February 1, 2025 • 31 mins
C&R are in Las Vegas for Benavidez/Morrell & the great Jim Lampley joins the boyz! They have the Tale of the Tape for tonight's big bout. Plus, as they prepare to fly to New Orleans, they argue about which team in Super Bowl 59 has more to play for!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Bonus time with Covino and Buddy Fox Sports Radio
live from Vegas, MGM. And for me, Rich, nothing better
than a fight night. I'm so excited for tonight. Only
thinking better is a fight day. So get real excited
right about now. And I get real excited when I
see this guy because when I see his face, I
think he's got to be a big fight. Let's welcome
(00:20):
again the greatest Jim Lampley every night. Like I said,
you've been synonymous forever with big fights. It's not a
big fight unlest you're there. I feel that way sometimes
about Michael Buffer and all the regulars along the way.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
But I'm here.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Uh you know, I miss Michael Buffer, I miss the
entire HBO crew. I miss a lot of the faces
that I used to see over the years. I did
have about a four or five year hiatus, uh, not
by my choice, but by life circumstances. And to have
come back under the banner of PPV dot Com has
(01:00):
been thrilling, glorious.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Wonderful for me.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Puts me back in touch with people like you guys,
looking at you face to face. Puts me back into
an arena where we talk boxing and anticipate big fights
and enjoy the uniquely special moment that every fight creates
for boxing fans.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
You know, our producer Spot was asking before you walked
over here he goes.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
You wonder if Jim Lampley ever gets.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Sick of talking about boxing? Do you ever does boxing
ever wear on you? Or is it like you just
live and breathe boxing that it's such a part of you.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
If you read my autobiography, you will read that a
lot of my life narrative focuses on the effects of
my father dying when I was five years old. The
very first sports event that my mother ever sat me
down and specifically instructed me to watch when I was
six years old with Sugarrette Robinson versus Bobols for the
(01:57):
middleweight championship in nineteen fifty five. It was their second fight.
It was Jellette Friday Night fights. I can very vividly
remember my mother sitting me down in front of a
small television set on a TV dinner tray at a
neighbor's house and saying, sit here, watch this. If your
father was still alive, this is what you would be
doing with him at this moment. And oh, by the way, sugar.
(02:21):
Ray Robinson is my favorite fighter because he dances when
he fights.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
So this is deeply, deeply.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Ingrained in my background, in my family, heritage, and in
everything that I experienced when I was growing up. My
mother eventually moved us from Hendersonville, North Carolina, to Miami, Florida,
so that she could learn how to sell life insurance
and make money to keep us going.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And in Miami, I.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Eventually purchased my very first ticket to a live prize fight,
which was Cassius Clay versus Sunny List in February twenty five,
nineteen sixty four, in the Miami Beach Convention Center. So yes, this,
you know, this takes me back to the earliest regions
of my own consciousness about who I am, and it's
(03:08):
and it's always been important, and that's what makes it
so ironic. Also covered in the book, when I had
been at ABC Sports for thirteen years in nineteen eighty seven,
and a newly arrived chief executive of ABC Sports hated
my guts, hated the fact that I was being paid
a big salary, wanted to get rid of me, and
decided that assigning me to cover boxing would be the
(03:30):
way to shoe me out the door, right, I love
No way the audience would accept me, No way I
would understand the sport. That's one of the greatest ironies
of all times. It's a great story. So to answer
your question, rich he doesn't get sick talking.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
About I was going to talk about it all night long.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
I love like you're Lionel Richie. Oh no, so, Jim Way,
I got to ask it. Nothing get emotional. But you know,
your father passed when you're five, and your mom said,
here's a fight. Do you ever think about how proud
your father would have been of all you've accomplished, like
your name of people.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Know, it's interesting that you bring that up.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I know, I'm so distanced now from my father and
his experience, and I'm so deeply influenced still to this
day by everything my mother did and all the courage
and resilience that she showed in bringing me up, that
I'm far more likely to think about how proud she
(04:26):
would be and how proud she was. She did get
to see me sit in the Olympic host chair in
nineteen eighty four, She got to see my whole career
begin and proliferate. She was living fairly close to me
at the moment when she died in nineteen eighty five,
(04:47):
that's more likely to come across my mind. Would my
father have been thrilled with what happened in my life,
I don't think there's any doubt about it. Would he
have been disappointed that my handicap never got as low
on the golf course as he was, and that I
didn't turn out to be the Hendersonville Golf and Country
Club Champion of course record holder the way he was.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Probably yeah, he would have said, why can't you chip
and putt?
Speaker 3 (05:12):
But at the end of the day, both of them
figure into my consciousness and my DNA, and they were
both boxing fans.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I love it. Jim Lampley here on the Covino and
Rich Show. We love the story.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
How you know they tried to show you away by
throwing you to the boxing world.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Thank you, Dennis Swanson.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
He pointed me down the road to HBO, you know,
and that was not the intent. I did finally walk
out of ABC Sports because it was foolish to keep
working in an organization where the chief executive hated me.
But he had assigned me to boxing, not realizing really
what he was doing. And the first fight he assigned
me to was Mike Tyson versus Jesse Ferguson and Upstate
(05:52):
New York. He didn't know who Tyson was. He didn't
understand what all that was ultimately going to compute too.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Because you're so good at what you did, do you
think football, baseball, golf, whatever you would have been assigned,
do you feel like you would have had a knack
for everything or as a destiny?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Well, I did all those I know. I did every.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Single sport you can possibly mention, and for whatever reason,
I don't honestly believe that I ever And I was
given some praise as college football play by play man
in an NFL play by play. I was given a
lot of praise for the esoteric and crazy, out of
the way events that I covered on wide world of sports.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
But this is my audience.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
I never connected emotionally and kinetically to any other audience
the way that I connected to the boxing audience. And
you know, whether that's because I have an affinity for
Hispanic people in Hispanic culture and that's prevalent a lot
of places in the sport, whether it's because my mother
had very ardently taught me to be anti racist, and
(06:55):
a lot of my closest friends, particularly in this sport,
turned out to African American people. I don't know, but
the bottom line is, at the end of the day,
where did I most fit.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
There's no question I fit in boxing. Where did that
come from? Your love of Hispanic culture?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
And oh, I lived in Miami and I went to
school with Cuban girls. I went to you enough said,
I mean, I went to school with Cuban guys too,
but you know, I barely noticed them.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
It was the Cuban girls.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
And I also, and frankly, I owe a certain portion
of my comfort in the boxing world to my eighth
grade Spanish teacher at South Miami Junior High School, Miss Summer.
Miss Summer was a brilliant Spanish teacher, and she was
absolutely authoritarian about pronunciation. You had to pronounce it, pronounce
(07:50):
it the right way, you had to use the classical
who used to say Castilian Spanish pronunciations. And so she
was the person who was the foundation for the fact
that when I first met Oscar when he was nineteen
years old, I was not the guy who said Oscar
de la Hoya. I was the guy who said Oscar
de Laya and from the beginning he looked at me.
(08:13):
He said, oh my gosh, you pronounced my name correctly,
And I said, yeah, Miss Summer wouldn't have had it
any other.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Does Miss Summer ever get w into this if she
was still around there, no idea.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I mean, that's a thing like that. There's a woman
out there, you know, recipes.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
I'm sure this still see her strutting back and forth
in the class and clicking the heels of her medium
heeled shoes and the very tailored skirts that she wore
and stuff. I can still see all that. I can't
imagine that Miss Summer is still around. But you know
she was the foundation. When Oscar said to me, oh my,
got you you pronounced my name the right way, I said, yeah,
(08:47):
Miss Summer. Eighth grade, South Miami Junior High School.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
There's a saying in a Mexican movie, Blood and Blood Out,
He's white on the outside, but brown on the inside
to the bone. To the bone to see a Jim,
I gotta asked you. You know, you're talking about your
childhood and coming up. We always talk about the fights.
We're going to talk about Benevidez morel, But you were
into boxing. But what did you play? Did you play
all sports? Were you any good?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Or you saw? This was your angle talking about it.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
I played golf because my father had been such a
great golf golfer. My grandfather on that side, was absolutely
certain I was going to make it on the PGA Tour.
He wanted me to skip the first year of college
and go to PDAT PGA Tour school. And I did
have in Hendersonville, North Carolina, on bent grass greens in
(09:33):
a hilly course, up and down, not all that long.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I had a low handicap. It might have been a
two or a three. And this is when you were
a kid. This is when I'm a kid.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
But in Miami, where my mother had taken us to live,
that two or three was nine or ten. Because I
had an upright swing. I hit the ball high, and
in Miami that was like tossing confetti. And they were
bermuda grass greens rather than bent grass.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
We were playing golf right.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
You were golfing, But you were watching all the other
sports on TV or were you still playing those sports too?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I played a little baseball. I watched all the other
sports on TV. I was too thin, too frail, and
too small to be a factor in football. My hands
were not big enough for me to be a factor
in basketball. I never went into a gym and tried
to box. Eventually it was be a fan, talk about it.
(10:29):
Maybe you can at someday become a sportscaster.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Wow, I mean one of the most legendary sports casters.
Leads me to what I wanted to ask you. Besides boxing,
We're a week away from the super Bowl. Tom Brady
gonna be calling this game. Former player, legend turn broadcaster,
what's your take when you see former athletes, former boxers?
What gives someone a knack to do it? Because some
(10:54):
are better than others? Is there like a secret sauce
on how to make that transition?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Talking in public is about language skill.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Talking in public is not so much about the content
as it is about the nature of the presentation.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Are you comfortable with the language? Are you confident in
what you say?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Do you use good grammars so that people don't say, oh,
my gosh, she sounds like a dummy, and stuff like that.
That that's critical to your ability and your success in
these areas. Those attributes I had. I was an English
major in college. I was schooled to be disciplined about.
My mother was the kind of person who woke up
(11:34):
on Sunday and did the New York Times crossword puzzle
before she did anything else. She read William Sapphire's column
in The New Yorker about language idiosyncrasies and stuff like that.
To this day, I have a horrible habit of correcting
people's grammars.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Horrible. Yeah, well, I haven't heard you guys say anything wrong.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
My biggest pet peeve on social media when people use
the word you're wrong.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Oh, I mean, and you see that.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Because of digital media, language skills are deteriorating all over
the place. And there are certain things relative to sports
media that drive me nuts.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
I mentored a couple of students at the University of
North Carolina who wanted to become sports broadcasters, and the
first thing I told them is, I want you to
eliminate two words from your vocabulary.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Okay, because these.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Words have been overused and eventually beaten to death. They
have no meaning anymore by sports media. So don't ever
say unique, and don't ever say incredible. Now, look at
mass media today and tell me how difficult it is.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
To get rid of incredible. All right.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Unique is maybe not quite as overwhelming in its overuse,
but both of them the meanings have been destroyed. Unique
means there's only one like it on the planet. You
ever hear anybody use it with that kind of discipline.
Incredible means it absolutely cannot be believed. It doesn't mean
it's great, it's good, it's pretty, it's pretty, unusual, et cetera.
(13:01):
Incredible means it cannot be believed. People don't stick to
the discipline of that. I could go on all day.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I'll give you another. Wait.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
When beautiful young girls on Instagram say literally and it's no,
it's not literally, they'll misusing it everything it's everything's literally
this literally?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
No, No, what you're saying is not literally. Well, there
you go, you know, And and so I meant.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
My mother talked me to be offended by the destruction
of the language, and a lot of people are offended
by my taking offense.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
At the destruction of the land. I like it. I
like it. We got Jim Wampley with Covino on retch.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Go ahead, buddy boy, I want to ask you about
the preparation involved in a big fight like this. We've
never talked about that. You know you're there all week,
and of course this is what you do, so you
know a lot about it already. But tell us about
the preparation involved in calling a fight.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Well, I don't get to do what I used to do,
right because when I was at HBO, we got to
sit down and have a private face to face with
both fight in every fight on the card, and we
would you know, debrief them for a half hour forty
five minutes, and it was a very personal kind of
(14:12):
research which I felt was totally important to being able
to provide a legible and meaningful call of the fight.
So I don't get to do that anymore. I'm borrowing
from other media and I'm getting what I get in
the one or two occasions prior to the fight when
I might do an interview here in the media room
(14:34):
with Benavitez and Morrell, which I did yesterday. So it's
not the same as it used to be because I'm
not an anointed special curator of the event the way
I was when I was the blow by blow guy
on HBO. But it's you know, it's the most human sport.
So when you prepare, when you have an opportunity to
(14:55):
peel the onion of this human being.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
A little bit.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
That's really where you get to the nuts and bolts
and nitty gritty of the narrative for every boxing match.
I have asked enough penetrating questions and those situations that
I can remember a couple of occasions seeing fighters cry
talking to me about their lives and their background and
(15:18):
their parents striving and deprivation and stuff like that. And
I can remember me being almost brought to tears by
the things that they say, because it does become emotional
to talk to a fighter about his gestalt and.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
What he brings in the ring for any big fight.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And speaking of emotions, high emotions on this fight in particular,
because it seems like they genuinely dislike each other. They
hate each other, is what I'm getting at right, A
lot of trash talk. Does that help or hurt the fight?
The fans like it, but does it take Benavidez out
of his game? What are your thoughts when you see
a lot of high emotion leading into it?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Well, I mean I think you hit both points very
clearly within the best.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yes, you.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Can get distracted by that or you can get motivated
by that. So it's like anything, how do you manage
it all right? I'm not sure that they do actually
hate each other. They don't know each other well enough
to hate each other. I think that they've both decided,
for some reason or another, that it's important to portray that.
(16:23):
I think that one or the other might think that
there's an intimidation factor going on. But tomorrow night, when
they get into the ring, I.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Don't think it's going to matter much what they think
of each other.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
It's going to matter whether Morell can keep the fight
within a tight framework in front of him so that
he can try to hit Benavidez with short, straight, powerful punches.
Particularly his right hook is a dangerously powerful punch. Can
he use his foot speed to make it a tactical
war rather than a physical war. And can Benavidez get
(16:57):
him into a wild, swinging slugfest, which is the kind
of fight in which David is almost impossible to beat,
because at some point, if you're in that kind of
fight with Benavite's, you're gonna get caught with one of
his big, long.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Arcing shots, which have a lot of power on them.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
And as Jim has pointed out many times, by the
end of all that these fighters fall in love essentially.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
The level you know, they bring an unspoken level of
respect into the ring for each other because they both
know how hard they have to work and how much
sacrifice they have to go through to get to where
they are. So that is the fundamental foundation of respect
with which this begins. And Dan, as I've said many times,
and you mimic to quite perfectly there. Over the course
(17:43):
of twelve particularly brutal rounds that we're talking about, Gaddy Ward,
we're talking about Brea Morales, they fall in love with
each other because nobody knows them better than they know
each other.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
At the end of all that, and they thought they
hated each other.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
That's interesting because how many times in life and we
pointed the same as a show. It's usually the people
I hate, I'm like, I hate that guy, I end
up really respecting and admiring that guy.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
It is just that thin line.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
There's something there, because if you could have moments that strong, yeah,
you're you're that close to loving that person, and by
the end you see it, it's amazing, you know.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
That's that's brilliantly analyzed and exactly correct.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Thank you, Jim back, Thank you Jim, Jim Lafley's here.
I gotta ask you this too. Go ahead the fights
this weekend. You got Benavitez better bev at the end
of February. The winner of this fight fights the winner
of that fight. But what's the big Yeah, yeah, what's
the better fight? Do we want Benavetez Crawford or Benavetez Canelo?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Oh? We want Benavite's Canelo just because it's Mexican Mexican, just.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Because it's it's Mexican versus Mexican American, and because I
you know, look, the world's biggest Terrence Crawford fan. I
don't yet buy the logic of him fighting at one
sixty eight, one seventy five.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Wherever he's going to wind up going to. He's seeking money.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
It seems very very clear to me, and I do
think he's the number one pound for pound fighter in
the world. But you know, pound for pound means stay
in your envelope. He's leaving his envelope to fight Canelo.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Jim Lampley hanging with Kevin and Rich You've seen so
many fighters on their come up. What is one fighter
that has lived up to the hype in other sports?
It'll be like a top draft pick. You know, a
number one first rounder in the world of boxing. Who's
the guy that came into the game with you know,
he keep an eye on him and he.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Lived up to it. Canelo Alvarez. Yeah, I mean from
the very beginning perfect. Yeah, I mean he look, he
was hey, he.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Was a hot prospect. The people who promoted and represented
him were very excited about what he could do. But
I'm not sure that any of them recognized and understood
that he would become not only the number one economic
attraction in the sport, but also a logical candidate for
number one pound for pound. I don't think anybody realized
(20:02):
how hard Canelo would work for how long a duration
of time, and how much intelligence he could bring to
the prospect of trying to become a truly great prize fighter.
And whatever happens in the rest of Canelo's career, he
is and has been a truly great prize fighter.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah, we love him. Man. Do you think that.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
He is ducking Benevitez, Because I gotta preface it by
saying this, I don't believe that in sports. I mean,
these guys are so confident to put themselves in this
situation I just don't think he wants that fight. Are
people you think they're scared of each other at this
point or no, I don't think they're scared of each other.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I think that in any long term situation where the
public is urging you to do something and you're not
one hundred percent sure that you want to do it,
that the resistance grows.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
And obviously Canelo's restubborn.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Canelo's resistance to being goaded into fighting Benavetez is growing,
not shrinking, and Canelo is a very stubborn.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah, I can see that, no doubt, Jim. We've never
asked you this.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
By the way, Canelo's the bell cow. He's where the
money is exactly now. Maybe maybe they'll come a day
when Benabiitez is where the money is, but for the moment,
it's still Canelos where the money is.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
And everybody says, oh, that's why he wants to fight.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
In the world of you know, lighter fights like the
YouTubers or the Jake Paul's of the world, everyone wants
to come out and I'll fight him because he's the money, right,
you know, everyone's going to want to fight Canela and
the YouTube audience pays attention to that.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, but Jim Lampley does Jim, let me ask you.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
We've talked about boxing movies before, but of all the
fight movies, because there's been a ton now and Jim's
been in a lot of them, Yeah, which you know
hold the place in your heart? And which ones do
you feel like continuity wise? You admire how they've actually
portrayed boxing.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Rocky created a paradigm for the emotional context of boxing
that everyone in the world could understand, and that was
a very meaningful movie. And the follow ups. Uh, people,
the Creeds have been fantastic. They're They're really really good. Uh,
And they're great. I say Southpaw not just because I'm
(22:17):
dining with the director tomorrow night, but also because it
has to me the best and most credible fight scenes.
You know, Anton Fucu did a fabulous job of directing
those fight scenes, and Gillenhall bought in in a big
way and.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
He got he got to shape that movie.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
He moved and looked like a fighter, and he still
has that body, by the way. I saw him in
a movie the other night and I'm thinking, ah, he
never lost his south paw training.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
So uh, the Rockies, Creed, South Paw. I love them all.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
You know, boxing movies are fantastic. Somebody up there likes me.
Uh you know, you can go way back into the
fifties Raging How can there be a better boxing movie
than Raging Bull. It's not entertainment per se. It is
psychological analysis. But it's a fantastic movie.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
I got one last question for the great Jim Lampley again.
You got to get his book too, his biography here,
Jim Lampley with Art Chansky.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
It happens. Hey, hey, hey, read the next line. It happened.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
It happens with Forward Forward by Taylor Sheridan. Yes, a
uniquely lucky life in sports television.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
But I thought we hated the word unique. Jim, what's
going on here? Is this an incredible book?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Or what?
Speaker 2 (23:37):
This is a proper use of you? What's going on here?
Approp this?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
This is a proper use of unique because there's only
one Jim Lambley.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
All right, So we're assuming that Benevitez wins. All right,
we're assuming based on what you said. His left is
hard to beat, he's strong, he's big. Let's say he
wins tomorrow night. Who who is he gonna what's the
better fight Bible or better Beef.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
And what happens.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
I think David wants it to be Bevold because he
believes Bevol is more respected as a boxer. And he
also and he also scored the beat the first better
be Bevol fight for Bevol, So you know, for for
those reasons, David has said to me, I would prefer
(24:31):
to fight Bevol.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Now it's it would be very easy.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
For somebody to listen to that and say, of course,
Vivol's not as big a hitter as better Vief, and
so naturally he wants to fight the guy who is
less dangerous.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
But at the end of the day, money talks.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
That's that's going to be the fulcrum on which a decision.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Like that is made. Uh.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
And I think there are reasons to pick Bevol to
beat him, There are reasons to pick better be Up
to beat him, and there are reasons to pick David
debat either or both. So it's going to be a
great matchup however it plays out.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
It all starts later on PPV dot Com an HD
live stream with our bud Jim Lampley talk to him
throughout the fight. And of course the book it happened.
A great storyteller, a great guy. Thank you so much
for hanging with us. I love you, guys. I have
a tremendous time with you. Every time we do the interview,
there are fifty other people.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
In here want to interview me. I only want to
talk to you. Thank you. The great Jim Lampley Man
means a lie. See you later. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
It's Cavino and Rich live from Vegas on Fox Sports Radio.
And let's go ahead, Rich and wrap this up with
the tail of the tape and your thoughts on the
fight again. David Benavidez twenty eight years old, David Morel's.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
The Battle of the Davids.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
You know, I haven't seen a battle of David since
David Cook and David Archiletta on American Idol. I will
say it's safe to say that David's gonna win this fight. Yeah,
but Benavidez six to two, but Morel's right up there.
Six to one is Mexican fighter versus Cuban fighter. That's
always a fun rivalry. You know, Benavidez got power. They
see Morel's got more power. Morel's got a little more
(26:12):
hand speed, that's all. Morel's six foot.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
One, so now he's also a big dude for one
seventy five.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Are we doing our usual bet where we do when
we pick like three rounds like six seven eight knockout?
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Do we do Benavidez knockout? Round six seven eight?
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Gonna put a little work. Uh, We're gonna put money
on it, for sure. I'm looking at the footwork here.
When it comes to footwork, they see Morel's got an advantage,
but Benavidez has the ring iq advantage. But it's gonna
be a battle man. These guys dislike each other. We're
gonna see fireworks. Like Jim Lampley said, there's gonna be fireworks.
There's after the grou Chie Brothers and maybe after the fight. Yeah,
(26:52):
but it's gonna be a real, real good one. And
I'm saying it's kind of obvious to me. I think
in fights like this, Yeah, we think Morell has a
shot and he might be tough, but in the end,
you're gonna see David benavide Is holding his hand up.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
He gets to win.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
And we're also gonna see some fine looking women because
they always come out for these fights.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, but again it's twenty nine to zero, David Benavidez
twenty four knockouts, going for his thirtieth win, and you
got morell eleven to zero.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I think he's gonna be eleven to one by the
end of the week.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Yeah, you know what, Let's go to the sportsbook, make
our wages, our wagers.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
And keep in mind, guys.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Next week we head off to New Orleans right after
this Vegas trip, New Orleans on Monday, Live from New Orleans.
In fact, will be filling in for Colin Cowhert on
Wednesday and our regular show on Wednesday, So lots of interviews,
lots of bonus shows. Stay tuned, And I think one
question I'm going to ask a lot of people We're
gonna have a lot of guests next week, is well,
(27:57):
if you think the Chiefs are gonna win, how are
they gonna stop Saquon Barkley, Because that's I think that's
what can I tell you how stop Conventional wisdom would
say betting against Mahomes is just a fool's move.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
I'm not betting on this game.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
I'm gonna look at all the props and I have
some ideas there, but the actual game itself, Chiefs bably
one and a half.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
That flip a damn coin. How the hell do you
decide on this?
Speaker 4 (28:21):
So my answer is you can't say, yeah, I wouldn't
bet against Mahomes, but then in the same beast say, man,
Saquon's unstoppable. But then you gotta say, well, the Chiefs
defense is a little better than the other defenses he's
facing the playoffs. But again, there's times where it looks
like Saquon Barkley behind that offensive line in Philadelphia is
like a guaranteed hundo.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
And here's another thing I don't think anyone's really talking about.
I believe jingaln Hurst. They said something about what's your
most vivid memory. There was a question just this past week,
what's your most vivid memory of the last Super Bowl?
They played it in and he was like, next question
or no comment. He's like, man about it. Yeah, we
have to factor in that they've been there and lost before.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
You don't think that's working to their advantage. They don't
want to be.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
The forty nine has lost two Super Bowls in the
fourth quarter to the Chiefs. So don't give you this
BS like I'm fatig They don't think the forty nine
ers who lost in twenty twenty one win last year.
We're not factoring that into the equation here, Like these
guys are playing for more. I know the Chiefs want
the three P and that's a great story. You're playing
for your I think that youstre playing for one. You
(29:25):
think that dude wants to history no more than just
to win. He has a chip on his shoulder, Dude,
that's hard to live, you know, else to the chip
on the shoulder Deebo, Samuel, George Kittle, Nick Bosa. Everyone
that lost to the Chiefs in the fourth quarter in
twenty twenty lost again to the Chiefs in overtime last year.
So you know, you don't think losing a Super Bowl
stings and you're back there again oring my forty.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Nine ers point.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I'm not saying it's impossible, dude, but why does everything
have to apply the same because you're forty nine, Because
you're giving an analogy that applied exactly to the forty nine.
I'm not saying it never happened before. I'm saying no
one's factoring in that. Jay I am is really on
a mission here to not lose again. I like this,
We're having fireworks here, So was Kyle sh He's dismissing
(30:08):
a total rally. If Jalen Hurts had played a clean
game and.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
He didn't have Saquon last time, the last time he
was there in the big game, would he have won? Likely?
Speaker 4 (30:18):
Yeah, And if if he didn't fumble that one, that one,
so if he plays a clean game, haunted him too.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Man.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Really, they got to play keep away. They got to
keep Mahomes in that offense on the sideline. They got
to control that clock with Saquon.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
So I think a lot of the conversation in the
week to come is, yeah, who you got, But how
do you stop Saquon Barkley?
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Do you know?
Speaker 4 (30:39):
It's the not to go on and on here, But
it's the highest Vegas odds on running back yards. I
believe it's like one fifteen. So it's not like usually
running backs what eighty ninety yards over under one fifteen?
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Like, oh, it's been ten years since there were odds
that a running back would go over one hundred.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Yards, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Well, hey, guys, join us next week Monday through Friday,
Super Bowl Week, New Orleans and again enjoy the fight
tonight PBC pay per View, Benevetez versus morel You Got
Figure Out versus Fulton Two, Pitbull Cruise versus Viiro Ramos
Junior versus Rosario.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Drinks on Rich, Drinks on Rich Live on pay per view.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
We already go to the casino and thank you guys,
Is Cavino and Rich.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
See you in the Promised Land.
It's Bonus time with Covino and Buddy Fox Sports Radio
live from Vegas, MGM. And for me, Rich, nothing better
than a fight night. I'm so excited for tonight. Only
thinking better is a fight day. So get real excited
right about now. And I get real excited when I
see this guy because when I see his face, I
think he's got to be a big fight. Let's welcome
(00:20):
again the greatest Jim Lampley every night. Like I said,
you've been synonymous forever with big fights. It's not a
big fight unlest you're there. I feel that way sometimes
about Michael Buffer and all the regulars along the way.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
But I'm here.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Uh you know, I miss Michael Buffer, I miss the
entire HBO crew. I miss a lot of the faces
that I used to see over the years. I did
have about a four or five year hiatus, uh, not
by my choice, but by life circumstances. And to have
come back under the banner of PPV dot Com has
(01:00):
been thrilling, glorious.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Wonderful for me.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Puts me back in touch with people like you guys,
looking at you face to face. Puts me back into
an arena where we talk boxing and anticipate big fights
and enjoy the uniquely special moment that every fight creates
for boxing fans.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
You know, our producer Spot was asking before you walked
over here he goes.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
You wonder if Jim Lampley ever gets.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Sick of talking about boxing? Do you ever does boxing
ever wear on you? Or is it like you just
live and breathe boxing that it's such a part of you.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
If you read my autobiography, you will read that a
lot of my life narrative focuses on the effects of
my father dying when I was five years old. The
very first sports event that my mother ever sat me
down and specifically instructed me to watch when I was
six years old with Sugarrette Robinson versus Bobols for the
(01:57):
middleweight championship in nineteen fifty five. It was their second fight.
It was Jellette Friday Night fights. I can very vividly
remember my mother sitting me down in front of a
small television set on a TV dinner tray at a
neighbor's house and saying, sit here, watch this. If your
father was still alive, this is what you would be
doing with him at this moment. And oh, by the way, sugar.
(02:21):
Ray Robinson is my favorite fighter because he dances when
he fights.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
So this is deeply, deeply.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Ingrained in my background, in my family, heritage, and in
everything that I experienced when I was growing up. My
mother eventually moved us from Hendersonville, North Carolina, to Miami, Florida,
so that she could learn how to sell life insurance
and make money to keep us going.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And in Miami, I.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Eventually purchased my very first ticket to a live prize fight,
which was Cassius Clay versus Sunny List in February twenty five,
nineteen sixty four, in the Miami Beach Convention Center. So yes, this,
you know, this takes me back to the earliest regions
of my own consciousness about who I am, and it's
(03:08):
and it's always been important, and that's what makes it
so ironic. Also covered in the book, when I had
been at ABC Sports for thirteen years in nineteen eighty seven,
and a newly arrived chief executive of ABC Sports hated
my guts, hated the fact that I was being paid
a big salary, wanted to get rid of me, and
decided that assigning me to cover boxing would be the
(03:30):
way to shoe me out the door, right, I love
No way the audience would accept me, No way I
would understand the sport. That's one of the greatest ironies
of all times. It's a great story. So to answer
your question, rich he doesn't get sick talking.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
About I was going to talk about it all night long.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
I love like you're Lionel Richie. Oh no, so, Jim Way,
I got to ask it. Nothing get emotional. But you know,
your father passed when you're five, and your mom said,
here's a fight. Do you ever think about how proud
your father would have been of all you've accomplished, like
your name of people.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Know, it's interesting that you bring that up.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I know, I'm so distanced now from my father and
his experience, and I'm so deeply influenced still to this
day by everything my mother did and all the courage
and resilience that she showed in bringing me up, that
I'm far more likely to think about how proud she
(04:26):
would be and how proud she was. She did get
to see me sit in the Olympic host chair in
nineteen eighty four, She got to see my whole career
begin and proliferate. She was living fairly close to me
at the moment when she died in nineteen eighty five,
(04:47):
that's more likely to come across my mind. Would my
father have been thrilled with what happened in my life,
I don't think there's any doubt about it. Would he
have been disappointed that my handicap never got as low
on the golf course as he was, and that I
didn't turn out to be the Hendersonville Golf and Country
Club Champion of course record holder the way he was.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Probably yeah, he would have said, why can't you chip
and putt?
Speaker 3 (05:12):
But at the end of the day, both of them
figure into my consciousness and my DNA, and they were
both boxing fans.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I love it. Jim Lampley here on the Covino and
Rich Show. We love the story.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
How you know they tried to show you away by
throwing you to the boxing world.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Thank you, Dennis Swanson.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
He pointed me down the road to HBO, you know,
and that was not the intent. I did finally walk
out of ABC Sports because it was foolish to keep
working in an organization where the chief executive hated me.
But he had assigned me to boxing, not realizing really
what he was doing. And the first fight he assigned
me to was Mike Tyson versus Jesse Ferguson and Upstate
(05:52):
New York. He didn't know who Tyson was. He didn't
understand what all that was ultimately going to compute too.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Because you're so good at what you did, do you
think football, baseball, golf, whatever you would have been assigned,
do you feel like you would have had a knack
for everything or as a destiny?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Well, I did all those I know. I did every.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Single sport you can possibly mention, and for whatever reason,
I don't honestly believe that I ever And I was
given some praise as college football play by play man
in an NFL play by play. I was given a
lot of praise for the esoteric and crazy, out of
the way events that I covered on wide world of sports.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
But this is my audience.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
I never connected emotionally and kinetically to any other audience
the way that I connected to the boxing audience. And
you know, whether that's because I have an affinity for
Hispanic people in Hispanic culture and that's prevalent a lot
of places in the sport, whether it's because my mother
had very ardently taught me to be anti racist, and
(06:55):
a lot of my closest friends, particularly in this sport,
turned out to African American people. I don't know, but
the bottom line is, at the end of the day,
where did I most fit.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
There's no question I fit in boxing. Where did that
come from? Your love of Hispanic culture?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
And oh, I lived in Miami and I went to
school with Cuban girls. I went to you enough said,
I mean, I went to school with Cuban guys too,
but you know, I barely noticed them.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
It was the Cuban girls.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
And I also, and frankly, I owe a certain portion
of my comfort in the boxing world to my eighth
grade Spanish teacher at South Miami Junior High School, Miss Summer.
Miss Summer was a brilliant Spanish teacher, and she was
absolutely authoritarian about pronunciation. You had to pronounce it, pronounce
(07:50):
it the right way, you had to use the classical
who used to say Castilian Spanish pronunciations. And so she
was the person who was the foundation for the fact
that when I first met Oscar when he was nineteen
years old, I was not the guy who said Oscar
de la Hoya. I was the guy who said Oscar
de Laya and from the beginning he looked at me.
(08:13):
He said, oh my gosh, you pronounced my name correctly,
And I said, yeah, Miss Summer wouldn't have had it
any other.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Does Miss Summer ever get w into this if she
was still around there, no idea.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I mean, that's a thing like that. There's a woman
out there, you know, recipes.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
I'm sure this still see her strutting back and forth
in the class and clicking the heels of her medium
heeled shoes and the very tailored skirts that she wore
and stuff. I can still see all that. I can't
imagine that Miss Summer is still around. But you know
she was the foundation. When Oscar said to me, oh my,
got you you pronounced my name the right way, I said, yeah,
(08:47):
Miss Summer. Eighth grade, South Miami Junior High School.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
There's a saying in a Mexican movie, Blood and Blood Out,
He's white on the outside, but brown on the inside
to the bone. To the bone to see a Jim,
I gotta asked you. You know, you're talking about your
childhood and coming up. We always talk about the fights.
We're going to talk about Benevidez morel, But you were
into boxing. But what did you play? Did you play
all sports? Were you any good?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Or you saw? This was your angle talking about it.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
I played golf because my father had been such a
great golf golfer. My grandfather on that side, was absolutely
certain I was going to make it on the PGA Tour.
He wanted me to skip the first year of college
and go to PDAT PGA Tour school. And I did
have in Hendersonville, North Carolina, on bent grass greens in
(09:33):
a hilly course, up and down, not all that long.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I had a low handicap. It might have been a
two or a three. And this is when you were
a kid. This is when I'm a kid.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
But in Miami, where my mother had taken us to live,
that two or three was nine or ten. Because I
had an upright swing. I hit the ball high, and
in Miami that was like tossing confetti. And they were
bermuda grass greens rather than bent grass.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
We were playing golf right.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
You were golfing, But you were watching all the other
sports on TV or were you still playing those sports too?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I played a little baseball. I watched all the other
sports on TV. I was too thin, too frail, and
too small to be a factor in football. My hands
were not big enough for me to be a factor
in basketball. I never went into a gym and tried
to box. Eventually it was be a fan, talk about it.
(10:29):
Maybe you can at someday become a sportscaster.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Wow, I mean one of the most legendary sports casters.
Leads me to what I wanted to ask you. Besides boxing,
We're a week away from the super Bowl. Tom Brady
gonna be calling this game. Former player, legend turn broadcaster,
what's your take when you see former athletes, former boxers?
What gives someone a knack to do it? Because some
(10:54):
are better than others? Is there like a secret sauce
on how to make that transition?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Talking in public is about language skill.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Talking in public is not so much about the content
as it is about the nature of the presentation.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Are you comfortable with the language? Are you confident in
what you say?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Do you use good grammars so that people don't say, oh,
my gosh, she sounds like a dummy, and stuff like that.
That that's critical to your ability and your success in
these areas. Those attributes I had. I was an English
major in college. I was schooled to be disciplined about.
My mother was the kind of person who woke up
(11:34):
on Sunday and did the New York Times crossword puzzle
before she did anything else. She read William Sapphire's column
in The New Yorker about language idiosyncrasies and stuff like that.
To this day, I have a horrible habit of correcting
people's grammars.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Horrible. Yeah, well, I haven't heard you guys say anything wrong.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
My biggest pet peeve on social media when people use
the word you're wrong.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Oh, I mean, and you see that.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Because of digital media, language skills are deteriorating all over
the place. And there are certain things relative to sports
media that drive me nuts.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
I mentored a couple of students at the University of
North Carolina who wanted to become sports broadcasters, and the
first thing I told them is, I want you to
eliminate two words from your vocabulary.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Okay, because these.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Words have been overused and eventually beaten to death. They
have no meaning anymore by sports media. So don't ever
say unique, and don't ever say incredible. Now, look at
mass media today and tell me how difficult it is.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
To get rid of incredible. All right.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Unique is maybe not quite as overwhelming in its overuse,
but both of them the meanings have been destroyed. Unique
means there's only one like it on the planet. You
ever hear anybody use it with that kind of discipline.
Incredible means it absolutely cannot be believed. It doesn't mean
it's great, it's good, it's pretty, it's pretty, unusual, et cetera.
(13:01):
Incredible means it cannot be believed. People don't stick to
the discipline of that. I could go on all day.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I'll give you another. Wait.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
When beautiful young girls on Instagram say literally and it's no,
it's not literally, they'll misusing it everything it's everything's literally
this literally?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
No, No, what you're saying is not literally. Well, there
you go, you know, And and so I meant.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
My mother talked me to be offended by the destruction
of the language, and a lot of people are offended
by my taking offense.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
At the destruction of the land. I like it. I
like it. We got Jim Wampley with Covino on retch.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Go ahead, buddy boy, I want to ask you about
the preparation involved in a big fight like this. We've
never talked about that. You know you're there all week,
and of course this is what you do, so you
know a lot about it already. But tell us about
the preparation involved in calling a fight.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Well, I don't get to do what I used to do,
right because when I was at HBO, we got to
sit down and have a private face to face with
both fight in every fight on the card, and we
would you know, debrief them for a half hour forty
five minutes, and it was a very personal kind of
(14:12):
research which I felt was totally important to being able
to provide a legible and meaningful call of the fight.
So I don't get to do that anymore. I'm borrowing
from other media and I'm getting what I get in
the one or two occasions prior to the fight when
I might do an interview here in the media room
(14:34):
with Benavitez and Morrell, which I did yesterday. So it's
not the same as it used to be because I'm
not an anointed special curator of the event the way
I was when I was the blow by blow guy
on HBO. But it's you know, it's the most human sport.
So when you prepare, when you have an opportunity to
(14:55):
peel the onion of this human being.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
A little bit.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
That's really where you get to the nuts and bolts
and nitty gritty of the narrative for every boxing match.
I have asked enough penetrating questions and those situations that
I can remember a couple of occasions seeing fighters cry
talking to me about their lives and their background and
(15:18):
their parents striving and deprivation and stuff like that. And
I can remember me being almost brought to tears by
the things that they say, because it does become emotional
to talk to a fighter about his gestalt and.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
What he brings in the ring for any big fight.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And speaking of emotions, high emotions on this fight in particular,
because it seems like they genuinely dislike each other. They
hate each other, is what I'm getting at right, A
lot of trash talk. Does that help or hurt the fight?
The fans like it, but does it take Benavidez out
of his game? What are your thoughts when you see
a lot of high emotion leading into it?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Well, I mean I think you hit both points very
clearly within the best.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yes, you.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Can get distracted by that or you can get motivated
by that. So it's like anything, how do you manage
it all right? I'm not sure that they do actually
hate each other. They don't know each other well enough
to hate each other. I think that they've both decided,
for some reason or another, that it's important to portray that.
(16:23):
I think that one or the other might think that
there's an intimidation factor going on. But tomorrow night, when
they get into the ring, I.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Don't think it's going to matter much what they think
of each other.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
It's going to matter whether Morell can keep the fight
within a tight framework in front of him so that
he can try to hit Benavidez with short, straight, powerful punches.
Particularly his right hook is a dangerously powerful punch. Can
he use his foot speed to make it a tactical
war rather than a physical war. And can Benavidez get
(16:57):
him into a wild, swinging slugfest, which is the kind
of fight in which David is almost impossible to beat,
because at some point, if you're in that kind of
fight with Benavite's, you're gonna get caught with one of
his big, long.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Arcing shots, which have a lot of power on them.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
And as Jim has pointed out many times, by the
end of all that these fighters fall in love essentially.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
The level you know, they bring an unspoken level of
respect into the ring for each other because they both
know how hard they have to work and how much
sacrifice they have to go through to get to where
they are. So that is the fundamental foundation of respect
with which this begins. And Dan, as I've said many times,
and you mimic to quite perfectly there. Over the course
(17:43):
of twelve particularly brutal rounds that we're talking about, Gaddy Ward,
we're talking about Brea Morales, they fall in love with
each other because nobody knows them better than they know
each other.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
At the end of all that, and they thought they
hated each other.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
That's interesting because how many times in life and we
pointed the same as a show. It's usually the people
I hate, I'm like, I hate that guy, I end
up really respecting and admiring that guy.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
It is just that thin line.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
There's something there, because if you could have moments that strong, yeah,
you're you're that close to loving that person, and by
the end you see it, it's amazing, you know.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
That's that's brilliantly analyzed and exactly correct.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Thank you, Jim back, Thank you Jim, Jim Lafley's here.
I gotta ask you this too. Go ahead the fights
this weekend. You got Benavitez better bev at the end
of February. The winner of this fight fights the winner
of that fight. But what's the big Yeah, yeah, what's
the better fight? Do we want Benavetez Crawford or Benavetez Canelo?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Oh? We want Benavite's Canelo just because it's Mexican Mexican, just.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Because it's it's Mexican versus Mexican American, and because I
you know, look, the world's biggest Terrence Crawford fan. I
don't yet buy the logic of him fighting at one
sixty eight, one seventy five.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Wherever he's going to wind up going to. He's seeking money.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
It seems very very clear to me, and I do
think he's the number one pound for pound fighter in
the world. But you know, pound for pound means stay
in your envelope. He's leaving his envelope to fight Canelo.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Jim Lampley hanging with Kevin and Rich You've seen so
many fighters on their come up. What is one fighter
that has lived up to the hype in other sports?
It'll be like a top draft pick. You know, a
number one first rounder in the world of boxing. Who's
the guy that came into the game with you know,
he keep an eye on him and he.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Lived up to it. Canelo Alvarez. Yeah, I mean from
the very beginning perfect. Yeah, I mean he look, he
was hey, he.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Was a hot prospect. The people who promoted and represented
him were very excited about what he could do. But
I'm not sure that any of them recognized and understood
that he would become not only the number one economic
attraction in the sport, but also a logical candidate for
number one pound for pound. I don't think anybody realized
(20:02):
how hard Canelo would work for how long a duration
of time, and how much intelligence he could bring to
the prospect of trying to become a truly great prize fighter.
And whatever happens in the rest of Canelo's career, he
is and has been a truly great prize fighter.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah, we love him. Man. Do you think that.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
He is ducking Benevitez, Because I gotta preface it by
saying this, I don't believe that in sports. I mean,
these guys are so confident to put themselves in this
situation I just don't think he wants that fight. Are
people you think they're scared of each other at this
point or no, I don't think they're scared of each other.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I think that in any long term situation where the
public is urging you to do something and you're not
one hundred percent sure that you want to do it,
that the resistance grows.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
And obviously Canelo's restubborn.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Canelo's resistance to being goaded into fighting Benavetez is growing,
not shrinking, and Canelo is a very stubborn.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah, I can see that, no doubt, Jim. We've never
asked you this.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
By the way, Canelo's the bell cow. He's where the
money is exactly now. Maybe maybe they'll come a day
when Benabiitez is where the money is, but for the moment,
it's still Canelos where the money is.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
And everybody says, oh, that's why he wants to fight.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
In the world of you know, lighter fights like the
YouTubers or the Jake Paul's of the world, everyone wants
to come out and I'll fight him because he's the money, right,
you know, everyone's going to want to fight Canela and
the YouTube audience pays attention to that.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, but Jim Lampley does Jim, let me ask you.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
We've talked about boxing movies before, but of all the
fight movies, because there's been a ton now and Jim's
been in a lot of them, Yeah, which you know
hold the place in your heart? And which ones do
you feel like continuity wise? You admire how they've actually
portrayed boxing.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Rocky created a paradigm for the emotional context of boxing
that everyone in the world could understand, and that was
a very meaningful movie. And the follow ups. Uh, people,
the Creeds have been fantastic. They're They're really really good. Uh,
And they're great. I say Southpaw not just because I'm
(22:17):
dining with the director tomorrow night, but also because it
has to me the best and most credible fight scenes.
You know, Anton Fucu did a fabulous job of directing
those fight scenes, and Gillenhall bought in in a big
way and.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
He got he got to shape that movie.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
He moved and looked like a fighter, and he still
has that body, by the way. I saw him in
a movie the other night and I'm thinking, ah, he
never lost his south paw training.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
So uh, the Rockies, Creed, South Paw. I love them all.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
You know, boxing movies are fantastic. Somebody up there likes me.
Uh you know, you can go way back into the
fifties Raging How can there be a better boxing movie
than Raging Bull. It's not entertainment per se. It is
psychological analysis. But it's a fantastic movie.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
I got one last question for the great Jim Lampley again.
You got to get his book too, his biography here,
Jim Lampley with Art Chansky.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
It happens. Hey, hey, hey, read the next line. It happened.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
It happens with Forward Forward by Taylor Sheridan. Yes, a
uniquely lucky life in sports television.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
But I thought we hated the word unique. Jim, what's
going on here? Is this an incredible book?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Or what?
Speaker 2 (23:37):
This is a proper use of you? What's going on here?
Approp this?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
This is a proper use of unique because there's only
one Jim Lambley.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
All right, So we're assuming that Benevitez wins. All right,
we're assuming based on what you said. His left is
hard to beat, he's strong, he's big. Let's say he
wins tomorrow night. Who who is he gonna what's the
better fight Bible or better Beef.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
And what happens.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
I think David wants it to be Bevold because he
believes Bevol is more respected as a boxer. And he
also and he also scored the beat the first better
be Bevol fight for Bevol, So you know, for for
those reasons, David has said to me, I would prefer
(24:31):
to fight Bevol.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Now it's it would be very easy.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
For somebody to listen to that and say, of course,
Vivol's not as big a hitter as better Vief, and
so naturally he wants to fight the guy who is
less dangerous.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
But at the end of the day, money talks.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
That's that's going to be the fulcrum on which a decision.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Like that is made. Uh.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
And I think there are reasons to pick Bevol to
beat him, There are reasons to pick better be Up
to beat him, and there are reasons to pick David
debat either or both. So it's going to be a
great matchup however it plays out.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
It all starts later on PPV dot Com an HD
live stream with our bud Jim Lampley talk to him
throughout the fight. And of course the book it happened.
A great storyteller, a great guy. Thank you so much
for hanging with us. I love you, guys. I have
a tremendous time with you. Every time we do the interview,
there are fifty other people.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
In here want to interview me. I only want to
talk to you. Thank you. The great Jim Lampley Man
means a lie. See you later. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
It's Cavino and Rich live from Vegas on Fox Sports Radio.
And let's go ahead, Rich and wrap this up with
the tail of the tape and your thoughts on the
fight again. David Benavidez twenty eight years old, David Morel's.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
The Battle of the Davids.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
You know, I haven't seen a battle of David since
David Cook and David Archiletta on American Idol. I will
say it's safe to say that David's gonna win this fight. Yeah,
but Benavidez six to two, but Morel's right up there.
Six to one is Mexican fighter versus Cuban fighter. That's
always a fun rivalry. You know, Benavidez got power. They
see Morel's got more power. Morel's got a little more
(26:12):
hand speed, that's all. Morel's six foot.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
One, so now he's also a big dude for one
seventy five.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Are we doing our usual bet where we do when
we pick like three rounds like six seven eight knockout?
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Do we do Benavidez knockout? Round six seven eight?
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Gonna put a little work. Uh, We're gonna put money
on it, for sure. I'm looking at the footwork here.
When it comes to footwork, they see Morel's got an advantage,
but Benavidez has the ring iq advantage. But it's gonna
be a battle man. These guys dislike each other. We're
gonna see fireworks. Like Jim Lampley said, there's gonna be fireworks.
There's after the grou Chie Brothers and maybe after the fight. Yeah,
(26:52):
but it's gonna be a real, real good one. And
I'm saying it's kind of obvious to me. I think
in fights like this, Yeah, we think Morell has a
shot and he might be tough, but in the end,
you're gonna see David benavide Is holding his hand up.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
He gets to win.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
And we're also gonna see some fine looking women because
they always come out for these fights.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, but again it's twenty nine to zero, David Benavidez
twenty four knockouts, going for his thirtieth win, and you
got morell eleven to zero.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I think he's gonna be eleven to one by the
end of the week.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Yeah, you know what, Let's go to the sportsbook, make
our wages, our wagers.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
And keep in mind, guys.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Next week we head off to New Orleans right after
this Vegas trip, New Orleans on Monday, Live from New Orleans.
In fact, will be filling in for Colin Cowhert on
Wednesday and our regular show on Wednesday, So lots of interviews,
lots of bonus shows. Stay tuned, And I think one
question I'm going to ask a lot of people We're
gonna have a lot of guests next week, is well,
(27:57):
if you think the Chiefs are gonna win, how are
they gonna stop Saquon Barkley, Because that's I think that's
what can I tell you how stop Conventional wisdom would
say betting against Mahomes is just a fool's move.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
I'm not betting on this game.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
I'm gonna look at all the props and I have
some ideas there, but the actual game itself, Chiefs bably
one and a half.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
That flip a damn coin. How the hell do you
decide on this?
Speaker 4 (28:21):
So my answer is you can't say, yeah, I wouldn't
bet against Mahomes, but then in the same beast say, man,
Saquon's unstoppable. But then you gotta say, well, the Chiefs
defense is a little better than the other defenses he's
facing the playoffs. But again, there's times where it looks
like Saquon Barkley behind that offensive line in Philadelphia is
like a guaranteed hundo.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
And here's another thing I don't think anyone's really talking about.
I believe jingaln Hurst. They said something about what's your
most vivid memory. There was a question just this past week,
what's your most vivid memory of the last Super Bowl?
They played it in and he was like, next question
or no comment. He's like, man about it. Yeah, we
have to factor in that they've been there and lost before.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
You don't think that's working to their advantage. They don't
want to be.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
The forty nine has lost two Super Bowls in the
fourth quarter to the Chiefs. So don't give you this
BS like I'm fatig They don't think the forty nine
ers who lost in twenty twenty one win last year.
We're not factoring that into the equation here, Like these
guys are playing for more. I know the Chiefs want
the three P and that's a great story. You're playing
for your I think that youstre playing for one. You
(29:25):
think that dude wants to history no more than just
to win. He has a chip on his shoulder, Dude,
that's hard to live, you know, else to the chip
on the shoulder Deebo, Samuel, George Kittle, Nick Bosa. Everyone
that lost to the Chiefs in the fourth quarter in
twenty twenty lost again to the Chiefs in overtime last year.
So you know, you don't think losing a Super Bowl
stings and you're back there again oring my forty.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Nine ers point.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I'm not saying it's impossible, dude, but why does everything
have to apply the same because you're forty nine, Because
you're giving an analogy that applied exactly to the forty nine.
I'm not saying it never happened before. I'm saying no
one's factoring in that. Jay I am is really on
a mission here to not lose again. I like this,
We're having fireworks here, So was Kyle sh He's dismissing
(30:08):
a total rally. If Jalen Hurts had played a clean
game and.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
He didn't have Saquon last time, the last time he
was there in the big game, would he have won? Likely?
Speaker 4 (30:18):
Yeah, And if if he didn't fumble that one, that one,
so if he plays a clean game, haunted him too.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Man.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Really, they got to play keep away. They got to
keep Mahomes in that offense on the sideline. They got
to control that clock with Saquon.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
So I think a lot of the conversation in the
week to come is, yeah, who you got, But how
do you stop Saquon Barkley?
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Do you know?
Speaker 4 (30:39):
It's the not to go on and on here, But
it's the highest Vegas odds on running back yards. I
believe it's like one fifteen. So it's not like usually
running backs what eighty ninety yards over under one fifteen?
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Like, oh, it's been ten years since there were odds
that a running back would go over one hundred.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Yards, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Well, hey, guys, join us next week Monday through Friday,
Super Bowl Week, New Orleans and again enjoy the fight
tonight PBC pay per View, Benevetez versus morel You Got
Figure Out versus Fulton Two, Pitbull Cruise versus Viiro Ramos
Junior versus Rosario.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Drinks on Rich, Drinks on Rich Live on pay per view.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
We already go to the casino and thank you guys,
Is Cavino and Rich.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
See you in the Promised Land.
Hosts And Creators
Rich Davis
Steve Covino
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