Boxing with Chris Mannix - Matchroom vs. Queensbury

Mannix is joined this week by former middleweight champion and DAZN broadcaster Darren Barker. Mannix and Barker discuss Saturday's anticipated 5 vs. 5 pitting top fighters from Matchroom Boxing against the best from Queensbury Promotions, including a win-or-go-home showdown between Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang at the top of the card. Later, Austin "Ammo" Williams joins Mannix to discuss his fight against Hamzah Sheeraz, how he has overcome mental health struggles, why he wants to be known as "Tiger" now and more. #Volume #Herd

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 3 (01:41):
Chris Manning or somebody punch him in the face.

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Anty Joshua is a composed and ferocious finisher.

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Watch this. Your winds is the heavy one Sea.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Posted by Sis Chris Mannings.

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That was my moments now with interviews, analysis and everything
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Speaker 3 (01:59):
When you have talent, you are given another chance.

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

Speaker 2 (02:05):
And we are back Boxing with Chris Mannix, part of
the Volume Sports podcast network as always want to welcome
in everyone that is listening on the podcast feed. If
you are not a subscriber, get over the box with
Chris Mannocks feed. Hit that subscribe button. Make sure you
get this pod in your feed every single week. So
we are here in Riad, Saudi Arabia for the Mattchroom

(02:26):
versus Queensbury five on five. A huge event's gonna take
place on Saturday on the Zone. We just had the
wig in take place evening why at nine o'clock start
for the way and they.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Obviously want to take advantage.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Of primetime in the UK. Good time over in the US.
But all these guys weigh in, all of them made weight.
Darren Barker is the former middleweight champion. He's gonna be
on the call on Saturday for de Zone. He joins
me and we run through all these matchups, from the
prospect matchup with Hamsashiras against Amba Williams to the win

(03:00):
or go home heavyweight fight between Deontay Wilder and jay
Lee Jeong. A little bit later on Ammo Williams himself,
he joins me to talk about his path to this moment.
Emma Williams has been a good prospect in boxing for
a number of years, but he's also been through a
hell of a lot some mental health struggles that threaten

(03:22):
to derail his career. He's gotten it back on track
and he's got a big opportunity coming up on Saturday.
Mo stops by to talk to me about all that.
I do want to address off the top a fight
that we are we did not discuss here on the show,
and that is the light heavyweight title fight between Dmitri
Beevil and Maleague Zanod. And this is a kind of

(03:45):
a stay busy fight for Dmitri Bevil. It was supposed
to face face archer Better Beev on this show. That's
not happening. Better Beev had to back out with an injury.
They're hoping to reschedule that later this year. So Beevil
gets a fight against a Nod, he should frankly clean
his clock like he's just a better fighters not is
not fight anybody on dmitriy Beebe's level. This should be

(04:06):
an easy fight for Beevil to win.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Look, I'm as.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Excited as anyone else to see a unification fight between
Beevil and Better Beef. We have been waiting for what
five years maybe for that fight. And if not for
Saudi Arabia, we never get that fight because neither one
of these guys draws the kind of gate or pay

(04:30):
per view revenue to satisfy the kind of purse demands
that they have. So I'm glad that that fight is
still on the books. But look, Archer Betterbiev has been
hurt so many times over.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
The last few years.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
I think I saw somebody tweet out like he's had
five different delays with his fights in recent years over
issues with his health. So I'm just not holding my
breath that Archer Betterbiev is going to be ready to
go in twenty twenty four to fight to meetro Bevol.
If we don't get Bevil against better Beev this year,

(05:06):
I want Beevil against David Benavitez. David Benavidez, we know,
is moving up to light heavyweight to take on all
Exender Vostik. That's gonna be on the Tank Davis undercard.
He's already a massive guy in this weight class. I mean,
he was a huge one sixty eight. He's gonna be
a big one seventy five. If Benavidez gets through that

(05:27):
Vostik fight, he's gonna be a big favorite because Vostik
and even though he's won a couple of fights since
he made his comeback, they haven't been against ben against
the guy like David Benavidez.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
So if Benavidez gets.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Through that unscathed, like I'm putting Archer Betterbiev on the clock.
I'm saying to Better Beev to his management to top rank,
like you've got till October to make this fight happen,
or maybe even you go all the way to December,
because I know they're gonna have the rematch between Fury
and Usic in December. But if Better Beev isn't ready
to go in late December, you gotta make this Bev

(06:00):
versus Benavidez fight happen. Like that's as good a fight
or better as Better be Of against Bevill. Yeah, the
stakes won't be as high because only one belt will
be on the line, but it's a massive fight, and
it's a huge fight both internationally and of course in
the US, where it's gonna be huge interest in Bevil
versus Benavidez.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
So I would like.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
To see a clock put on Archer Better Beev. He's
what like forty years old, body all torn up, if
you can get to the ring great like and if
he gets to the ring healthy, he's got a great
chance of beating Bevie because Better Beev is still a monster.
We saw that in his most recent fight against Callum Smith.
But I don't want to see the light heavyweight division

(06:44):
held up any longer. If Benavidez wins this fight against Vostik,
especially if he wins it convincingly, I want to see
Benavitez versus Bevil in the fall of twenty twenty four.
And I don't think I'm alone. I think a lot
of you listening to the show would say, you know,
I'm kind of more interested in that fight than I

(07:06):
am with Better be against Bevil. And look, the winner
of Benavidez versus Bevil, they can take on Better Beev
next year.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
It's still viable. It's still gonna be a good fight.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
So that's my kind of wish list for the second
half of twenty twenty four, to get Bevill versus Benavidez.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
If we don't get Bevil.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Versus better there's a lot of bees that I'm thrown
out there. I apologize if I had to pause a
little bit to make sure I got all my names right,
all right, when we come back, former middleweight champion Darren
Barker will join me here on the show, all right,
Darren Barker. So let me say first it is nice

(07:50):
to tape with a proper professional British former world champion
instead of the usual angry, bitter, sometimes tequila scope soaked
Mexican that I typically tape this show with also a
form world champion, So I thank you.

Speaker 5 (08:08):
For that, not my pleasure, thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
So we are in Riard, Saudi Raby, the site of
this Saturday's Queensbury Versus Matchroom five on five. I've been
here for just a few hours. You have been here
for what almost a.

Speaker 5 (08:22):
Week now, most of a week.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
You have spent more time in Riard over the last
three weeks than you have spent at.

Speaker 5 (08:28):
Home correct literally, quite literally. But I'm enjoying myself here.
We play a little bit of golf, a little golf.
But the shows around the events have been so cool.
They already have like first and foremost, I'm a boxing fan.
I love my boxing. To be around all of these
I pinch myself every single time they do it. Biggire,

(08:51):
you've seen yourself the events a large the press compace,
the ground arrivals, the way in which I've just come from,
it's just epic. So yeah, I'm out and privileged to
be here.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
What would you how would you compare the vibe to
the fight week of this five versus five versus what
we saw a couple of weeks ago with Usak and fury.

Speaker 5 (09:10):
Well, funny it kind of went on the back burner
slightly this five and five because of the magnitude of
fury Usk. It was huge. It was a huge event,
you know, the first time in years that something like
that had happened, the first time in the four belt era,
as we've talked about for an awful lot. But I
think everybody once back home in the UK as well,

(09:33):
we had Jack Ketch or Josh Taylor, so that we
went straight into that five week, which was a huge
event back in the UK, and then this five and
five weeks started, and very quickly you were reminded of
how big an event this is, how groundbreaking is, how
unique of an event this is. This is the boxing
version of the Ryder Cup, you know, projecting the scores,

(09:54):
et cetera. When this, I have to be deadly honest
when this was first announced, I think it was more
excited about this five and five than I was for
Fury Music. I'm not just saying that I genuinely was,
and yet the buzz has quickly reminded you of the
magnitude of this event. This is groundbreaking. This is two

(10:14):
promoters with you know, lots of back history, lots of
you know, storylines between the Dad's Sorry Barry Hearn Frank
Warren that started, that was the initial rivalry. That Eddie's
come along and tried to rip the crown away from Frank,
and he's done a great job in trying to do so.

(10:35):
But this is this is, like I say, groundbreaking. I
think Chris is the correct word for this.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
And the format is really cool. To your point, it
is kind of ryder Cup esque. It is it brings
a team element to an individual sport because even though
we see examples of stablemates fighting on each other's card,
they're really out for themselves. They're supporting their stablemates, but
there's no connection to it. This has a direct connection
with your success being my success quite literally actually, because

(11:04):
we found out this week there's a three million dollars
part of gore.

Speaker 5 (11:07):
The words out of my mouth exactly, I mean, and
that straight away. So you know, let's give a scenario,
just paint a picture of you know, it's all level
going into that final fight, or you know, it could
be a point or two evil way, and it goes
down to this last fight. It's Wilder versus Zang. It's
all to play for. You've got some guys on this

(11:29):
bill that are not earned nowhere near the money that
they never dreamt they would be with this added bonus,
and they're screaming at their teammates say come on, please,
you know it's going to be so special. I'm just
picturing it now. The atmosphere between the teams is going

(11:50):
to be so good I cannot wait.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
So let's run through just the format so people have
are clear on what it is. A win for any
fighter is one point, and I got win is worth
two points. Each team has appointed a captain. For Mattroom,
it's Deontay Wilder. We can get into the bizarreness of that.
For Queensbury it's Homes of Shiras one hundred and sixty
pounds prospect contender. Wins for the captain is double points.

(12:14):
So theoretically, both Wilder and shiras can collect as many
as four points in their respective fight.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
So there is the.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Rules, and like all those things that is laid out there,
do you like the rules as well? The fact that
captains can earn two knockouts are worth two like it
incentivizes incentivises violence.

Speaker 5 (12:33):
Quite frankly fantastic. I'm all for it, I think, you know,
I kind of I did an interview when I left
the Wayne and I cond of was questioning, why hasn't
this happened before? You know, it's a great idea, you know,
though it is the first, I don't think it's going
to be the last. I can't imagine there's going to
be nations going up against each other.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
I mean the obvious one is USA Mexico. Like that's again,
could you imagine that USA UK?

Speaker 2 (12:58):
You know you can do Golden Boy versus am as
well over in the US. I mean that when you
have the money that Turkey Alaschek is willing to put
up and the Sadari's willing to put up, there's really
nothing you can't do.

Speaker 5 (13:08):
Dren exactly exactly that, And I'm more for it, and
I think it will bring a different audience to the
sport of boxing, which is always good. You know, more
eyes on our wonderful, brilliant sport. You know people that
want to sit down and they want to get captivated
by the scores. You know, wowurs is all to play
for one fight to go, two fights ago, who's going
to get it? And then all of a sudden you
think one team is going to win and the you

(13:29):
know this captain gets the knockout. But yeah, I am
a little biased, you know, I have strong tires to Matrium,
although I will remain impartial on the night. I have
a projected score that I am sticking with.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
So it ran on de Owne earlier today or Friday.
We're recorded as what is your projected score? So it's
already out there.

Speaker 5 (13:53):
Okay, So I have it going free too into the
main event, Free too, Mattrium going to the main event.
And I've chopped and chained a little with this main event.
But I like what I'm hearing from Wilder. I feel
that even if he was to win this fight, it
may be hard to get him to continue to box.

(14:17):
And I'm going with Wilder to stop Zang two one
hundred and fourteen pound Wilder against the two hundred and
eighty two.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
Pounds sixty eight pound difference between the two.

Speaker 5 (14:29):
So that makes my score a very wide seven to two.
It's free to going into the final. But when I
look at my when I look at the fights and
I look at my score, they could easy chop and change.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
All right.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
So let's run through each one of these as part
of the five on five. Let's start with Hans Ashiras
against Amma Williams. I've called a lot of Amma Williams
fights over the years.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
It's been a roller.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
Coaster ride for Ammo, both professionally and personally. He's talked
about his mental health issues in the past. Is actually
going to be on this show a little bit later
diving deeper into some of those. But he's a talented
guy and he's a strong guy. We've seen some recent fights.
Cordell Bulkert Booker was a spectacular performance in one of
his recent ones. So I think we're going to get

(15:16):
a very aggressive version of Ammo Williams ins fight. I
don't know necessarily what we're going to get from Hams
of Shira's. I've seen some of his fights on tape.
I don't know about his opponents like he hasn't faced
really anyone I would call high quality at this point.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
What do you expect from Sierras? How would you grade him?

Speaker 5 (15:37):
Well, he had a good win last time out against
Liam Williams, but Liam Williams was way past his best.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (15:42):
One thing we did see from Hams of Saraz was aggression,
like to hold the center of the ring. And if
that's the case, if that's the way he tries to
approach his fight with Amma Williams, who is really fired
up for this fight, it could catch fire early. I
feel I've been a big fan of his I really have.
We had a few back and forth actually a while
back when he was sort of kind of scheduled or

(16:06):
there was talks of him fighting Felix Cash he was
in the UK, but Saskash didn't want anything to do
with No. I've become a big, big fan of Ammo.
He's a role model in the battles that he's facing
come through. So I think for people out there struggling,
you know, young men and women who may be struggling
with mental health, is a brilliant advocate and he can
be very proud of himself. And I like the way

(16:28):
he's approaching fights. I like what I'm hearing from him.
His last fighting it is Mumba Ya Yasa Mumba in
Las Vegas and the Connor Ben under card was very,
very impressive. He showed us a bit of everything and
the finish was brutal or a long wide left hook.
I just feel this is going to catch fire so quickly,
and you got to remember, the pot of gold for

(16:50):
the winner here is huge, at potential shot of the
WBC world title. It's massive, and he's a tough one
to pick.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
I The thing with this fight is I don't think
Amo's going to take one step backwards, and he's not
being shy about that. This week he said he's going
to come right at him. He believes that while Shiraz
has that height advantage, that if he gets on the inside,
Shiraz is not going to know how to fight with them.
So I think he's going to try to make it
a fight in a phone booth early, and I think
we're going to learn a lot early from Shiraz, what

(17:19):
kind of power he really has, what kind of chin
he really has. Maybe it's the bias that I've seen
too much of Amo, but I'm going Ammo Williams by
knockout in this one there, Darren, I'm taking Ammo with
the two pointer.

Speaker 5 (17:32):
He's got to be educated pressure. He can't walk on
to the shots of Shiaz. We punch. He's very hard,
He's very cute the way he slips in the upper
cart seat. He looks for the right hand over the top.
Very very well scored fighter. Good footwork takes half a
yard out and he's got to make sure that he's
moving his head. He's got a high guard Williams. He
can't be plowing forward and walking on.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
And he's got a good guy in his corner.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
Kevin Cunningham is one of the better trainers in the US,
you know, a disciplined guy. Some of the Ammo has
worked with in the past. They reunited for this way,
so I like that dynamic as well.

Speaker 5 (18:03):
Yeah. I spoke to Ammo on Monday. I interviewed him,
and yeah, he's very happy. He's at Pace. He loves
being back with Kevin, and he just seems a very
happy fight. A confident fighter, fired up fighter, and that's
what we need. There's been you know, I'm going back
a few fights when he fought Kier and Conway. There
was times I felt he just switched off a little

(18:25):
and maybe it was his temperament. And I think now
that we're seeing a fired up, revved up Ammo Williams.
I'm expecting the best version of him and he would
need to be at his best to beat Hams Shwarts.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
All right, So who do you get in that one?

Speaker 5 (18:41):
So this is this is another one?

Speaker 3 (18:43):
So you've already scored it. So I'm not asking you
to reveal state secrets. You know, yeah, major productions.

Speaker 5 (18:50):
But the reason I'm starting so much is I'm not confident.
What I see today from Ammo is kind of made
me swear a little bit. But I'll give you my
initial score, which got me to seven to two, was
sure as winning on points two points. But I'm with you,
he could come on so late. This new found aggression

(19:12):
is what is required against Amasa Surras, so it could sway.
It has swayed me slightly. I can't even get my
words out because it's that, you know, it's that close
of a fight. But as I had it before the weighing,
I had Hams Sres getting a points win. But I'm
not confident.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
All right, you've got Shias I've got ammo in that one.
Next one up is the one hundred and twenty six
pound title fight with ray Ford going up against Nick Ball.
The variable in this fight for me is the weight
cut of ray Ford, because you go back a couple
of years and before ray got his title shot, members
of his team would tell me all the time, like

(19:51):
he's got to get it soon, or I's gonna have
to move up. Making this one twenty six is really
really tough. That was a couple of years ago, and
maybe there's some recentcy bias he but a couple of
weeks ago we saw Joe Cordina lose, and I think
part of that was because Joe Cordina wasn't one hundred
and thirty pounder anymore. We saw Josh Taylor lose this
past weekend. Credit to his opponent, but I think that

(20:14):
part of that was Josh Taylor probably.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
Not a one forty anymore. Like cutting that weight is
a challenge.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
I worry about ray Ford at this weight, particularly in
the second half of the fight, because what we saw
from Nick Ball in his fight against ray Argus was
a guy just keeps coming and he lost some rounds
early to ray Argus. But he didn't stop, and he
had Vargas hurt a couple of times in that fight.
I think Ray is better than Vargas, but I also

(20:40):
think there's the potential to be susceptible to that kind
of onslaught in the latter half of this fight.

Speaker 5 (20:45):
Yeah, I totally hear what you're saying here. But the
way he finished comonsov last time in the final round,
and that was impressive, shows that he carries power light
even in a fatigued state. So I lean towards Ford
in this one. I think it will be points. I
feel Ball is gonna live up to his nickname once again,

(21:07):
the Wrecking Ball, and try and plow forward. I do
feel he needs to let shots go earlier. I know
there's a lot of pressure on the front foot, but
you can't afford as you're going through the levels to
kind of think to yourself, I'll get to him later.
You know, I'll start wearing him down. You know, you
give him rounds away. I think he's got to let
his hands go and build, build, you know, a number

(21:30):
of rounds under his belt and get to his opponents later.
But I just feel there's something special about for the
rhythm the slickness, the speed of hand and foot reaction,
and he's a bad man. They're both bad men, to
be honest, and I like what you know. Nick Ball's
hardly said anything this week. He means business. He's you know,
he doesn't really mess around with words, and that's been

(21:52):
similar with Ford.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
He never says anything no, but what he.

Speaker 5 (21:58):
Does say is to the point, direct, and he means
what he says. You know, I've been around boxing a
long time and I know I can see when a
fire is hiding behind words. These two believe what they're saying.
And I just feel one thing for sure. If Ford
does what he says he's going to do and stand
his ground and meet nick Ball, which I'm not one

(22:20):
hundred percent sure is going to be the case, then
we are in for an absolute bond storm of a fight.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
So you're taking Ray Ford by decision on that one,
I'm going the other way. See, we've got different cards.
This is great.

Speaker 5 (22:32):
I could, yes, I see where you're coming from.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
Absolutely fifty to fifty sixty forty on virtually all of
these fights. The next one is the British domestic kind
of showdown. You've got there, Willie Hutchinson going up against
Craig Richards.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
Craig Richards is.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
A familiar name to global boxing fans because of some
of his opponents. Right he gave to Meet Your Biople
hell a few years ago in a competitive fight over
in the UK. His fight with Joshua Batzi was competitive
as well. Came up short in both those fights. But
he has been on this stage where Will Hutchinson not
so much right Like, he has one loss on his resumes,

(23:06):
come back one, I think four fights in a row
since then. But this is one of the one of
the fights, Darren, that I maybe feel most confident in,
weirdly in Craig, Like, I just think Craig is on
a fringy world level and I don't know, I don't
believe that Willie is there at least now yet.

Speaker 5 (23:23):
Yeah, I agree with you, it's probably been you know,
though it's a close fight. I've found this one the
easiest to pick and I'm going with Craig Richards. He
understands that he can't lose this, you know, he doesn't
want to be remembered for his defeats, though they have
helped his stock rise. In losing to Bowatzi and bevol

(23:44):
because of the performance he puts in. But now he's
with a new team and he's getting better. He says,
you know, I'm a better fighter now, and he has
tons of experience behind him. I just feel for me,
it's always been about pace of the fight. It's about
not being lazy, and it's frustrated me in the past
watching Craig Richards because I know how hard he trains.
He was with my old coach, Tony Simms and his

(24:06):
brother Peter Simmson. They trained the socks off, so I
know the engine's there. But he's a very laid back
individual and sometimes you see it with lots of fighters.
Their personality is kind of the way they fight, and
he is very laid back, but he understands and there's
also a bit of bad blood here, so I feel
we're going to see a sharper, more fired up, red
up Craig Richards. On the flip side, Willie Hutchinson, he's

(24:29):
a very good fight, very half amateur. As a junior,
one of the world juniors, very very good, but that
was all as a as a kid. He's very confident.
He was stopped by Leonarx Clark. I feel Craig Richards
is a bigger puncher than Leonarx Clark, and it could
be a case of a step too far, a step

(24:51):
too far against somebody who really really believes, through his defeat,
that he can be a world champion.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Did Edy make a mistake not making Craig Richards the
cab of this team, because as you said, I won't
call it one sided, but it's probably the easiest fight
to predict the outcome of Craig's a bigger puncher. You know,
Hutchinson's been stopped. Are we going to be talking Sunday
morning about maybe Eddie Hearn making a mistake by giving

(25:17):
Deontay Wilder the captain?

Speaker 5 (25:18):
We all said it, you know, when we were at
the initial press conference, who's going to be the captain?
Who's going to be the captain? He was a little
surprised when it was Wilder and not Craig because of
the probably the swing, you know, sixty five percent. I
don't know I have a seventy percent Craig Richards, But
the narrative around Wilder being captain is brilliant for me.
I like that, and it may be that little bit

(25:40):
we need or Wilder needs, you know, to extract that
blood out of the stone, so we'll see.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Now we go to the heavyweights, and the first heavyweight
fighter is for an interim title, Philip Perkovic going up
against Daniel Dubois. If you had asked me about this
fight before we saw Dubois again, it's Darrell Miller, I
would have said hercabage all day long, and probably by stoppage.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
But you know, Dubois showed me something in that fight.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
He showed me a level of resolve. He showed me
a level of mental toughness that I didn't see in
the Joe Joyce fight, and I haven't seen or didn't
see really against Alexander Usik, who you know was beating
in pillar to post aside from that one moment, but
it's a world championship fight, and felt like he kind
of gave up in the latter stage of that fight.

(26:29):
Did Dubois show you something in that Darrell Miller fight?
And did did he show you enough to make you
believe that he can beat a guy who's been kind
of a boogeyman for the last few years In Philip Perkovitch.

Speaker 5 (26:41):
I'm conflicted here because I want Dubois to win this fight.
I'm all for Dubois a j perhaps in September. You know,
a lot of the Brits to do well, and he's
a nice guy. He is a nice guy.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
But I.

Speaker 5 (27:00):
Just think Philip Hergovich he almost borderlines arrogance with his confidence.
You know, he really believes these levels above. And I
have to be honest, it was a gut check for
Dubois last time, which he passed. But Jerrell Miller, I mean,
he's not the post twenty eighteen, and we understand why.
You know, he's shades from that, don't get me wrong,

(27:21):
A man mountain who polled on a lot of pressure.
But I'm not purely sold on Miller these days, if
I'm honest. But there was the big box ticks for
Dubois and that was heart courage and he passed that.
But I just think this perhaps is about levels. But
what I will say is Dube needs to show very

(27:44):
good body language in this fight. He needs to be
aggressive and let Philip Hergovich know when we sparred, I
was a boy. I'm a man. Now, I'm an experienced man.
Now I'm a big man and grabbed this fight by
the scruffle and then let no Hergovic No, from the off,
you're in a real fight here, because I feel Hergovic
just believes that he's levels above and you've got to

(28:06):
let him know that he.

Speaker 3 (28:07):
Isn't, which I'm not.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
I mean, look, he's got the Olympic background, he's got
the unblemished record. At the same time, when you compare resumes,
Dubois's resumes a lot better.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
I mean, Hergovic is the only.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Name really on his resume is Jay le Jong and
that was a nip and tug fight that was life
and death that could have gone either way a couple
of years ago here in Saudi Arabia. So I think
Dubois gotta kind of lean a little bit on that.
Like I've been in the ring with some real, real fighters,
from Usik to Joyce, you know, all the way. You know,
to Drell Miller, I've I've fought at levels above Philip Pergovic.

(28:40):
I think he's going to lean to that experience a
little bit.

Speaker 5 (28:42):
Definitely, he has it in abundance at the highest level.
You know, he suffered the good, the bad, and the ugly,
and you can take confidence away from that that you've
experienced it all. But I just feel there's something about Hergovic.
We've yet seen the best of him, you know, We've
seen glimpses of magic and brutality, and I feel this
might be the night that he comes out and really

(29:04):
turns some heads and makes a case to be fighting AJ.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
So we were all excited about the potential for better
be of Beevil being the main event for this car.
That's not gonna happen. Beebel is gonna fight somebody else
on the undercard, but as consolation prizes go Deontay Wilder
versus Jay Lee Jong is a great matchup and this
really is a winner go home for both these guys.
Deontay Wilder is in his late thirties, je Le Jong

(29:32):
is in his early forties. Both these guys are coming
off losses. I don't think either one of these guys
wants to go down the path of rebuilding it with
one or two fights to get back to the top.
It is the ultimate winner go home fight, and there
are huge questions I think around both these guys, like
can Deontay Wilder summon the fighter that he once was?

(29:54):
Can he get that you know in ring killer back
or is he more of the boxer mover that we
saw over twelve really disappointing rounds against Joseph Parker. The
same thing with Jay Lee Jong. I mean, going into
that Parker fight, I was really high on jal Lee Jong.
I went to Jersey, spent a week with him, wrote

(30:15):
a profile like I was. I was all in on
jay Lee Jong, and then he goes out there against
Parker and aside for those two knockdowns, he looked every
bit the what forty forty one years old that he is.
So this is one of those fights where I can think, like,
all right, I think j Lee Jong is the better fighter,
but what if he's just washed? What if he's old

(30:38):
and isn't isn't the same guy? Or I think Deontay
Wilder can still summon that right hand, but what if
he doesn't throw it?

Speaker 3 (30:45):
So like this, there's so many questions.

Speaker 5 (30:47):
Darren, I'm the same. I just feel Joseph Parker ripped
the fight away from Wilder in that fight. He held
the centa to ring and he and he kind of
really just confused and h outworks Wilder as he did
Zang also, So I feel Zang needs to be aggressive,

(31:12):
needs to be busy, But that's not going to happen.
Zang is not going to be busy, so I feel
that will allow Wilder to have a bit more time.
He will be allowed to move, he won't be under
as much pressure. He's a man mounting Zang. Let's not
get that wrong, but I just feel you've got to
rip the fight away from Wilder. You need to be
on him, throw him around, be busy, let the jab go,

(31:33):
let shots go, hit him all around the waistband, the arms,
and just like completely dent him of any confidence. But
I don't feel he has the engine Zang to be
able to do that. So with time, Wilder will start
to grow and this confidence will start to come back,
and I think we'll see him really launch him with
the shots, the big long left milk and the right hand.
He may miss with a few, and he doesn't get

(31:55):
caught with the counters. But I just think that lack
of pace from Zang is going to suit Wilder. It
will give him more time to mount attacks. And that's
why I am picking Wilder.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
Let me ask you this does Wilder's talked a lot
this week about if he doesn't perform, it's over.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
Sometimes it worries me when guys talk.

Speaker 5 (32:19):
I was saying that today. Actually I was the same thing.
I'm exactly the same thing with you. I don't know
why you're saying that. Why are you plant in that
negative seed?

Speaker 3 (32:28):
You know, Shangle fighter is fifty, Like, yes, he's not
talking retirement.

Speaker 5 (32:31):
It's you know, body language. Your body doesn't your brain
doesn't know what your body's saying, vice versa. You know,
you need to give off positive messages. And when you
start talking about losing and potentially retiring, I don't see
why he would mention that. Or is he saying, Look,
if I lose that it, I need to give it all.
And if that is the case, and we do see

(32:52):
an aggressive Wilder, I back my decision.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
Well, he just I was watching the way and he
spoke to Time Grisham after the weigh in, and he
brought up how successful he was outside the ring, how
happy he is with his seven kids, and that's great.
I mean, I hope every fighter that retires is as
happy as Deontay Wilder seems to be. But I watched
that and I don't believe that. The It doesn't make

(33:18):
me believe that the killer within has re emerged, you know,
and like that's what we're looking for. We're looking for
old Deontay Wilder, the guy that the seek and destroy
Deontay Wilder. And look, maybe I'm reading too much into it,
but how he sounds this week is not making me
believe we're going to see a very different version than
what we saw back in December.

Speaker 5 (33:36):
Yeah, maybe I'm hopeful, and I agree with you. I
think Malik Scott's got a huge job too. Maybe slap
him in between rounds and just say what you come on?

Speaker 3 (33:48):
Is that hard though? Like in your mind? Like Malik
Scott his strengths in boxing was as a boxer, like
is he making Deontay too much of a boxer?

Speaker 5 (33:58):
Surely? Surely? Hem the I mean, I have to say this,
one of the worst fighters I've ever watched was Malik
Scott Lewis Ortiz in Monte Carlo. It was awful and
maybe you know, Malik Scott must understand it wasn't a
good fight and his charge to world. I cannot afford
to fight like that. He needs to be aggressive, he

(34:19):
needs to be spiteful and the Lions. I think Malik
Scott has the knowledge, the mindset to understand that. And
I just feel he's got an important part to play.
I hope we see the old world for one last rodeo.
If this is to be, even if he goes out
and loses, go out on your shield. Come on show

(34:40):
everyone just one last time that there's there's that little
bit of fight left and if it was a brutal
finish and a brutal knockout of Zam because I'm kind
of picturing that moment David Hay wobbles value Lev and
there's you know, the legs jelly and I'm just visualizing
something like that from Wilder and him getting the finish
with that big right hand. A fight that we've always

(35:03):
spoken about in the UK is aj Wilder that will
sell out Wembley Stadium twice. So uh yeah, I'm I'm
free too on that final fight and I'm going Wilder stuff.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Is look and if he wins. I know there's been
some talk of wild they're fighting Jared Anderson.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
I think that would be a mistake, Like you don't
go in with a young maybe you beat him, I don't.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
I don't know if Jared Andersen's any good, but he's young,
he's strong, he's heavy handed, Like that's the wrong fight.
Like to me, if Wilder wins straight into Anthony Joshua,
I don't care if there's no titles on the line.
I don't care if you fictionalize the WBA belt. I
don't care what you do. But in September of this year,
it is Wilder against Joshua. But you cannot afford to
have Wilder fight Anderson and Joshua fight Herkovich and hope

(35:51):
that they both.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
Get through that unscathed. Like that's the fight right, like
that has now would be the time.

Speaker 5 (35:56):
It's got to be now. It's got to be now,
and you can build that fight massive. You know there'll
be a weld title on the line, both coming off knockouts.
If my prediction is right. It's massive back home in
the UK that sells out Wembley stadiums wise, I don't care.
You know, there's so many fans of Anthony Joshua, they
understand who Wilder is. The general public even do. I

(36:18):
would say to a degree, it's massive. It really is big.
Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised though, if Wilder
the South's off into the sunset, but that carrot dang.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
I don't think he'd he'd give up the financial carriad
either on that one. No matter how much money you have,
it's always good to get a little bit more. And
A is gonna be ringside for this fight. I saw
Ben Davison, his trainer in the lobby earlier today, so
he's going to be there, probably either looking at Herkovic.
But also if Wilder wins, we could finally get it.

Speaker 5 (36:46):
There is absolutely no way Wilder is retiring. If you
beg zags, yeah, yeah, that's ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
I have one more idea to make you a few
bucks in your life. If we happen to cross with
Turkey ala Chic on Saturday, I'm going to suggest a senior.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Tour five on five and one of the fighters sign
me up.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
One of the fights I want to make is you
and Sergio Darren Barker versus Sergio Mora. Both of you
can cake yourself and Canisio tape in the week. In
the weeks and months before the fight, Sergio said he
can go eight rounds at most, So if you'll take
an eight rounder, I will pitch the eight rounder.

Speaker 5 (37:25):
So I can do the UK some justice and be
a Mexican fane.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
And Sergio, we know can't punch, so there's no danger
there for you. You're good to You're good.

Speaker 5 (37:35):
We'll just have a shoot We'll have a shootout for
free rounds and just see who the lost man standing
is with both of your knees.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
Just go like we gotta stand there. We got We're done.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
We're done, Darren, good stuff, man. I always appreciate you
stopping by.

Speaker 5 (37:46):
My pleasure. Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
And when we come back my conversation with Amma Williams.
All right, Emo, or are we calling you Tiger now?
Is that the official Austin Williams new nickname?

Speaker 1 (38:09):
You know what Austin Tiger Williams is? Definitely what it is.
I think AMMO will always be there. I mean, it's
so ingrained in people's minds, just so ingrained in people's hearts.
Ammo Amma is never going anywhere. AMMO got me to
this point of you know, existence, so it'll always be

(38:32):
there and I know that. But who I'm personally growing into,
and you know the way that I'm gonna represent myself
and things that you guys will see in the ring
from me, Tiger is gonna make a lot more sense.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
So why the change?

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Well, you know what I wouldn't call it a change.
We talked to my family, my grandmother's and things. They
always call me Tiger. I always had tigers and stuff
all over my room. I would draw illustrate growing up,
I would draw tigers and things. I've always been fascinated
with the tiger species. And as time went on, and

(39:10):
you know, I do a lot of different things. I'm
an artist and boxing and all that, as everything came together,
it just it's just been a part of my personal evolution.
And the more and more I get to know myself,
the more and more I grow as my own person.
I can only express the level of understanding not having
myself at a certain period of time. So, you know,

(39:32):
two years ago, three years ago, yeah, it was Ammo Williams.
That's what I was consumed in. And you keep working,
you keep moving forward, you keep growing and evolving as
a person, and that's where I am now. You know.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
So Ammo is almost the perfect boxing name, right because
it's just that the physicality.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
The nature of boxing. How did you get that nickname?

Speaker 1 (39:57):
Ammo actually came from one of my best friends, ralph
In Bokwa. My first boxing name actually was the Natural.
The Natural that was my first box Yeah, Austin the
Natural Williams was my first boxing name. But I ended
up wanting to get rid of that because I felt
like it was too it didn't represent me enough on

(40:20):
the cerebral side of boxing. I felt like it kind
of took away from how much mental work I put
into the game. So I got rid of the name,
and at a certain point in time, I was just
Austin Williams. And then my guy Ralph, he was like, Ammo,
ammo just makes sense for you, and I was like, oh,
probably ammunition. Yeah I said that, and he was like, no, no, Ammo,

(40:42):
it's catchy. I text my sister, I was like, you
like the name Ammo and she was like yeah, like
who said this? And then from there I just went
with it. And then I was still an amateur at
the time, so everybody just took onto it started calling me.
And then it made more sense because you know, all
the different things I have in my artillery. I'm a

(41:04):
very versatile fighter. I can do a lot of different things,
you know, So I just stuck and you know, like
I said, people just start calling me, and that almost
people call me Amomore and they called me Austin. So
that's how that name came about, and that's how you
know we are where we are right now, all right.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
So, whether it's it's Amo or Tiger, you are one
of the best one hundred and sixty pound prospects in
boxing right now, and you're facing another guy that is
considered to be on that level.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
I saw you saying this week that you believe there
are levels to this sport. Why do you believe that
you're on another level than Howza?

Speaker 1 (41:45):
Well, I just go based off experience, all the things
that I've been through in the ring, Madison Square Garden
multiple times, MGM Graham multiple times, oh To Arena multiple times,
all the sparn I've had, David Benavidez Smith, being basically
sided by cy of Regis program as he came up,
and just seeing the whole World Championship pursuit unfold. Things

(42:08):
of that nature just gives you a different level of
experience that you cannot mimic. You have to go through it,
you have to be in that world. And ever since
twenty nineteen when I went pro, I've been in that world.
I haven't been off of the scene. I think Hamsa
is pretty new on the scene. I didn't really know

(42:29):
about him until September of last year because I personally
went and started scoping the division to see what was
the best fight for me, and I hit up Eddie
Hearn and Frank Smith and everybody, Sam Kakafi, I hit everybody.
I said, that's the fight to make, because that's the fight.
I need to keep myself on the same trajectory that
we're on. And this is kind of pulling him into

(42:51):
that world and maximizing the fact that he's just now
getting that big exposure from like the win from Liam
Williams and things like that. I said, Okay, we can
capitalize on top of that. But people have to understand
I did Anthony Joshua one fight before Katie Taylor. In
my second fight, I'm used to the lights. This is
my life, you know. I've been submerged in the deep

(43:13):
waters since I started. If it wasn't on a you know,
a scale of my opponents being extremely hard, it still
was on the scale of handling the lights and the
big time nights and stuff. Since my second fight, so
I've been just I've been I've just been growing in

(43:37):
a certain light for so long that it's just levels
to it. It's levels to my comfort in this arena.
It's levels to my comfort in this world. This is
where I belong. This is just me. When you think AMO,
you think big fights, think big cards, you think this on,
you think matchroom boxing, you don't think of me at
low level at any point in my career. And that's

(43:58):
what I say. You know, experience as long with the
sparring and know that I've been doing, I'm just on
a totally different level, and guys see it when we
get in the ring and you see it on like
think about Cordell Booker and I was going to fight him.
You know, he was touted as a really slick fighter.
He had a lot of really great qualities about it.

(44:20):
So but then when he got in a ring with me,
for some reason, it looked completely different. That's not by accident.
That's because of what I really present when I get
in the ring with people, and I think it'll be
the same when I get in the ring with homes.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah, I thought Booker was going to give you, if
not some troublesome rounds for sure, and that didn't turn
out to be the case. I was talking to Eddie
about you last week and we were talking about kind
of the journey that you've been on over these last
few years. I mean, we watched you rise very early
in your career with Matt Troom. You seem to be

(44:53):
on a fast track, you know, twenty twenty one, you know,
you got a good slot on that Chuck Latito Astrata
card and big card that you could fight on. But
when you think back to those days, there was obviously
things going on in your life at the time. What
can you say about what was kind of going on
in the life of Austin Williams in those days, In

(45:15):
the life.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Of Austin Williams, I was discovering myself. I was such
at the beginning journey, the beginning of the journey of
discovering myself, self, discovery, maturity. I was really a kid,
you know, I'm I'm still not. I'm still a kid. Man.
I still have fun, I still dance, I still sing,
I still make music. I still hang out with my
family all the time, play with my dog every single

(45:38):
day we go to the park. You know, my maturity
is at a different pace because I've been taken care
of man, I've been able to experience a lot of
things and just I've been putting to a position where growth,
my growth didn't have to be expedited. Like I really

(46:02):
was able to grow through all of my experiences and
keep that lighthearted, you know, youth about myself. And when
I was early in Chocolatito stage, when I was on that,
I was just a I was really a kid taking
all that stuff in. And that's the difference I believe
between me and a lot of these other people, the

(46:24):
fact that I'm still so colorful. I'm still I am
the guy that a wear a tail because it's just
who I think, who I'm accepted as, you know what
I mean, and just truly being an artist and stuff
like that. I have a lot of. This makes me
just very thankful of my life and Eddie Hearn and

(46:46):
people like that who who've just given me all of
these resources and new things I could take in and
learn and grow. And that is why people can see,
you know, I'm eccentric, different. I bring something different to
tam because I truly am you know, and I'm just developing. Man,
I'm just developing at a different rate. But it's so

(47:09):
dangerous because I am still tested. You see the people
I fight, they still give me real test and they
give me. You know, I just can't even explain it.
Look at where I'm at, man, I'm in Saudi Arabia,
five five biggest. This is the biggest event I've ever
experienced in my life. And I'm here as one of

(47:31):
the top guys. You see all the coverage and man,
that that's that's who I am.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
You know, you know, there was I'll admit there there
was a time that I wondered if you were going
to become kind of a cautionary tale that the things
were We're not going to bounce back for it. Just
some of the social media activity that was going on there,
and you know, in the boxing world, we kind of
talked about what was sort of going on with you
and were you gonna be able to get it back?

Speaker 3 (47:58):
Like how dark were some of those days for you
at that point?

Speaker 1 (48:03):
Oh man, some of those days I really have to
just hold on to the faith. I couldn't see. I
didn't know what was to come. It was a point
in time where I was in Tucson, Arizona, where Eric
was my current cutman. I had a job on a ranch.
I had to get up every day. I was living
off what one hundred bucks a week. I was living

(48:25):
off one hundred bucks a week for food. I had
to go get on a city bus, drive way down
to you know, go take care of horses and stuff
like that. My life was It wasn't a middleweight world
champion life. It was definitely recovery. It was definitely an
an investment from everyone who could see the end goal.

(48:49):
But it was so many steps to take to get
myself back on that track. That was a time that
earned my respective from everyone, and I think it was
a mutual respect that was earned from everyone because none
of us knew how it would go. No, none of
us knew that if the money wasn't major, the accomplishments
at the time wasn't major, I could have fell off

(49:10):
the face of the earth in two years, could have
went by and nobody would have known who I was.
So that was a dark period of time in my life.
But I say dark period of time, but actually that
was the most enlightening period of my time, a period
of time of my life because I was able to

(49:31):
get things that tools that I didn't understand what they
would do for my life at the time. But now,
in moments like this, all of the things I went
through in that dark period or whatever. All of the
things I learned, all of the stuff I went through,
it provided me so much. It provides me so much
tools and resources that I use today that put me

(49:54):
above the opposition, you know. And that's another thing that
makes me say, you know, like life without trial, life
without real tribulations, it doesn't take you far. You don't
go through some major things, you will not emerge as
like a golden goose. If life is just very blend
and on the surface, no big anything, no big downs,

(50:17):
no big highs, then you just ride that streamline, you know.
But for me, even with going to Kevin Cunningham, I
was able to go to Kevin cunning because I had
to go to at the right place at the right time,
the coach that can handle all the craziness that was
going on, was familiar with something like that and knew
how to maximize a fighter. If I didn't go to

(50:39):
that dark place, I never would have got a world
champion coach. So everything balances out. It's just all about
do you keep moving forward in your dark spots? Do
you keep looking for the gyms, do you keep looking
for the lessons that the dark times provide for you
because if you looking for that, then you will get
the greatest lesson. But if you, you know, succumb to

(51:01):
whatever you're going through and then it just be over
for you.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
Was there a breakthrough for you in those days?

Speaker 2 (51:08):
Because I remember calling like your manager Sam, and calling
Eddie and calling the matchroom people wondering kind of what
was going on with you? I mean, hell, you did
a you made a distrack about your promoter, Like there
was stuff out there that made me wonder, you know,
were we going to see you kind of drift off,
you know, sort of into the wilderness.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
What was there a moment that got you back on
the right path.

Speaker 1 (51:32):
Yeah, I mean the moment that got me back on
the right path was the moment where I went into
recovery from going to the psych war to going to
UH rehabilitation, mental health rehabilitation. It was a point in
my time, time in my life where it was so
hard for me to talk about that. You know, I

(51:55):
actually lost a child due to abortions. Some I never
thought that I would go through in my life. That
was one of the main things that kind of made
me go crazy. Dude, I lost my mind because in
my family. That's not something that happens. We don't. That's
just so against what we go through. And you know,
I'm such a spiritual guy, and I had attachments and stuff,

(52:18):
and you know, it was a lot of stuff that
happened behind the scenes that I haven't even opened up
about to the public yet, which is why some of
the stuff seems so outlandish or crazy or not, and
then makes sense. But now that I am past all
of those things, and now that you know, I've been

(52:39):
able to come to terms with what I was going through,
and even being further far enough removed from that mental
health stuff, it's a liberating feelings because at first I
was embarrassed. Dude, I mean no, you go from being
on top of the world fighting Madison Square, Guarden, London
all that to people calling you a crazy man, and

(53:02):
it's pretty much known that you're in mental health, you know,
recovery and people that used that type of stuff against
you for the rest of your life, you know, trying
to balance that and then coming back to fighting and
at the and also right away, you remember, right away
I had to jump into talking about mental health and
talking about stuff that I wasn't fully recovered from. From.

(53:23):
Even though I kept fighting and stuff, I still was
dealing with figuring out mental health. I was twenty three,
twenty four years old, twenty five. I was nowhere near
true maturation as a young man, and I still had
to take that platform and do the best I could
with it. Try to tell people that it's okay, try

(53:44):
to even lighten, enlighten people about the resources that are
truly out there for people who do to deal and
suffer mental health and comlf at that being the suffer
for the from these things. You know, And I actually

(54:05):
grew up thinking that, you know, mental health and stuff
wasn't for someone like me. It was that's like something
for like a suburban kid, you know, growing up rich.
They're the ones who have depression, They're the ones who
have PTSD, They're the ones who have those things. But
when you go and you learn, you get the knowledge,
you realize almost everybody has some sort of mental health complication.

(54:28):
And the more, the faster, the faster you're able to
face it and get the proper help for it, the
faster you can actually use your complications to your benefit,
because once you learn how to balance out these things,
they actually become beneficial for your life as long as
there's a balance there. So yeah, man, it's been it's
been a very crazy journey for me.

Speaker 3 (54:51):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
It makes me feel a little emotional right now just
thinking about all the stuff that I've been through and
all the people who still believed in me, you know,
even through the craziness. Look at my team now, Look
at me and Eddie Hearn's relationship now. The things that
me and him went through actually made us close, you
know what I mean, Because you see things through you

(55:16):
you build or list it was something you know someone
through something like that, There's so many explanations and things
that have to go on for you and that person
to get back right. And then also too, him being
involved in my recovery that made us close because I'm
sure he learned things about recovery and mental health that

(55:36):
he didn't know that will now make him a better
promoter or make him, you know, more aware for a
kid or somebody who might be dealing with something and
may be able to help them before they go too
far off the deep end, you know. So it's all
a growth of a collective growth from everybody around me,
and I'm very grateful for it.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
Yeah, and one of those people around you is Kevin Cunningham,
who's in your corner for this fight? What is Kevin
meant to you both on a personal level and now
that you've reunited with him on a professional level.

Speaker 1 (56:06):
Oh well, being with Kevin Cunningham it it definitely taught
me a lot of things that I needed to learn
and a hard light. But as I got removed from it,
because you remember, I ended up going back to my team,
my original team for a few fights, and it was

(56:27):
just like every single day something he told me, a
lesson he gave me and stuff it popped in your
mind and it was just like it was what I
needed to take it. Back to the beginning of the interview,
like I was saying, my life has been very good.
I've been blessed with a lot of you know, great
experience and stuff, and it wasn't as hardcore for me.

(56:51):
But now you know, I got a different respect for
that military kind of mind that strict, straight to the point,
no bs in between, no fluff, just get the work done.
That has really really marinated in me. And now that's
how I handle businesses, the way I approach life. I'm

(57:12):
so much more just straight to the point, as a man,
and I see how much more productive I am. I
see how much more reliable I am to my family members.
I see just basically the core foundation of who I
am has just become a lot more solid and a
lot more. I trust myself a lot more. That's what
brings the greatest performances out of me. And that's what also,

(57:36):
you know, took my level of discipline to the next level,
which made me into a next level fighter. And you
don't understand those things when you're first and swelled, and
then you're just like, dang, this man is hard. This
is the hardest trend I've had in my life. Man,
it's tough, it's strict, it's mean. But then as time
goes by and you see how serious this game is,
you realize that people care about you the most. They're

(57:59):
gonna be the ones who are gonna be on you
like are that they're the ones who are going to
make sure that there is no games and no flustering
between because we're really going in there risking our life
and he's sending me out to battle and the most
compair of state possible.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
All right, Well, last question for you is we have
seen the tactical boxer in Austin Williams against guys like
here in Conway. We have seen a seeking, destroyed type
of fighter against someone like Cordel Booker without revealing all
your game plan here, Like what what version of Austin
Williams are we going to get on Saturday?

Speaker 1 (58:38):
You know what? This is not even a I don't
care about rebuilding a game plan. I tell you exactly
what my mindset is. I'm going in there. It is war,
is straight war. I've trained harder than I've ever trained
in my life. I've ran harder, I've sprinted harder. I
putted the bag harder. Smart Parker. They came through for me. Man,

(59:01):
we had the hardest sessions ever. And this total war
from beginning to the end. This won't be a tactical
pick you ap point part, try to get points type
of match. I'm fighting with my heart and my soul.
This fight. You will see, you almost see me be
like a wind up doll. Like I'm going in there
and I'm just letting myself loose go and it'll be

(59:24):
a battle of attrition. As I said before, I want
to feel exhausted in between each round. I want to
feel like I've given my heart and soul to every
punch I've thrown. Yes, that's what I'm doing, That's what
I trained to do, and it's not a secret. I'm
not trying to hide a game plan from them at all.
I've been telling everybody exactly what I'm gonna do, and
you guys are gonna see it. I'm it's almost gonna

(59:46):
look like I'm flying into there. We lost.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
I'm ready for it.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
Man, It's gonna be a great event and a great
fight in this Five on five over in, riad Man,
good luck to you on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (59:55):
Can't wait to see you back in the ring.

Speaker 1 (59:56):
Thank you very much. I appreciate you alreay supporting me
even when stuff got a little bit crazy, and you know,
life might get crazy. Yeah, nothing is ever perfect.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
Looking forward to it, man, Appreciate your time, Austin. That's
it for this week's episode. My thanks to Darren Barker
and Ammo Williams for joining the show. As always, subscribe,
rate review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you
download podcasts. I will be back with a fresh episode
after the Five on five fights on Sunday morning. Stick

(01:00:27):
around for that and maybe I will be able to
track down Servio Mora