beyond just leaving a little bit
of money on the table. There's nothing that could come
close to paying him the kind of money here in
America that he makes in Japan. So for what purpose.
At the end of the day, he's got the accomplishment,
he's he's a undisputed champion. There's nobody that does a

(40:15):
rank among the top couple of guys in boxing counter
for pound. To me, he's number two at worse, and
depending on what happens with the upcoming fight, you might
even make him number one. Not a knockout of Crawford,
but because in a way is being very active and
Terrence Crawford has not fought since last July. It has
nothing scheduled, so you can't just sit on your ranking
and just keep it forever. So he's at worst two

(40:35):
pound for pound, he's making the biggest money that a
guy in that weight class has ever made in the
history of the sport, selling out arenas. He's going to
be a first bound Hall of Famer no matter what
happens from here on it out, that's already a done deal,
in my opinion, So who the hell of Seawan Porter
say you got to come to fight in America? You know,
in a way if you read his his social media,
his perspective is I love it. He's like, look, I'm

(40:58):
willing to come and fight. I'm paraphrasing basically, if there's
something worth it for me to come there, I'll fight
in America. You think he's worried about coming to fight,
he's botyret three times. They'll fight anybody over here. But
now all the other guys got to go see him
because they can all make their biggest pay day. Why
do you think Marlon the Polis was in the ring
of them after the fight? How do you think Stephen
Fulton got on the plane and went to Japan and

(41:19):
we can go chapter reverse of his opponents? And why
do you think Louis Neary's doing that to go from
Mexico because they're gonna be at paid big money and
make that in the United States. Even if you put
in a way in Las Vegas or New York or
LA or whatever, what's the gate going to be. I
don't even think an inn Awa gate in America anywhere
you could think of wouldn't exceed five million dollars he's

(41:39):
doing over there, and like you said, he's fighting in
the biggest arena, Sant Thomas Super Arena now the Tokyo Though,
which hasn't a host in a boxing event since one
of the most famous fights in hitching of the sport
when Buster Douglas upset Mike Tyson in nineteen ninety. Think
about how long that has been and that that facility
has been there. So again, all due respect to Sean,

(42:00):
he's swung in this big time in this one.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
You can say that a fighter can't truly connect with
an American fan base until he regularly fights in the US.
I think there's truth to that.

Speaker 5 (42:12):
But but why does he care about the American fan base?

Speaker 3 (42:15):
He doesn't know.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
That's my point that this is kind of my point,
like in a ways not out there saying America loves
me like in a way is not out there, saying
like I am recognizable wherever I go. In a way
is about making the most money he possibly can. And
to your point, what he makes in Japan dwarfs everything
he could potentially.

Speaker 3 (42:33):
Make in the US.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
And if you look up the the weight classes, Dan,
let's say at some point he jumps up to one
twenty six. All those title holders, if they want to
fight in a way, they're going over to Japan. Right now,
let's say jump to one thirty hypothetically, all those title
holders to fight in a way, they're going over Japan.
You really have to go to like and it's not
gonna happen. I'm not saying this, but like the old

(42:54):
Jervonte Davis stuff and people throwing that out on social media,
if for some reason anyway woke up and say, you
know what, my body can handle it, I'm gonna fight
at one thirty five off by Javonte. That's a fight
you could make in the US in Vegas and do
a massive number at the live game because you'd have
a big, big, big cross section of people coming in
for that. But that's the only fight from one thirty

(43:14):
five on down that makes any sense for in a
way to go anywhere but in Japan.

Speaker 5 (43:20):
And if you ever think about it, is this you say, like,
he's not looking to become a legend in America. But
there's the boxing fans, if you will, of America. They
know him, they follow him, and I have to say
there's something sort of like it's become like a fun
sort of thing to like in a way, he's fighting,
I'm getting up at four in the morning on or
you know East Coast time. He gets an earring around

(43:41):
seven o'clock in the morning, six, six thirty in the morning,
whatever it is, to make sure you wake up early
to watch that fight. I mean, I've done that in
his recent fights. I you know, make sure I get up.
You know, I don't maybe wake up for the very
first out, but I'm up in time for him to
be on live and you know, top the TV on
because I've got the app in my television or put
on my phone laying in bed. I mean, it's like
a beautiful thing. So it's almost like, you know, you

(44:02):
go on social media, it's seven in the morning on
some random Monday, and everybody's talking about NOI. In a way,
I mean, that's there's not a lot of guys that
can generate that kind of buzz on social media in
boxing by fighting on an unusual time. In you know,
in the United States anyway, it's highly unusual for the
at least in this current day and age, to be
major fights on a Monday on Tuesday. But in the

(44:24):
in the seventies and eighties that was common in America.
In Japan, weekday fights are the norm, far more so
than fighting a big time fight on a Saturday night
like here in the United States. So, you know, i'd
say this, you know, time to stop being just totally
American centric. I'm American. I'd love to see him fight here. Obviously,
I'd love to see the heavyweight big fights be in

(44:45):
the United States, not necessarily all of them being in
Saudi Arabia. But I get it's a big global community
in the boxing. It's a big, big world out there,
and it's a global sport. It's not the NBA where
they have all the games in America and maybe once
in a while they send a teams overseas to have
a game or that they've done occasionally with Major League
Baseball in the NFL. Boxing is everywhere, and that's one
of the reasons it's such a great sport because you

(45:07):
can have some random guy from Japan become the pound
for pound king. You can have some unknown little guy
like Manny Pack emerged from nowhere and become a global
icon on powner for pound and become one of the richest,
most legacy fighters in the history of the sport. That's
what anyways on his way is to doing. Whether he's
got the big fan base or of the money in
America is completely irrelevant. It doesn't matter. And so all

(45:30):
the Americans who want to hold their noses up and say,
well he needs to fight here, I say, you know what,
go jump off the cliff, baby.

Speaker 3 (45:38):
Yeah, Louis Neary.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
For context, his last US fight was fought at the
Fox Theater in Pomona. All right, So I mean, and
no disrespect to two guys that are fighting there, but
you're not coming over to fight a guy that last
fought in the Fox Theater. And like, let's say goes
to one twenty six and top ranks, Like, you know,
here's Luis Lopez. You're not fighting Louise Lopez in the
US or Europe. You're fighting him in Japan. We can

(45:59):
make it eight figures at.

Speaker 5 (46:02):
Least with that Nearyes fight that you mentioned that Fox heater,
I and many others picked that fight against covid Issen
as the twenty twenty three fight of the year.

Speaker 3 (46:08):
Great fight.

Speaker 5 (46:09):
It was a great fight. Fight. Again, the gate was
probably what like ham Sandwich, I mean, come.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
On, and it looked fighters. Fighters that are in these
way classes aren't stupid. Like what did it take Stephen
Fulton like ten seconds to agree to go over to Japan.
There was no arguing there, there was no back and forth.
But let's bring in a way to the US. Everybody
knew where the money was, p PC knew where the
money was. Fulton knew where the money was.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
He took it.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
Good for him, Good for anyone that goes over there
and gets in the ring with that guy, because that
guy is a beast. That's the other part of it. Dan,
Like his fights aren't boring, like we get up at
six am, seven am, because they're awesome because every time
he gets in the ring, he is going all out.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
He was going to war.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
And that Neary fight another fight we can talk about
down the line. That's gonna be a great fight as
long as it last, because near he's coming to.

Speaker 5 (46:51):
Fight too, especially because Neary's got such a he's got
he's sort of like enemy number one in Japan because
of his past history.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
I love it.

Speaker 5 (46:58):
Yeah, that's gonna be tremendous. I mean I've been following
in a way literally since he basically turned pro I
mean watching his first professional world title fights when he
was down at one hundred eight pounds in like I
want to say, maybe is like eighth fight or something
like that. So I've been fortunate to be aware of
him since the beginning, and he's just gotten better and
better and better and blossomed. I mean, I didn't think

(47:19):
he was going to be at that time. You're like, Okay,
this this guy is really good. Am I going to
see him as a guy that wins titles and all
these weight classes and be in undiscuted champion in two divisions,
be a lock first down hall of famer. Have like
my own internal argument with myself about whether I should
happen number one or number two pounds per pound. I mean,
he's made it and he doesn't need America to do so.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
You know what might bring him to the US? I
take it back.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
I got one more and you can throw this. You
can tell me, you can tell me I'm crazy, Bam Rodriguez.
You're creating Vam Rodriguez.

Speaker 5 (47:52):
That's a good don't get me wrong. That's a heck
of a fight. But I think Bam Rodriguez would be
would be more than willing to pack up and go
over there.

Speaker 3 (47:57):
Probably he's got a problems.

Speaker 5 (47:58):
Relationship with with Teak in boxing, mister Honda in Japan.

Speaker 3 (48:02):
Yeah, he does.

Speaker 5 (48:03):
Robert Garcia, you know, who's his manager and trainer. They
can make that into a big time fight over there,
also he does.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
I'm just thinking of names, right, Like, that's the only name,
and if Bam beats a Strada, his named is a
little bit bigger.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
Maybe he goes to one eighteen wins a belt.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
I don't know, that's that's the only name I could
think of that makes sense for a US based fight.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
But I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
Ultimately, he probably goes over there and collects a big
fat paycheck to go to war with that guy, all right, Dan.
Check out Dan's newsletter Fight Freaks Unite. You can subscribe
on his sub stack. You can subscribe on his social
media channels as well. Dan always great to catch up, man.

Speaker 5 (48:35):
I appreciate it, you bet, Chris, thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
And when we come back my conversation with Devin.

Speaker 1 (48:40):
Haney, A lot has changed since then.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
You are now a undisputed world champion, a two division
world champion.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
How much better are you?

Speaker 2 (48:57):
Former undisputed former speed? I'm just giving you the credit
for that being a disputed world champion. But how much
better are you right now than the man that hopped
in that ring.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
Four years ago?

Speaker 6 (49:08):
Level was above of that guy.

Speaker 7 (49:10):
You know at that time, you know I thought I
was the best thing, you know, out the best thing smoking,
and you know I would you know, kill that guy then, so, uh,
you know levels above.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
You faced Regis program this past December, and Regis came
into that fight and accomplished guy arguably the top man
at one hundred and forty pounds, and it was about
as lopsided as it could possibly get it.

Speaker 6 (49:40):
And it was everything everything I said in that face
off with me, you and him, I said I was
going to do I.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
Was going to get to that. But since you you
bring it up, you did.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
You said you were going to hurt him, and you said,
now this is I remember vividly you said, Regis, after
this fight, you're going to be saying I'm a great fighter.
And sure enough, in the ring right after the fight,
he said, you're a great fighter.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
He better than what I thought.

Speaker 6 (50:02):
Knocknat.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
I'm gonna give a credit. I'm gonna give Bill credit.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
I'm gonna give any credit.

Speaker 6 (50:07):
Ryan Garcia won't be no different.

Speaker 7 (50:09):
He's gonna say, or I knew you were a great fighter,
because he knows that he knows the level that I'm on,
he knows what I bring to the table. We heard
him say this before. Ryan Garcia has known me since
I was ten years old, eleven years old, so he
knows what type of fighter that I am, so he
could say what he wants to say. We know that
he's gonna he's gonna bark, he's gonna down play me

(50:29):
the type of fighter that I am.

Speaker 6 (50:31):
But after April twenty f gonna say I knew how.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
Great he was.

Speaker 2 (50:36):
You mentioned how long you guys have known each other.
When was the first time that you heard the name
Ryan Garcia. The first time I ever heard of Ryan Garcia.

Speaker 7 (50:44):
I was on YouTube just looking up like you know,
like like the amateur circuit the guys you know, Silver Gloves,
like you know, around around that time, and that's when
I've seen the name Ryan Garcia.

Speaker 6 (50:55):
And then I ended up fighting. Our first fight was
at the Junior Golding Looves.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
What do you remember about that fight.

Speaker 7 (51:01):
I didn't have that many fights, didn't have much experience,
and Ryan Garcia had a lot of experience and He
had a big following, you know, the the Latinos and
you know we fought a mesquite so all that, but
it was it was the whole region. They knew Ryan Garcia,
so they were going crazy for him. But I didn't
know and so they were like they nobody knew me. No,
they thought he was gonna just blow me out the
water and it was a good fight. Ryan won the fight.

(51:24):
So that's when I like, really like it woke me
up to you know, the the amateur boxing scene. People
started to know me. People started to like, oh, okay,
that was the guy that I put up a great fight.
Like nobody's like I said, they expect me. They expec
him tom to blow me out. And they were like,
oh okay, that's the guy that fort Ryan Garcy.

Speaker 6 (51:40):
He's good and.

Speaker 7 (51:45):
It's the rest was history. After that, we fought, you know,
five more times after that one. To be real with you, though,
Ryan won when we were little kids because he's had
the experience, and when we got older, I put it
on him, especially the last fight.

Speaker 6 (52:01):
What happened the last fight, I gave him an a count.
I gave him an a count. I beat the shit
out of him.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
Do you remember thinking even then when you're sixteen years old,
like we're going to see each other in the pros someday,
you know.

Speaker 7 (52:13):
I mean so many kids that was good in the
amateurs that just turned out to not even be nothing
in the pros.

Speaker 6 (52:18):
So you know, you don't really know. You don't really know.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Is he the most dangerous fighter that you faced up
until this point?

Speaker 7 (52:25):
You know, Ryan Garcia has power, of course, but we
just Prograce have power too, Lenars have power. A lot
of these guys have had, you know, power. I'm just
on a different level. So you know, he could bring
all the power that he want, gonna bring his skills
and the IQ that I go and show him handicap

(52:47):
him of his power.

Speaker 5 (52:48):
Like I do.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
You do have a ability, through your skills and the
preparation you put in with the people on your team
to take away the best weapon that an opponent had.
Readier's program didn't land any left hands of consequence on
you back in December. How challenging you think it's going
to be to stay away from the left hand of
Ryan Garcia When I.

Speaker 7 (53:09):
Set out to do something, if I don't want to
get hit, I'm not going to get hit I'm a
handy camped Ryan. You know he's gonna fight with you know,
both arms behind his back, not one, but both.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
Your dad said, this fight has become personal over the
last few weeks.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
Would you agree with that?

Speaker 7 (53:27):
You know, he crossed the line. He says some stuff
that that just that just wasn't right. One of the
main things that he said that I just I can't
is that he spoke on my religion. You know, you
know it's it's boxing. You can say what you want
to say, but he know what he said about my religion?

Speaker 1 (53:46):
What was it he said that? You know what he
said was this to you directly or something on social media?

Speaker 6 (53:50):
No, he said it to somebody in it and he
got back to me.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
The face off you guys had in Las Vegas, I
think a lot of people were surprised to God as
he did as it did, because it felt like for
a long time, even though you guys were adversaries, that
you were friends.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
Is that fair to say?

Speaker 2 (54:11):
No?

Speaker 6 (54:11):
I mean, you know, we we were rivals since since
young kids.

Speaker 7 (54:17):
You know, it was you know, somewhat mutual respect at
a point, but all that respect go out the door now,
and you know it's it's personal, it's it's.

Speaker 6 (54:28):
No longer friends.

Speaker 7 (54:29):
And you know, these guys say they talked this talk
and then after they want to hug and you know,
talk about oh, it's just this, it was just that,
but he crossed the line. And after this it's none
of that. We don't we Me and Ryan gar Seat
don't never got to, you know, talk again. And it's
not you know, and I know, once he loses one time,
make an example out of him. He's gonna come, he's

(54:50):
gonna try to say all that, but no, let's leave
it at what it is now.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
So when this fight ends, if you win, let's say
in the same way you win or won against Regis Progray,
there won't be the traditional kind of hey, big hug, handshake,
that kind of stuff, all because of what he said
that got back to you. Yes, the last few years
you've been the more accomplished of the two guys. You've
won the world titles, you've won in multiple divisions. His

(55:18):
star has risen a different way where he's you know,
fought a big pay per view against Javonta Davis. What
have you thought as kind of his star has risen
opposite of yours.

Speaker 7 (55:28):
It's pretty much been the same. His biggest fight was Jermonte.
You know that was that was that was only his
you know fight that was bigger than mine. He knows
everything has been.

Speaker 6 (55:39):
You know it aligned.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
Is this a difficult fight for you?

Speaker 7 (55:43):
I'm gonna go in there and I'm gonna make it
as as easy as possible. Like I said, Handy kaplan
and uh, don't make this guy look ordinary like he
really is. It feels like your confidence grows every single
fight when we talk. Going back to the Jojo Diaz fight,
I remember sitting there when you and Jojo rops to
each other and said, you better not disrespect, but you
better know what you're getting in with.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
You won that fight, control that fight. Really Ever since then,
it feels like I've seen your confidence growing.

Speaker 7 (56:09):
Is that fair, hips, I mean, that's what happens when
you have big fights. You know, you get that experience
and you gain confidence, you gain momentum. So of course, well,
Devin will see you April twentieth.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
Five on Too Zono.

Speaker 6 (56:19):
See you there.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
That's it for this week's episode. My thanks to Dan
Rayfield and Devin Haney for joining the show. As always, subscribe,
rate review this podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, wherever you
download podcasts, and I will see you, maybe with Sergio
Mora later this week.