February 7, 2026 • 10 mins
CK from Super Bowl Radio Row talking with a ton of guests leading up to the big game!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ck on Sports. It is Fox Sports Radio. Here we
are on radio row. Steven Espinoza, how are you doing fantastic?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
It's Friday, a long week. I know, yes, I don't
know how your voice is like it's holding out.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Mine is definitely not.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Yeah, when it's a long week like this, you get
to Friday and you're like, Okay, it's almost done. It's
almost done. But you know what, I'm honored to speak
to you. Showtime Sports president for ten years handled show
box as well. Now, the one thing about Fresno in
our areas in the Valley and riverside, in Stockton and Bakersfield,
we love our boxing.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
You got Oscar Valdez up there. Yeah, got some really
good fighters. It's always been not just good fighters, but
a good fan base.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah. Jose Ramirez Junior. Yeah, I mean I could keep
naming a lot of fighters that come out of our
area that have done fantastic things. But here's what I
want to talk to you about, Steven Espinoza. What is
the status of boxing right now? Because I was talking
to a friend of mine and I said, you know,
boxing when the headliner is Jake Paul, it makes me
(01:03):
wonder what happened to our sport. I used to grow
up in a time when Sugar Ray Leonard was fighting
Roberto Duran beneath this, you name it. It seemed like
every single week there would always be a fight that
you were like, oh, I cannot wait to see it,
and you know what, we got to watch it on ABC.
(01:24):
Now it's almost like the average person couldn't even tell
you who the heavyweight champion of the world is.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
You're absolutely right, And I think, look, you look at
the media landscape. HBO's out of it, Showtime's out of it,
ESPN's out of it. It's a transition period and it's definitely,
you know a little bit harder to keep track of things.
And I think there's a couple of things going on. One,
we're in a transition period sort of where music industry was,
(01:52):
you know, around two thousand and five to twenty ten, right,
you know, where they were figuring out their business model,
Like they had a ton of pie receive. It was like,
is the music industry even going to survive?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Right? And then they finally figured it out.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You know, they said streaming subscription, let's get away from
you know, downloading, you know, individual songs put it on
and they figured out and bounce back. And I think
that's where the sport of boxing is.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
You know, so you've seen you know, everybody's going away
from pay per view, UFC is going away from pay
per view. Boxing still does it occasionally, but I think
what we've got right now is the landscape is changing.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
On the media side.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
The Saudi's are coming in and that's a big disruption,
you know, good and bad. Okay, you're throwing a lot
of money into the sport. But at the same time,
some fights you might see in Vegas are now in Rio. Yes, yes,
And you know you're not seeing quite the investment in
the US that HBO Showtime in ESPN would be done.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And I think part of the reason is because the
popularity of the sport of boxing. I wouldn't say that
it's gone down. It just doesn't seem like in the
United States it's at the forefront like it used to be.
America used to go crazy over whoever was was the
heavyweight champion. It was almost like if you were the
heavyweight champion of the world, America kind of viewed you
(03:12):
like you were the president of the United States. Now
you couldn't even name the heavyweight champion. That's why I'm
wondering where did boxing go wrong?
Speaker 3 (03:21):
I think part of it it is cyclical.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
You know, the Saudis have been a distabling force in
that you know, it's tough to run a business when
the Saudis can outpay you, yes by five times, yes,
but by the same token. There's also cycles of talent.
So if you look at that sort of like the
face of boxing or the most popularly known you can
(03:45):
go back to you know, Sugar Ray Landern, you can
go to Roy Jones, you can go to Mike Tyson.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Your name it Ryan pak Yea. I don't think there's
that guy right now.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
No, it's Jake Paul. Yeah, that's who we all know.
So we look forward to seeing, well, who is Jake
Paul gonna fight next? I'm like, you, guys, realize, I'm
not taking anything away from Jake Paul. He entertains us.
He really actually is doing the best that he's got.
He's not a bad fighter to learn the sport of boxing,
and he is committed to the craft, so I respect
him for that. But come on, he's not a boxer,
(04:18):
and not a boxer that we all should be looking
to and saying, man, I can't wait to see the
next Jake Paul fight.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
No, he's he's a good, solid guy for where he
is experience wise in the sport. Is he is he
upholding the tradition of you know, Mayweather de la Hoya,
right Jones?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
No, like you know, that's not it.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
But if he is building a fan base among the
younger demographic, yes, then when this next guy comes along,
and maybe he comes out of the twenty eight Olympics,
maybe you know, he pops on the scene. Otherwise, I
think the conditions will be ripe for someone to step
to the forefront of the sport again.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
You know, you look at some of the boxers out there.
You look at Bud Crawford, Erol Spence, Tank, Davis Barbosa.
I mean, I could keep naming a lot of fighters. Canelo,
you name it. Canelo's still kind of the goose that lays.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
The golden egg.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
But there's a lot of good boxers out there, Boots
in Us another one. But they aren't known. They're not
known the same way some of the greats were known.
What do you think the issue is with that? Is
it because we live in a digital era, and they
don't necessarily embrace social media the same way Ryan Garcia
does because those fighters twenty years ago would be marquee names,
(05:40):
every single one of them. We would be looking forward
to watching them fight anytime they fought. I could walk
down I could walk in this room us about to
said I could walk down the street and I'm not
even gonna do that. I could walk in this room
where everybody here knows sports, and I'd be like, man,
you're ready to see the next Boots in his fight.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
They'll be like, who yeah, yeah, you're right, and he is,
you know, arguably one of the most talented, if not
the most talented.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Fighter in the sport right now. I think it's a
couple of things.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I think, you know, once you don't have a big platform,
whether it's ABC or ESPN or HBO and showtime, we're
still in a media environment where that big traditional TV
platform is were something, Yes it is now having said that,
that's gone, it's transitioning. There's de Zone streaming service, there's
there's others. There's Netflix, there's Amazon Prime. There's also streaming fights,
(06:30):
but it is.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
On the fighters.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Like at a certain point, fighters used to need to
talk to guys like you. They used to need to
talk to writers and they were the gatekeeper.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
They made you.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Popular if you Mohamad Ali had a famous sort of
rivalry the frenemies with Howard Cosel, you know, and they
elevated each other. Now there's no gatekeeper. You know, you
can do what Ryan Garcie is. You can do what
Jake Paul has done, and they should be doing that.
And I think that's part of the problem is they
(07:02):
need to get that guy like Boots. Lets his fights
do the talking. Yes, maybe in today's media environment, not
enough work.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Right. So Steven Espinosa's who we're talking to right now,
former president of Showtime Sports, dealt with a lot of
show box as well. What does the world of boxing
need to do to kind of reinvent themselves? I mean,
that's the best way of describing it. What does boxing
need to do to reinvent itself? Because I know, for me,
(07:29):
like I said, I was watching fights as a little boy.
It was a great thing to do to hang out
with family friends. Anytime a fight would come on, it
would be a family gathering.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I missed those days. How do we turn it around?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
So you know, It's a perfect segue because I've had
a long relationship with Mike Tyson. Yes, I was his
lawyer for about ten years up in the early two
thousands before I went to Showtime. We were having this
exact conversation a few months ago, Okay, except he had
an eye. His idea is, let's rebuild from the ground up.
(08:05):
He is now putting all of his efforts into amateur boxing. Right,
So he's launching the Mike Tyson Invitational.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Okay, it's the first one, will be in Vegas.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, see that March March twelfth through the fourteenth, and
he'll do a series of at least three or four
a year. And his goal is two things. Number one,
let's revitalize amateur boxing again. The way you knew who
Ronnie James was, you know well before he was even close.
The way you follow if you're a basketball fan, AAU guys,
(08:37):
you see the rankings when they're fourteen years old.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
This is something Mike wants to do.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
He wants to bring his name value and start elevating
these young amateur boxers. Because you followed the sport long enough.
Coming out of the Olympics, you knew Oscar de la Hoyes.
He was a superstar, so was Roy Jones, so was
e Vander Holyfield, so is Sugar Ray Leonard. So his
idea is, let's develop the amateurs better, Let's give them visibility,
(09:06):
give them the platform, and then again you're not starting
from ground zero or below when they turn crop makes sense.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
So if anyone wants to get information about the Mike
Tyson Invitational, you said it's going to be taking place
in Vegas in March. But if they want to go
to a website get that information, Steven Espinosa, where would
they go?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It's real simple. The Mike Tyson Invitational dot com. Again,
that's Mike Tyson Invitational dot com. It is a public event.
It will be streaming on a range of things. This
is another thing Mike strategy is. You know, he's going
to be streaming it on several streaming services and including YouTube.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And his own social media.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So this is like, you know, no pay per view,
no subscription, everybody can watch. He wants to put a
spotlight on some of these you know, older teen fighters,
the guys that you and women who you're going to
be seeing in the Olympics in two twenty eight so
you can follow him out and Stephen.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Before we let you go, I want to clarify one thing.
It's not that I'm upset with Jake Paul. I'm not
mad at what Jake Paul is doing. I appreciate him
even keeping a spotlight on the sport of boxing, and
he really has done an excellent job of elevating women's boxing.
So it's not that I'm mad at Jake Paul, and
don't think that he doesn't do a great job of
entertaining us. But when you think about the marquee fighter
(10:24):
in the world is someone that is a YouTube sensation,
it makes you worry about a sport that you love.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, that's all. Yeah, I agree completely.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
He's a useful tool and a useful supporter, but he
can't it can't all be on him to market and
carry the sport forward.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
As you can see, I love talking boxing. Steven Espinoza,
Thank you so much for your time. Truly appreciate you
coming on Radio Row with us CK on Sports Fox
Sports Radio. Have a great weekend anytime
Ck on Sports. It is Fox Sports Radio. Here we
are on radio row. Steven Espinoza, how are you doing fantastic?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
It's Friday, a long week. I know, yes, I don't
know how your voice is like it's holding out.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Mine is definitely not.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Yeah, when it's a long week like this, you get
to Friday and you're like, Okay, it's almost done. It's
almost done. But you know what, I'm honored to speak
to you. Showtime Sports president for ten years handled show
box as well. Now, the one thing about Fresno in
our areas in the Valley and riverside, in Stockton and Bakersfield,
we love our boxing.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
You got Oscar Valdez up there. Yeah, got some really
good fighters. It's always been not just good fighters, but
a good fan base.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah. Jose Ramirez Junior. Yeah, I mean I could keep
naming a lot of fighters that come out of our
area that have done fantastic things. But here's what I
want to talk to you about, Steven Espinoza. What is
the status of boxing right now? Because I was talking
to a friend of mine and I said, you know,
boxing when the headliner is Jake Paul, it makes me
(01:03):
wonder what happened to our sport. I used to grow
up in a time when Sugar Ray Leonard was fighting
Roberto Duran beneath this, you name it. It seemed like
every single week there would always be a fight that
you were like, oh, I cannot wait to see it,
and you know what, we got to watch it on ABC.
(01:24):
Now it's almost like the average person couldn't even tell
you who the heavyweight champion of the world is.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
You're absolutely right, And I think, look, you look at
the media landscape. HBO's out of it, Showtime's out of it,
ESPN's out of it. It's a transition period and it's definitely,
you know a little bit harder to keep track of things.
And I think there's a couple of things going on. One,
we're in a transition period sort of where music industry was,
(01:52):
you know, around two thousand and five to twenty ten, right,
you know, where they were figuring out their business model,
Like they had a ton of pie receive. It was like,
is the music industry even going to survive?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Right? And then they finally figured it out.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You know, they said streaming subscription, let's get away from
you know, downloading, you know, individual songs put it on
and they figured out and bounce back. And I think
that's where the sport of boxing is.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
You know, so you've seen you know, everybody's going away
from pay per view, UFC is going away from pay
per view. Boxing still does it occasionally, but I think
what we've got right now is the landscape is changing.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
On the media side.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
The Saudi's are coming in and that's a big disruption,
you know, good and bad. Okay, you're throwing a lot
of money into the sport. But at the same time,
some fights you might see in Vegas are now in Rio. Yes, yes,
And you know you're not seeing quite the investment in
the US that HBO Showtime in ESPN would be done.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And I think part of the reason is because the
popularity of the sport of boxing. I wouldn't say that
it's gone down. It just doesn't seem like in the
United States it's at the forefront like it used to be.
America used to go crazy over whoever was was the
heavyweight champion. It was almost like if you were the
heavyweight champion of the world, America kind of viewed you
(03:12):
like you were the president of the United States. Now
you couldn't even name the heavyweight champion. That's why I'm
wondering where did boxing go wrong?
Speaker 3 (03:21):
I think part of it it is cyclical.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
You know, the Saudis have been a distabling force in
that you know, it's tough to run a business when
the Saudis can outpay you, yes by five times, yes,
but by the same token. There's also cycles of talent.
So if you look at that sort of like the
face of boxing or the most popularly known you can
(03:45):
go back to you know, Sugar Ray Landern, you can
go to Roy Jones, you can go to Mike Tyson.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Your name it Ryan pak Yea. I don't think there's
that guy right now.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
No, it's Jake Paul. Yeah, that's who we all know.
So we look forward to seeing, well, who is Jake
Paul gonna fight next? I'm like, you, guys, realize, I'm
not taking anything away from Jake Paul. He entertains us.
He really actually is doing the best that he's got.
He's not a bad fighter to learn the sport of boxing,
and he is committed to the craft, so I respect
him for that. But come on, he's not a boxer,
(04:18):
and not a boxer that we all should be looking
to and saying, man, I can't wait to see the
next Jake Paul fight.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
No, he's he's a good, solid guy for where he
is experience wise in the sport. Is he is he
upholding the tradition of you know, Mayweather de la Hoya,
right Jones?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
No, like you know, that's not it.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
But if he is building a fan base among the
younger demographic, yes, then when this next guy comes along,
and maybe he comes out of the twenty eight Olympics,
maybe you know, he pops on the scene. Otherwise, I
think the conditions will be ripe for someone to step
to the forefront of the sport again.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
You know, you look at some of the boxers out there.
You look at Bud Crawford, Erol Spence, Tank, Davis Barbosa.
I mean, I could keep naming a lot of fighters. Canelo,
you name it. Canelo's still kind of the goose that lays.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
The golden egg.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
But there's a lot of good boxers out there, Boots
in Us another one. But they aren't known. They're not
known the same way some of the greats were known.
What do you think the issue is with that? Is
it because we live in a digital era, and they
don't necessarily embrace social media the same way Ryan Garcia
does because those fighters twenty years ago would be marquee names,
(05:40):
every single one of them. We would be looking forward
to watching them fight anytime they fought. I could walk
down I could walk in this room us about to
said I could walk down the street and I'm not
even gonna do that. I could walk in this room
where everybody here knows sports, and I'd be like, man,
you're ready to see the next Boots in his fight.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
They'll be like, who yeah, yeah, you're right, and he is,
you know, arguably one of the most talented, if not
the most talented.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Fighter in the sport right now. I think it's a
couple of things.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I think, you know, once you don't have a big platform,
whether it's ABC or ESPN or HBO and showtime, we're
still in a media environment where that big traditional TV
platform is were something, Yes it is now having said that,
that's gone, it's transitioning. There's de Zone streaming service, there's
there's others. There's Netflix, there's Amazon Prime. There's also streaming fights,
(06:30):
but it is.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
On the fighters.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Like at a certain point, fighters used to need to
talk to guys like you. They used to need to
talk to writers and they were the gatekeeper.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
They made you.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Popular if you Mohamad Ali had a famous sort of
rivalry the frenemies with Howard Cosel, you know, and they
elevated each other. Now there's no gatekeeper. You know, you
can do what Ryan Garcie is. You can do what
Jake Paul has done, and they should be doing that.
And I think that's part of the problem is they
(07:02):
need to get that guy like Boots. Lets his fights
do the talking. Yes, maybe in today's media environment, not
enough work.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Right. So Steven Espinosa's who we're talking to right now,
former president of Showtime Sports, dealt with a lot of
show box as well. What does the world of boxing
need to do to kind of reinvent themselves? I mean,
that's the best way of describing it. What does boxing
need to do to reinvent itself? Because I know, for me,
(07:29):
like I said, I was watching fights as a little boy.
It was a great thing to do to hang out
with family friends. Anytime a fight would come on, it
would be a family gathering.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I missed those days. How do we turn it around?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
So you know, It's a perfect segue because I've had
a long relationship with Mike Tyson. Yes, I was his
lawyer for about ten years up in the early two
thousands before I went to Showtime. We were having this
exact conversation a few months ago, Okay, except he had
an eye. His idea is, let's rebuild from the ground up.
(08:05):
He is now putting all of his efforts into amateur boxing. Right,
So he's launching the Mike Tyson Invitational.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Okay, it's the first one, will be in Vegas.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, see that March March twelfth through the fourteenth, and
he'll do a series of at least three or four
a year. And his goal is two things. Number one,
let's revitalize amateur boxing again. The way you knew who
Ronnie James was, you know well before he was even close.
The way you follow if you're a basketball fan, AAU guys,
(08:37):
you see the rankings when they're fourteen years old.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
This is something Mike wants to do.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
He wants to bring his name value and start elevating
these young amateur boxers. Because you followed the sport long enough.
Coming out of the Olympics, you knew Oscar de la Hoyes.
He was a superstar, so was Roy Jones, so was
e Vander Holyfield, so is Sugar Ray Leonard. So his
idea is, let's develop the amateurs better, Let's give them visibility,
(09:06):
give them the platform, and then again you're not starting
from ground zero or below when they turn crop makes sense.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
So if anyone wants to get information about the Mike
Tyson Invitational, you said it's going to be taking place
in Vegas in March. But if they want to go
to a website get that information, Steven Espinosa, where would
they go?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It's real simple. The Mike Tyson Invitational dot com. Again,
that's Mike Tyson Invitational dot com. It is a public event.
It will be streaming on a range of things. This
is another thing Mike strategy is. You know, he's going
to be streaming it on several streaming services and including YouTube.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And his own social media.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So this is like, you know, no pay per view,
no subscription, everybody can watch. He wants to put a
spotlight on some of these you know, older teen fighters,
the guys that you and women who you're going to
be seeing in the Olympics in two twenty eight so
you can follow him out and Stephen.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Before we let you go, I want to clarify one thing.
It's not that I'm upset with Jake Paul. I'm not
mad at what Jake Paul is doing. I appreciate him
even keeping a spotlight on the sport of boxing, and
he really has done an excellent job of elevating women's boxing.
So it's not that I'm mad at Jake Paul, and
don't think that he doesn't do a great job of
entertaining us. But when you think about the marquee fighter
(10:24):
in the world is someone that is a YouTube sensation,
it makes you worry about a sport that you love.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, that's all. Yeah, I agree completely.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
He's a useful tool and a useful supporter, but he
can't it can't all be on him to market and
carry the sport forward.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
As you can see, I love talking boxing. Steven Espinoza,
Thank you so much for your time. Truly appreciate you
coming on Radio Row with us CK on Sports Fox
Sports Radio. Have a great weekend anytime
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