Unbreakable: Jessie Vargas on Championship Fights, Life Lessons & Legacy.

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Two-time world boxing champion Jessie Vargas joins us on the Vegas Circle Podcast to share his extraordinary transition from the boxing ring to the poker table. Jessie’s journey is a tapestry of passion, resilience, and surprising twists, from his early days in Los Angeles to settling in the vibrant city of Las Vegas. With an amusing tale of his poker adventures alongside DJ Steve Aoki and the unexpected strategies that led to his defeat in a celebrity game, Jesse reveals the lighter side of the competitive world.

Jessie walks us through the crucial beginning of his boxing career, where his father's encouragement and a documentary about Julio Cesar Chavez ignited his drive to become a champion. Starting young was key, as Jessie explains the advantages it gave him in developing the skills and mentality needed for success in the ring. Signing with Mayweather Promotions at just 19, he faced the challenges of boxing promotions and learned the delicate dance of balancing ego and humility while climbing up the ranks. Jessie also shares the camaraderie he found sparring with legends like Floyd Mayweather, and the memorable moments of facing icons like Manny Pacquiao.

In addition to his boxing insights, Jessie offers invaluable financial advice for young fighters, emphasizing the importance of smart investments and personal branding. As he discusses the future, Jessie reflects on his commitment to community support, especially through boxing and youth initiatives. With an eye on a potential return to the ring, he remains focused on personal growth and education, all while enjoying the rich culinary scene of Las Vegas. Join us for a captivating conversation filled with lessons from the past and aspirations for the future, as Jessie Vargas continues to inspire both inside and outside of the ring.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts,
paki and Chris.
We are people who arepassionate about business,
success and culture, and this isour platform to showcase people
in our city who make it happen.
On today's podcast, we're goingto be diving deep into what it
really takes to be a two-timeworld champion.
What's behind the scenes withthe boxing business?
So welcome to the circle, mrJesse Vargas man.
So good to finally have you inthe circle brother.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Thank you Pucky, thank you Chris.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Yeah, man, I mean pleasure tobe here Non-stop.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah you've been non-stop man, so we ran into
each poker.
Yeah, how'd that turn out foryou man it was.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
It was good, a good learning experience.
I mean, I didn't play his topfive nor top 20, unfortunately,
but it was one of my first timesplaying poker.
It was a good time.
Yeah and uh, actually my firsttime that I played poker was
with uh, a friend of mine he's abig dj in town, steve aoki okay
, and I actually won that pokertournament with you, yeah, a
bunch of friends, it was one ofmy first times playing.

(01:03):
It's actually my second time,but okay, first time for a large
pot and uh, it went well.
So when I thought, hey, why not?
And then the celebrity, uh,poker, came in, yeah, I thought,
hey, maybe I'll get just aslucky.
But yeah no, I think it wasjust the first time.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Luck yeah them guys are the real deal too, man, I
was watching the tables.
I don't know, I don't even knowhow to play poker but, yeah,
they, they were playing seriousman.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Did you go with the strategy or anything, or you're
kind of just like let me go,just have some fun.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
You know what I was doing really well, and then this
girl captivated my attentionand from that point on.
I was talking with her in themeantime that I was playing and
she actually took my chips.
That's funny.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
That's probably her strategy, she distracted me and
boom all my luck transferredover to her.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
It was done Because I doubled up easy.
The minute I got there, likewithin the first 10 minutes, I
doubled up my stack, so I tooksomebody else out of the game
almost.
And then I mean, I was balling,yeah, I was feeling good about
myself and I don't know, Istarted talking to a girl hey,
so where are you from?
She was saying like Idaho, orsomething like that.

(02:04):
I know all right, cool.
And next couple moves I lostone and I lost another one.
She had double aces.
I only had like two pair andthose double aces I think she
had like a three.
She had three aces and a pair,so couldn't beat that.
Yes, yeah, it was.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
She got me with a big pot there yeah, yeah, it was no
joke, man, seeing everybody inthere.
Man, it was good to see all thedifferent personalities and
athletes and the whole nine man,so it's good stuff, man.
Yeah, it's amazing what'shappening in Vegas right now,
man.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
I know you grew up originally in Los Angeles, right
, and then you moved to Vegas.
Is that what I'm understanding?
Yeah, so I was been in town,and whenever they say where
you're from, honestly I just sayLas Vegas yeah.
I've been here all my life andit's been good.
I love this city.
I've seen it expand.
I've seen it grow.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
All my friends are from here.
I have friends all around theworld.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
But I mean, this is where I grew up, for sure, man,
because boxing is is no joke,man, it's.
It's not for the, for the weekat all, man, um one on one sport
is no, yeah, it's no joke, man.
When did you actually get in?
Like, when was your first kindof first time putting the mitts
on.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Well, you know what?
My dad wanted me to be involvedwith an after-school activity.
That's when, um, he gave me afew options.
I started with soccer.
Okay, um, I decided that theyjust run too much and I said
it's fun, but I don't want to dothe training.
So I told my dad I was fine.
I finished the season and thenI transferred over.
I was watching john khan van damat that time okay and I thought
yo, I want to learn taekwondo,I want to learn how to fight.

(03:33):
So, and that's when I came intotaekwondo, because my father
introduced me to the sport I Iadvanced to about I think it was
orange belt okay, and then Ileft it, it was just.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
I wasn't enjoying it.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
And then my father took me into boxing and he
bought me a biography within aweek of me being in boxing and
it was on Julio Cesar Chavez, onhis history, the whole
documentary how he started, whyhe started and how his success
came.
And I thought, wow, that's whatI want.
I want what he has, I want theworld title.
I want the world title, I wantthe money, I want the fame.

(04:07):
And that's when it started andI set my mind on the prize.
I thought I put my goal there.
I said, all right, I want tobecome world champion.
So I'm going to become worldchampion.
And I started at the RichardSteele Boxing Gym.

(04:28):
It was called Nevada Partners atthat time, which is still here
now, which is not a box gymanymore.
I think it's like a culinary ofarts where they teach that type
of profession, but during mytime frame I was eight years old
going back to your question.
So I was eight when I firstlaced them up and I mean it was
all on patience, it was alllearning the proper technique.
I remember very well it wasstill fascinating because I knew
it was working to somethingright, even though the jab was
slow.
And then I had to just get thetechnique down.
First I was okay with itbecause it just seemed so cool

(04:51):
in slow motion.
I was like this is definitelygoing to work.
So then I stayed consistent and, yeah, I mean, one step led to
another.
I wanted to become statechampion, national champion, and
then from there state, regionaland national champion.
I did them all and thenafterwards I said, well, I want
to be world champion.
The mind was always on becomingworld champion, but it was one

(05:12):
step at a time.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
How important was it for you?
Not that you look back on itthen.
You did start young, at eight.
Now, looking back on it, howmuch of your success do you
contribute to the consistency ofdoing it at such a young age
and having that same goal inmind?
Or do you think, like it's, ifyou would have started five
years later, do you think youwould have had that same kind of
level of?

Speaker 2 (05:30):
success.
I think the younger I mean, inmy opinion, the younger I was,
the easier I was able to graspit right.
Um, I think anyone, the sooneryou get in, the younger you are
to to record it mentally, Ithink, the easier it will get.
And thankfully for me it waseasy because I could only
imagine if I were to move in,say when I was 13 or 15 I'm

(05:51):
mainly 15, 15 the punches startto hurt a little bit more.
I bet right, I mean when, when,when, when you get that thump
on the top of your forehead,you're like, oh okay, that's a
good punch.
You know what I mean whenyou're eight, nine, what I
recall is just, you know, I meannot so much feeling the punches
, but it was just knowing thatyou were getting hit right or
the nose.
Actually, no, when you got hitnose, that one stung, that one

(06:14):
did stand when I was, when I wasuh younger, when I was eight,
nine, so I try not to get hitthere.
Yeah, sure, yeah and um.
So I guess let's see.
I mean, I would assume thatwhen you're the punches, if
you're just being presented toit or introduced to the sport,
they're going to bother you andthat's all you're thinking about
.
So it's difficult to calculateeverything because you're
thinking about the pain comingand the punches going the

(06:35):
opposite direction, right?
So the punches you're throwing,I would assume, would be more
difficult in the sport of boxing.
But anything you do, I thinkthat it's just about repetition.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
The longer you do.
I think that it's just aboutrepetition the longer you do it,
the better you get at it.
That kind of makes sense.
So because you started younger,you were able to learn a
different facet of the game,versus just being like a fighter
right, because if I'm 15, ifmost likely I'm trying to do it,
maybe I have some anger, I'mtrying to let loose, or
something like that versus doingit young now you're, you get
the chance to learn the basicsand kind of create that muscle
memory before you start feelingthat, exactly Very interesting
to think about.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
When did you actually turn pro?
Like what age?

Speaker 2 (07:05):
I turned professional at the age of 19 years old.
Okay, yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
I had just came from, so about 11 years in, you were
about okay.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, I came out of the national Olympic team in
Mexico, came over here, signedwith Mayweather Promotions a
nice contract and then you know,I remember that it was a
special moment for me for myparents.
Overall for my parents, I thinkI mean for me as well, but they
always invested so much time inme.
They helped me out, and me andmy siblings, sure, they always

(07:32):
wanted to give us options andthey knew that what I wanted to
do, so they always supported medoing it Okay, and I would
assume that not only did it payoff for me, but it paid off for
them, because it was all worthit.
It was a lot of work, a lot oftime, a lot of money.
And they sent me out to Mexicofor a year and they paid for
everything, maybe with thepromotions, or your parents, my
parents.
Oh, that's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, they paid for everything.
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
They would always take me.
There wasn't one day that Imissed a gym, because they were
always there on time.
They were always there to takeme, so I would assume that they
feel fulfilled as well.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
It's all because of them, for that many years right,
and, like you said, it's not aneasy thing.
You get hit, you get knockeddown, you get, you know, beat up
.
It's exhausting.
I'm assuming it's like there'sa lot happening Like you know
what kind of how.
You know I've been a handful offights and I'm like I don't
want to be in no more.
But like being in as many asyou've been into like how do you

(08:26):
handle that part?

Speaker 2 (08:27):
That's the thing about me, man.
When I was a kid, I was alwaysvery competitive, so I didn't
like to lose, yep.
So I made sure to always be inthe game.
And being in the game, that wasthe difference between a
winner's mentality and a loser'smentality.

(08:47):
It's just like coming to win.
Things aren't going my way.
Well, I'm going to find a wayto turn it, and you find a way
to turn it, like the next roundor next minute.
So there may have been bad days,but within those bad days,
there were still things that Iwas overcoming at the moment.
So it just brought me rightback into it.
So it was still competitive,although I didn't like it and I
would be angry for a week if Ihad one bad day.
My parents would be mad at meas well.

(09:10):
But overall, I mean it's aboutthe consistency.
It's about being able to takein the hard shots.
Not the hard shots, but thehard moments in life, right,
where it's that moment oflearning something new, or the
moment where you got to, like,understand a different aspect of
the game, or you just learnsomething new, you know.

(09:32):
So it's a balance of numerousthings.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
For sure, but overall it's mentality.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
If you don't have the right mentality, you won't be
successful in that, and youwon't be successful in many
other elite sports or justcareers in general.
That's the mentality you have.
It's in many other elite sportsor just careers in general.
That's the mentality you have.
Is that competitive instinct?

Speaker 1 (09:46):
You know you were talking about like consistency,
right, and Crystal was kind oftabbing on that as, like you
know, I've got children, right,and you're always talking to
them about hard work and things.
But for people who don't reallyunderstand getting to be a
world champion like yourself,right that you've done that
twice.
How much are you training, likebefore you went to be, you know
, 19 years old?
Like how many fights do youthink you probably had in the
ring before you?

(10:06):
Literally, you know, signedwith Mayweather Promotions About
?

Speaker 2 (10:09):
100 fights About 100 fights, yeah 100 fights.
I'm sorry, 140 fights, 140fights.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, 140 fights.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
Oh wow, have had like 12.
I mean nationals where the restof the states regional
nationals.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Yeah, so that experience had a lot to do with
it.
Yeah, it's serious.
That's a lot of fights, yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, but before then going back to your question, I
mean I was there on a dailybasis from Monday to Friday.
I was in the gym.
Saturdays I was either runningor in the gym as well, right, or
help my parents in their smallbusiness that they had, as long
as they had the proper age forit.
But yeah, I mean I was in thegym.
I mean when other kids were outplaying with their friends, I

(10:51):
was in the gym.
You know, I tried that once forlike three, four months I just
got into high school, andactually twice I tried it in
middle school when I was 11, forabout a week and I saw that it
was not the right decision totake.
So I kept my way, meaninghanging out with my friends and

(11:12):
leaving the gym for a little bit, even for a week.
I saw that it wasn't reallycatching my attention.
I didn't like it.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Couldn't keep your focus.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, I felt like it was going downhill instead of
uphill.
And that's at 11.
I'm like, what am I doing?
Like I thought it to myselfright.
Like I mean I was with my boy,with my boys here kind of
gangsters, I mean I'm gonna endup fighting them.
So let me just stick in the gymlike I knew myself, like I was
always.
I was.
It was always about respect,because my father taught it to

(11:38):
me.
Whenever I saw someone that wasdisrespectful, I made it be
clear.
I made it be so, going back tothe moment that I opened up some
time for friends.
When I was 14, in high schoolfreshman, I hung out with them a
little more often than I usedto out of school.
So, and sometimes I'd go to thegym tired because I was hanging
out with my friends all day,right, or the next day I'd be

(12:01):
exhausted.
And then in that timeframe Iactually had a fight.
I had a regional fight.
I had already became statechampion.
Now we were going for regionalchampions and again I had
invested a lot of time with mybuddies.
So I was hanging out with themJust right after school.
I'd hang out with them.
That's what it was.
I had my little lowrider bikewith them because we had a
little lowrider bike crew.
So I thought that was cool.

(12:21):
But then the regional comes andI'm training, I'm hanging out
with my friends and um, I endedup fighting that night and man I
I didn't take a beating, butthat was one of the hardest
fights of my career in generaland it was because I mean I
wasn't focused.
Yeah, I mean I got tired in thesecond half of the second round.

(12:45):
There was three rounds, uh,involved in that fight, right.
So first round I beat him up.
Dude, this guy was on the level, on my level.
Second round I'm beating him upin the first part of it.
Second part of the second roundoh my god, I'm gassed.
So now I'm like defendingmyself, like, oh man, this guy's
strong.
Third round comes in and againI'm exhausted, right, and it's

(13:08):
not looking good for me.
I mean, the fight ended upfinishing.
He won the fight.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
And.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
I agree, he did win the fight, without a doubt, and
I felt so embarrassed becausethe guy wasn't on my level and
he was giving the decision.
He beat me that night.
I thought it was embarrassingso I said, all right, that's
enough of this, I'm not hangingout with my buddies anymore.
And then I went back into thegym.
I came back to the statechampionship, won it, regional
championship won it.

(13:32):
National champion won it.
Did it again a second time forthe PAL national championship as
well.
So it was two back-to-backnational championships that I
won because of the anger that Igot from that fight.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
From being embarrassed and not being
focused.
Yeah, humiliated to me.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
That's what it was.
That's what it was.
That's a competitive instinct,right?
You think to yourself thisshould not be happening to me.
I will not allow it anymore.
So, then you learn, right,that's like good times, bad
times, right, that bad timebrought out better times in the
future.
And that's just the way life is.
It's not always going to begreat, right, but if you fight
hard, you'll be able to come outon top at the end.

(14:08):
There's still going to be bumpsalong the road.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
But you know, I keep my mind strong on that because
every time I've had bad times,it's not about giving up.
I didn't give up.
I just thought to myself,whether it was in boxing or in
life, I'm thinking no, no, no,no.
This isn't me, this isn't mylifestyle, this isn't what I
want.
So how do I get what I want?

Speaker 1 (14:29):
and then that's when I push forward.
Age man, that's yeah you havesome wisdom, because do that at
a young age it's tough becausemost people get sidetracked so
fast.
You know what I mean it's easyto get sidetracked.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
You're right, learning how to navigate those
big moments.
To seem hard because, likethat's when your first time
being that big stage right liketherefore competing for
something that's really going toelevate you, and yeah, I think
that's the learn that, young Ican imagine, helped you
tremendously throughout yourrest of your career.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, yeah, well, I mean it was tough, though I mean
I had to go through some thingsto to get an understanding of
it right sure of course my dadwas there, my mother was there
every step of the way, so they,they were able to inform me and
guide me.
um, as a kid, you don't listenthat much to your parents, right
?
That's the only bad part aboutit.
So some of the things wouldkind of just, you know, come in
and go out the other ear, butother things would stick.

(15:13):
And then, along with my pointof view as well, as a kid, I
thought you know what?
Because it's a lot.
I mean, it's not just me saying, oh, I want to do the right
thing.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
It's me being humiliated'm saying yeah, it's a
difference, yeah, it's adifference.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
I didn't see it as me being wise.
I mean, I just had to wake upbecause it's either you wake up
or you stay.
You know you dig yourselfdeeper.
Yeah, that's real, that's notwhat I was going to do.
I don't, I don't.
That's not my lifestyle man.
I hate, I hate that.
Yeah, you know how you execute.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
Let's talk a little bit about signing a contract.
The boxing business I'm hearingis crazy.
I mean, you know really what'sbehind the curtain, but signing
like your first contract, is itthat bad?
Or is it set up for the rightperson and you have to
renegotiate later in life, likeyou hear the music stories and
things like that.
I always say the first contractis horrible, but what was it

(16:07):
like for you at 19 years, at 19years old?

Speaker 2 (16:08):
I mean, I've heard bad stories right about other
friends of mine or otherfighters, you know, signing bad
contracts.
But thankfully, with me, man, Imean I've done really well when
it came to that.
You know, I had good guidancewith my parents, sure, I think,
with the exception of onecontract.
But at the end of the day Isigned it and I got paid.
Um, I got kind of tied up alittle more than I should have

(16:30):
with that one, not that I shouldhave, that's not even the way
to put it.
I got tied up when I shouldhave not been tied up.
Okay, right, but there's waysaround it.
You know you find yourself in.
I shouldn't speak too much ofit, but it can be tricky, is the
way to put it.
If you don't have the properrepresentation in the middle of

(16:52):
you signing the contract, it canget tricky.
Thankfully, my first contractwas with Floyd Mayweather,
mayweather Promotions.
It was amazing.
We had a great partnership.
It's more than a partnership.
They were my promoters andthat's what it was.
But I loved working under them.
They paid me well.
I loved working under them.
They paid me well as long asFloyd was there.
I felt well taken care of inthe fights that I wanted.

(17:15):
Not that I wanted, but becauseI always wanted the biggest
fights possible.
I remember Floyd was like, hey,you want Eric Morales.
I was like, yeah, I want EricMorales.
This was 2011, when, I think,he had a fallout, his opponent
had fallen out and then he waslooking for another, another one
, a late replacement, and I wasfighting on the same night.
Anyways, it was on the victorortiz versus floyd mayweather

(17:35):
fight.
Oh, I remember that yeah so andI told I told floyd, yeah, floyd
, give me that fight, man, Iwant it please.
I was only like 22, but still,man, I was hungry, you know.
And um, uh, he worked for it.
He tried, yeah, unfortunately,um later on er Eric tells me
that he had chosen on KanoBecause not that he had backed

(17:56):
out.
I mean, eric has tremendousheart, but he told me he was
like, hey, they told me aboutyou.
But then I just said no no, no,give me this guy right here, and
that's when his last name wasKano.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
Forget his first name .

Speaker 2 (18:09):
But he ended up beating him for the WBC world
title and I ended up beatingJosecito Lopez that night.
So, yeah, that was just likeone of my stories that I've
never shared with Floyd Becausewe had such great communication.
That's what's up, and I wasalways very happy to be part of
Mayweather Promotions.
I was looking forward to beingthe very first world champion
from Mayweather Promotion.
Yeah, because we would havedone it in a shorter time span

(18:32):
than Golden Boy did.
I think Golden Boy had IvorNermades as his first world
champion in like four years frombeginning to the moment he
became world champion.
So from signing all the way to—that took him four years, I
believe.
So Wow, yeah, so it was prettyquick.
Still, wow.
I mean I think Mike did it alittle sooner, but still pretty
quick for a young world champion.

(18:53):
So I told him you know I hopewe can beat that record.
Unfortunately it wasn't able tohappen, but you know we made it
happen regardless.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
Yeah, but you had some big fights, man.
I mean, you fought fromPacquiao to Broner to what
Timothy Bradley yeah, what wasone of the toughest fights that
you have fought, besides the oneyou were talking about when you
were younger, but between maybe, let's say, pacquiao or anybody
else that you can add on thatcard?

Speaker 2 (19:16):
I'd say Pacquiao man, because he was just so hard to
estimate.
Okay, With his footwork, hislateral movements, his speed,
you had to identify exactly whatwas his next move and it wasn't
easy.
So, yeah, I would say MannyPacquiao.
And other than that man,probably like my ex-girlfriend.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
She hit hard, bro, did you ever spar with Floyd?

Speaker 2 (19:41):
No, no, no.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
I wanted to, but I never called it, though.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
I would never disrespect Floyd that way.
I figured the respect was solid.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Yeah, exactly I wanted to because you want to
test yourself 100%.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
But then again you think to yourself man, I'm not
going to ask Floyd if I can sparhim.
That's like calling him outlike I want to spar you, what's
up.
So I never wanted to disrespecthim and I never asked for it.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
People don't do that, though in the box to play Mike,
michael Jordan or Kobe, I woulddo, I would want to test it, I
bet.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, I mean we all do, but you can't do that in
boxing.
You could, you could, or is it?

Speaker 1 (20:14):
because you would Floyd, you know, with Mayweather
Promotions.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
I mean, he was my boss, Fair enough, Fair enough
yeah fair enough, dillardHoyer's right there and he's one
of the top guys and hey, what'sup?
Hey, you need some work let'sget it right, it's different
yeah, yeah, cause it's justcompetitive instinct that we
wanna see who's better, and ifhe's better, it's alright, I'll
work the next day.

(20:36):
You know that will help meimprove and to work the next day
to get better.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
So that's just the way talent works, yeah, but how
do you balance that?
You touched on a little bitthere like the ego versus
humbleness, right?
I feel like that's such a fineline in competitive sports where
you want to be an asshole allthe time, but you also know
you're that guy, right.
So how do you balance that?
A little bit in boxing.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
That's actually a good question.
I know you've been asked, butgoing back to that one, I'm
going to tell you he was like mybig bro, boss, when it came to
floyd mayweather, floyd, okay,yeah.
So I was like I would neverdisrespect him like that.
You know, you ever look at yourbig bro, you're like, oh, I
ain't gonna, I ain't gonna callhim out.
It was like that.
Yeah, and then going with yourquestion, man, it's, it's, it's
being humble, because it justdepends that's mainly on on

(21:24):
different characters, right?
Different people, differentpersonalities.
Me I was that guy.
Everybody knew in the gym oranywhere, like I came.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
I came with the heat.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah, you don't play, yeah so whenever I had like
sparring sessions or whateverthe case was, I didn't have to
say anything because that's howI preferred it.
I preferred just to always domy thing inside the ring, be
respectful outside of the ring,but everybody knew what I was
coming with.
And then you got other guyslike AB.
Right, he's just real loud, youknow, that's just his style,
right?

Speaker 1 (21:52):
AJ is hilarious, I'm sorry.
Yeah, he's hilarious, 100% yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
As a matter of fact, I'll probably call him right now
.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Put him on there.
I'll call him out.
Put him on there, yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
I've been trying to tell him we was gonna say, yeah,
it was a draw, yeah, it was adraw, so we'd get another one.
Um, but anyways, yeah, so yougot different characters right.
I mean, ab is like that, floydhe's more on the you know calm,
serious, outside of the ring andthen, like a few minutes before
stepping in the ring, is the aunit.
Hopefully floyd doesn't.
Uh, like I hate this, but he'llbe like uh, I don't know who,
say some funny thing.

Speaker 3 (22:31):
Oh, the one was to get the ass whoop next you see
what I'm saying, like littlesubtle, little comments, yeah,
yeah and he would.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
He would get back in the ring and do what he had to
do with him, right, uh, which Ireally admired, but it was
always very serious.
Yeah, same with me, though Imean, in the beginning I was
like that, until I had a trainerthat he's like Jesse, stop
being so mean.
Like, be nice to these guys.
These guys are here to help you.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
And then that's when I kind of like transferred over
a little bit Like, hey, how youdoing.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
You know yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
Which is a wrong decision to make All right.
Okay, because dog once worktime, yeah.
And then that's when I learned,because I was young when he
told me that.
So I tried listening right tomy peer, to my elders, but yo,
I'm like, no, I'm not.
Now that I'm older I'm likethat's not the game.
Yo, this isn't the sport thatI'm in.
I'm not here to be nice.
Yeah, you're, I'll be outside.

(23:20):
Yeah, I'm a fighter I'll benice to you in the streets the
minute we're inside the gym.
It's business, it's all businessyeah, or even like just a quick
pound, that's all I do.
Like it was so hard for me tolisten to that dude even though
I did and honestly I feel likeit made me a little soft because
once I got into the ring itfelt different.
When prior, when I was 21, 22,23, 24, I was, I was walking up

(23:43):
to, even to the boxing gym, I'mready to fight.
And then I get inside the ring,I'm going up those steps, I'm
ready to fight, like why am Igonna be nice, I can hold a
whole different, a wholeconversation on this subject.
Right, I'm not gonna get intoit.
But yeah, you get the point.
Right, you get the gist of it.
How do you like?

Speaker 1 (24:02):
keep your so, like, for example, adrian broner,
versus like a pacquiao, pacquiao, so respectful, very quiet.
You know you probably can't getmad at pacquiao to get in the
ring right, because he's such anice, respectful guy.
I don't know what he says inthe ring, but but, adrian, like
how do you keep your mind a lotlike lose it?
You know what I mean to go offand take.
I know you have to becontrolled, and is that that's
boxing?

Speaker 2 (24:22):
yeah, you have to be controlled.
Yeah, I mean, again, thecompetitive instinct comes,
comes in, right.
So when, uh, when I fallPacquiao, I mean, yeah, he's
smiling, but I know what he'sthere to do and I'm like, all
right, well, I'm going to do itbetter, just get it, you know,
and it's different.
So that's the mentality.
I mean.
It changes because you see mehere, I'm talking to you nicely,

(24:44):
but once you got, and then youtalk to me, then it's different.
You're not going to get toomany words from me, right?
Yeah, it's just a differentmentality, right?
The aggression is different,the view, the perspective is
different.
So, yeah, I mean, you see me acouple days before the fight.
I'm just like, yeah, I'm readyto fight and what I mean, this
is what I'm going to do, andthis is what I'm going to do.

(25:05):
But then how are playing simple, straight, right down the
middle or whatever.
The case is right.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
So my response would be different you feel like,
leading up to a fight, you gettriggered a little more easily,
like in the regular world?
Most definitely, yeah.
You're just building it up, Ibet.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
Most definitely yeah that's the best way to put it.
Yeah, things change.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
That was interesting so who's your GOAT?
I'm assuming I think I know whoit is, but who would be your
top fighters that you respect?
Dead alive, currently fighting.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
Man.
Honestly, for me it's hard torate them.
They're all great in their ownright Robert Duran, sugar Ray
Leonard, julio Cesar Chavez,floyd Mayweather, oscar De La
Hoya I think Oscar De La Hoyawas great.
I mean, muhammad Ali was waybefore my time so I haven't
really looked into him.
James Toney I know he waspretty good.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
A lot of people don't know about him, man but he was
pretty legit.
Didn't James go to UFC for alittle bit too?

Speaker 2 (25:57):
He tried it, I believe.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, I remember that he tried it.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, but the UFC is a whole different ballpark, I
know.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
It's different.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
It's like playing rugby and football.
They're both throwing ballsaround, but it's a different
sport.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
You know what I mean?
Yeah, and are you stilltraining now, like when we were
talking before?
So you've got a fight coming upsoon, or who will?
Be, your next opponent.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
I'm still training, although I can't use my right
hand right now.
I had an injury.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
Okay, yeah, so I'm problem to practice the left.
Yeah, it's hard right now.
What happened to your hand?

Speaker 2 (26:33):
I just injured it, man, I was on a flight, man, and
you know rare scenario.
Yeah, just a long story.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Say less, say less, but you're on the road to
recovery and you still want tofight.
Yes, awesome man.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
I mean, don't think I hit a wall or anything like
that.
Yeah, I got you One thing.
I'll tell you what.
This is something that I shouldtouch up on.
You know a lot of people willthink that boxers are aggressive
.
Yo, we fight for a living.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Like when we're outside of.
Every time I ran into you youcalm as hell.
Yeah, yeah, I try to be right.
Common collective just like yo.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
My profession is about being aggressive.
Let me, let me save that forwhen it's paying me money, sure?

Speaker 3 (27:15):
that's a good point.
You know what I mean.
A lot of people think like Imean I have an anitry.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
I mean some people might, I may have hit the wall
or something you know, I thinkthey watch too many karate
movies or something like that.
You know I mean eyes.
You know we as fighters, likeyou see any fighter out in the
street.
They're cool man, they'rewalking with confidence Like hey
, what's up.
You see, Caleb playing what'sup, you know, and Charlo,
charlo's just a little loud buthe's still cool.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
I've actually ran into Caleb.
Caleb cool as hell too yeah.
But I know that he saidsomething about his wife or
something crazy, or that he waspulling what that is.
I'm not sure what they say, butthere was already beef
beforehand which is different.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
You see, when you got two fighters and there's
already something that's beensaid or even misconstrued right,
we're sensitive to littlethings like that which is
because it's fighter on fighteris different, you know,
especially when you're in thesame division, it's like that
competitive instinct.
You see what I'm saying, but yoyou're in the street just

(28:11):
talking, somebody's trying to,you know, test you.
Like, man, get out my face man.
Yeah, like you don't know whatI can do to you.
Yeah, like literally that's thefirst thing that comes to your
mind.
Like why am I gonna getaggressive for them?

Speaker 3 (28:18):
plus, they don't pay us because really you have to be
, to be a fighter you kind ofyou have to be in control of
your emotions, like you can'toverreact recklessly, because
that you would be a terriblefighter if you did that.
Because you wouldn't be able tocompose yourself in the ring.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I mean, that's somethingthat no one points out.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
You know who I enjoy watching honestly is Javante
Davis.
Yeah, what's your take onJavante man?

Speaker 2 (28:39):
I really like him, man.
I think he's one of the mosttalented athletes right now in
the game.
Yeah, I mean, he's a bigpunching power.
I think that's his really.
I mean one of his perks, one ofhis special attributes that he
has like little mini Mike TysonFor real.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
Very exciting too.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Very exciting because you never know I mean they say
don't blink, right, you neverknow when it could end with
fighters like that, just inboxing in general.
So I think he's very talented,although I think leo santa cruz
was giving him the fight of hislife, bro.
You know, it was competitive,it was good, yeah, but again,
giovante has that one punchpower that knock you out if he

(29:16):
catches you right, and that'sexactly what happened.
You know, um, leo santa cruzhad the experience, right, he
had, I could say he had the chin, like like uh, what I mean by
that is like he had it until itwas that one punch that just,
that was not even 100% power,200% power.
The reason why I say 200 isbecause, all right, leo Santa

(29:37):
Cruz made the mistake of doingthe same move three times.
That's like me teaching a kidall right, slip my right hand,
okay, you do it once.
All right, he slipped it.
All right, okay, you do it once.
All right, he slipped in.
All right, you do it again.
You already got everythinglined up perfectly.
Do it again.
All right, you just gave it tohim, right, then he loaded it up
.
I think that's probably one ofthe best load ups.
When it comes to punches, yeah,the, the most powerful punches,

(30:00):
because you were able to loadup with everything you had.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
Yeah, that's it everything you had.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
You know what I mean I mean he could even jumped up
with that punch if he wanted to.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, how do you feel about, like, the MMA?
I know we touched a little bitabout MMA.
Do you feel like and I knowthis is controversial, right,
but you always hear peoplesaying that boxing is kind of
becoming boring, supposedly, andMMA is taking over.
But what's your take on that?
Do you feel like boxing isstill here to stay and basically
MMA is not taking over, orwhat's your take on?

Speaker 2 (30:29):
it.
I think MMA is doing reallywell.
Yeah, yeah, I mean they'rebringing in tons of fans to the
stadiums.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
I mean they're going to have one big event at the
Sphere, of course, yeah, 100% atthe Sphere.
Yeah, yeah, which should begood.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
But overall, I mean boxing is boxing right?
Boxing is one of the firstcombat sports that has ever
existed existed.
It's never, it's not going togo anywhere.
You know, I mean it will evolve, it will get.
I I mean it's evolving now withthe new youtubers, right, I
mean jake paul and all them,that's.
That's a whole differentaudience that we're attracted to
the sport of boxing, which isonly going to help expand the
sport.
But overall, boxing ain't goinganywhere and I assure you that.

(31:02):
Right, if I, if I could, if, uh, boxing had a stock market, I'd
invest in boxing for sure,because it's only going to go up
, I assure you.
I mean, there's always going tobe new fighters, always going
to be, you know, new, becauseit's like the old generation is
into it.
The new generation is likestill learning it.
Right, they're like pickingbetween UFC and boxing, but it's
two different sports.
They're all going to understandthat eventually.

(31:25):
Again, I'll come back to thatanalogy Rugby, football
Completely different, twodifferent sports.
You put a rugby player in thefootball field, the football
player is going to run circlesaround him, sure.
Same thing you put him in rugby, well, most likely football
will get the hang of rugbyquickly.
Yeah, it's like if you put aboxer in a UFC game, I mean we

(31:48):
only have one chance.
Let's get him from the outsideor we better knock him out,
right, that's our best shot.
You put a UFC fighter in aboxer ring, he has no chance of
at nothing.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
Yeah, for sure you know, that's just the way I see
it.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
I mean we've been doing it since we're, I mean,
eight years old, like it's Eightyears old, nine, I mean Floyd,
I think did it when he was five.
Yeah, for real.
He probably had diapers.
He was doing it For real, butwhat I'm saying is, like you
know, Javante, I don't know whatage, but I assume at least 12.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
Right, maybe 14 at the most.
So still 14 years to 24, youknow, that's 10 years deep UFC.
It seems like a lot of maybewhen they're teenagers or 20s.
That's what I've realizedbecause there's so many
different techniques.
So you got wrestlers and nowthe wrestler needs to transfer

(32:45):
over to a different type oftechnique that they use in that
as well, because it's like what?
Five, six different techniquesin it.
Yeah, I mean, it's a lot tohandle.

Speaker 3 (32:52):
For sure.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
So you got to learn everything.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Because they're very different, right, you can be
fans of both, you don't have topick one or the other people can
like basketball I mean, uh,boxing, and they can like ufc.
They'll make this comparison.
It's like it's not fair.
It's not at all like a realfair comparison.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
I agree.
I mean I like both as well.
I'm a fan of ufc, I'm a fan ofboxing, of course.
I mean I'm gonna pick every dayof the week.
I'm gonna pick boxing over over, uh, ufc, but uh, yeah, ufc,
but yeah, that's just my pointof view.
Just because I like thestand-up right.
I like seeing guys like,alright, they set things up,
they'll set up a one-two, orthey'll set up a feint, come
back with a hook right over thetop.
I'm like, oh, that is nice.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
That's something to admire right.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
When it comes to UFC, it's just like what's coming A
foot, a foot to face.
And then the worst thing aboutit, man, in my point of view, is
like when I see him grapplingand I'm like, oh dang, that's it
, and then that's it, it's justover.
I'm like I see him being on the.
You know, I like him beingstanding up fighting like chuck
liddell.
I used to love when he used tofight rap age jackson knocking
cats out yeah, it was different.

(33:51):
Yeah, it's still cool now.
It's just a little different.
You got to appreciate it in adifferent way so would you fight
an mma fighter?

Speaker 1 (33:57):
was that something?
If it was a big payday, wouldyou do that.
Why not?

Speaker 2 (34:00):
yeah, it'd be fun.
Yeah, for sure.
Good time, yeah, do you ever?

Speaker 3 (34:04):
practice like regular fighting outside of boxing.
Like you ever, just for the funof it, like go start trying to
grapple somebody or something?

Speaker 2 (34:09):
honestly, my thing is boxing yeah yeah, yeah, I mean,
that's what I really enjoy todo and I want to continue to
perfect and strengthen.
Yeah, I want to get stronger inmy punches.
Um, you know, I want to getbetter.
Make sure I'm just as fast orfaster things of that sort,
right, sure yeah I mean I'mcompletely content with whatever
I accomplished so far.
I feel like there's much more,though for sure, I feel like

(34:30):
there's a lot more to accomplish, and that's the reason why I
want to come back.
It's not so much for the money,although I mean.
I mean I'm gonna, I'm gonna,I'm going to pick a meal over
$500 every day of the week, 100%, but you know, I'm in it, more
importantly, just to show myfans that I believe that there's
more.
There's a lot more for me togive, and I feel certain of it.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Yeah, but I look forward to coming back and doing
it properly.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
Let me see you come back.
Man, that'd be good, man,that'd be really good, thank you
.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
Tell you what?
I'll tell you something now.
I feel like the reason why Ihaven't reached my full
potential or my peak is becauseI haven't really I've half-assed
it in a way.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
I don't think I would ever thought you would say that
yeah, same thing ever believeit or not?

Speaker 3 (35:16):
yeah, really, yeah, like I wasn't year round.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
I wasn't in the gym year round.
Um, you know, as soon as I cando that, cut off like say hey,
is it cool if I just do sixweeks camp?
All right, cool, you know.
So I'd always like find ways tocount corners, and my father
called me out on it all the timebut.
I wouldn't believe him.
I was like no, dad, I'm prettydedicated, yeah, but uh, I I
found ways to minimize, like uh,the workload I guess.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
Is that right?
Okay, I wouldn't expect you tosay that at all.
Is that a good feeling,especially being a world
champion?

Speaker 2 (35:46):
I would not expect you to say that yeah, yeah, I'm
kind of upset at myself for that.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
Yeah, okay, just backtracking real quick just
because you brought that up.
What is a day like with withtramp well, I'm sorry, with camp
you're doing six weeks.
You're all day, whetherwhatever it is running, cardio
boxing, I mean, you're literallyyour whole day is is set up
like that you have no off time,you don't have a life man.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's hard, bro, it's hard.
So, yeah, it's just training.
You wake up, you run, or if youdo the the uh strength and
conditioning in the evening time, you do it at night time and
then you just come back and restso say, I'll give you just an
idea of it.
So some would do it in themorning.
I prefer evening time to dostrength and conditioning, so
I'll wake up, I'll do boxing inthe afternoon and the evening

(36:30):
I'll do strength andconditioning.
Sometimes I'll switch the timesaround for both.
I'll do strength and conditionearly and then boxing in the
evening.
But the second part, the most,the second most important part
of like becoming a worldchampion or being at optimum
level, is giving your body rest,sufficient rest.
Because if you don't givesufficient rest, that's where
you tend to mess up, becauseyou're not giving yourself like

(36:52):
um, you're not performing atoptimum level anymore because
you didn't get the rest as thebond seat that the body requires
.
And that's where I'm at fault,for I was always like really
hyper, like I.
I get really frustrated when I,when I'm just sitting in one
room, I feel like I'm caged up,got you.
So that's where my tiny flaws,because they weren't big flaws,
they were tiny.
That's why I still became worldchampion, but they were little

(37:12):
flaws that make a big differencegot you yeah, error.
You give yourself a little roomfor error, man, and you're going
to pay a price for it.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
So I got to ask you this with Floyd, right, he don't
drink at all.
No, nothing, no.
And he looks like he's alwaysready to fight.
He seems like he's never felloff.
As far as weight, as far as thewhole nine, his structure is
the same.
It seems like in camp, butoutside of camp.
You've seen that in the flesh100%.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Yeah, I agree to all that because I mean, that's the
thing about Floyd, that's why hereached the pinnacle of boxing,
because I mean, his room forerror was so small because he
knew what he wanted to do and heknew what it took, and no one
took him off that he was selfish, like no, no, no, I need my
rest.
I ain't drinking, you know.

(38:00):
I may go out with you, I'llhave a good time, but I get my
nine hours of sleep, you know.
I don't know how many hoursthat, I don't know, but I just
assume he'd wake up late.
I assume he's got his nine, tenhours of sleep.
He's ready to go gym time.
And he was consistent.
I mean, although he says heretired for a certain time frame
, I'm not sure if I believe thathe completely retired, as in

(38:21):
stopped training.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
No, he's still sharp as hell.
That's what I'm saying Supersharp yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
So that makes me think that he always stayed
dedicated.
Yeah, I mean listen.
The smaller room for error thatyou leave yourself, the higher
chances and probabilities ofbeing successful, and that's why
he is as successful as he is.
No drinking, no partying like Imean he did have a good time
with his friends, like quarterskating.
I mean I went to some of theparties, but he never drank.

(38:47):
That's what's up.
Yeah, so it's different.
Yeah, he knew what wasessential for him yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
So I know your parents have been big right.
They've been in've been in yourlife with us being you know the
circle.
What's probably the biggestlesson that you've learned,
whether it's boxing or just inlife in general, or also who's
speaking in your life andkeeping you on the right path,
the way you've been able to kindof keep yourself clean.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
My parents did a great job of it.
I give them all the credit sothey take it all for sure.
And then, other than that, yeah, I mean every now and then, you
know certain things that maybeI didn't listen to, but I ended
up learning the hard way, sure,yeah.
So, as I said earlier, righthanging out with friends, you
know that didn't really benefitme?

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, for sure.
And with business advice man,specifically boxing advice man,
what would you tell a youngfighter right now that before
they sign in their contract oryou know they're willing they
wanted to go pro, what would youshare with them?
What's, what's the first thingsthey do or the right
perspective to have beforesigning that contract?

Speaker 2 (39:47):
first thing to do, I'd say get yourself a notebook
and know what's what's importantin different areas.
Right, business.
Two notebooks, one how to howto accomplish your goal is to
become a world champion andstick to it.
What to stay away from, what,what maybe?
Uh, what can I say is whattemptations are going to be out
there and know how to avoid them.
Yeah, yeah you gotta add thepros and cons and then, from

(40:10):
what you've heard and otherpeople kind of know exactly how
to you know, stay away fromthose mistakes.
For sure.
Um, learn from others or fromothers' experiences.
I'd say stay dedicated.
Overall.
Number one thing stay dedicated, stay focused, keep your eye on
the prize.
There's room for entertainment,there will always be room for

(40:30):
entertainment, but there isn'tgoing to be that much time for
you to accomplish yourshort-term goal and long-term
goal.
So make sure you're focused onthat.
Number one.
Let's see.
When it comes to business, makesure you look over the contract
.
Have somebody that can guideyou through that contract.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
Make sure that it's someone you can trust.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Yeah, legal representation.
I would say every dollar youmake in boxing, or at least 80%
of it, invest it in something orthink of somewhere you can
invest it.
You don't need that much tolive off of.
Early on, all you got to do istrain and eat.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
You know what I mean.
You got no time.

Speaker 2 (41:08):
You don't got to wear a Bearberry bro.
You don't got to wear a Versace.
Just train, work, work, work.
Of course you got to.
I guess in a way, you kind ofhave to do it for social media
reasons.
Your personal brand yeah forsure, make your own personal
brand.
But if I were to do it, if Iwere to go back, I invested my
money, thankfully.
But instead of investing 30% ofit, I'd invest 85% of it and

(41:34):
then live off of the investmentsof it and then live off of the
investments, whatever theinvestment is giving you, live
off of that and say that's whatI'm going to live off of,
because that money is going tobe, is going to be worth so much
more when you decide to retire.
Yeah, and honestly, yeah, Imean know exactly what you're
spending, right, so keep trackof your balance sheet.
Um, know what you're spendingon a weekly basis.

(41:54):
Write it down, why.
Because this is going to takeyou a long way If you're able to
just have a notebook, have twonotebooks your balance sheet,
how much you're spending, yourexpenses, your income it's only
a one set income.
In the beginning it's like a bigfight.
All right, cool.
What am I going to spend thison?
Then you write it down and thenyou're going to understand

(42:23):
where the money's going and howfast it's going.
Because you make it fast, youlose it just as fast 100.
So keep track of that.
That will help you balance yourincome, balance your expenses
and help you invest in somethingthat that, uh, can be
productive in the in the longterm.
But get yourself someone thatmaybe just get just it's hard
man.
I wish I can say more, but ifyou can, if you can get a little
bit of guidance from somebodyas well that you can really
trust, which is hard, very muchso hard everybody wants

(42:43):
something, yeah, 100% yeah, man,even the mentors sometimes want
money, bro.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
So you know what I'm learning, kind of getting
coaching from a distance.
You kind of see certain things.
There might be things you canbump off to you know what?
I mean that's literally how I'vebeen.
I've had mentors all my lifeand you're right, they're
expensive, but I feel like youcan just you can learn off
certain things.
You know what I mean and, yeah,I've always used it kind of
like as a shopping cart methodwhere I just take what works for
me and my household.

(43:07):
You know what I mean and what'sgonna get me to the next level.
That's the best way to put it.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
I think you know just getting information right.
Right.
Retrieve information fromeverything online right now
YouTube.
Go to YouTube.
Figure out how to manage yourexpenses.
You know things like that Ithink are very important.
You know, looking to like getinformation on what investments
to get into.
Thankfully, I had my father tohelp me out with that.
He was investing early on andhe shared some information with

(43:32):
me.
As a matter of fact, I'm goingto tell you about the first time
that I actually had a lucrativepaycheck.
It was in 2011.
It was six figures and Ithought to myself I'm just
living right, I'm going to get abigger paycheck.
But I had recently had agirlfriend.
I remember I was spending moneyI was taking her out to.

(43:52):
Finally, I was going out,taking my little break, going
out to nice dinners, going outto the Aria.
She's the one that introducedme to the Aria.
Actually, I'd never been therebefore the.
Aria Casino.
She wanted to go to thisrestaurant, this restaurant.
I was like, hey, let's go, I'lltake you, I'm selling good.
Until that, first three weeks amonth I get my credit card
statement.

(44:12):
It says $15,000.
A little less, I think, than$15,000.
What In one month?
No, my dad's right.
I got to invest this quickly,100%.
And yeah, I said, all right,dad.
So you said invest, invest inwhat?
And then that's when I sat downand spoke to him, but because
of the importance of thatscenario, right Me realizing how
fast my money was going In2011,.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
You said in 2011, 2011 yeah, it was depleted.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
So I was like yo, alright dad.
So what were you saying here,here, here, alright, cool.
And then it went from there.
I started like saving up.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
You're lucky.
At 20 something years old youwere able to get that.
And if you were putting moneyaway?

Speaker 3 (44:46):
at 2011.
You're doing good now, 100%,yeah, yeah, man, my father my
father.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
I mean, again, I didn't invest that much but say,
with the money that I made, Idefinitely invested at least I
shouldn't even say that but yeah, just a certain percentage,
right, I wish I would haveinvested more, 100%, right.
But my father was always thereto guide me and, thankfully, I
mean, I don't really got todepend on fighting right now if

(45:12):
I don't want to Good for you,man, which is the way my father
wanted me to be.
He was like, hey, I want togood for you, which is the way
my father wanted me to be.
Like, I just want you to whenyou don't fight, I don't want
you worried about money.
And he told me that early.
He told me that at 16, right, Iremember I was going to stop
boxing.
As a matter of fact, I was goingto quit at the age of 16 and my
dad had a conversation with meand I was like I told him dad,
you know what?
I think?
I'm gonna stop because I wantto make some money.
Um, you know, there's a coupleof jobs I can get.

(45:35):
I don't want to continue askingyou for money, right, cause I
want to take out my girlfriendto the movies.
I want to take her out here.
I want to take her out, I wantto go eat.
And my dad, he had like one ofthe most important talks with me
.
He says, jesse, listen, he saysso you're really good at what
you do and I become a worldchampion.

(45:59):
You have a high possibility ofbecoming a world champion.
So do you want to continue thiscareer?
Or because, if you don't,you're going to have to be,
you're going to have to get ajob following orders from
someone else, right, and doingwhatever it is that they say,
and you can't say anythingagainst it or about it, anything
to give them the contrary,you're going to do whatever they
say for the rest of your life.
For sure you could just makemoney and live off of your

(46:22):
investments if you do it right,and you won't ever have anyone
telling you what to do.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
I'm so happy your father's, I mean, because we
didn't even get a chance totouch on that but like 78% of
athletes broke within threeyears.
Man, and that's excellent thatyour dad was teaching you that
at 16 years old.
It was bad.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
My mother and my father, both of them would
always my dad gave it more of anemphasis right, my mother, she
was always there.
She was always reminding melike, hey, you know, manage your
money properly.
She came in more, like whenonce I was making the money,
sure, I mean, she was alwaysthere.
I'm sorry she was money, sure,uh, I mean she was always there,

(47:02):
I'm sorry she was always there.
But like she was like more likeyou know, the, the maternal,
the mom, she's like all right,you know, are you okay?
You want something to eat?
How are you feeling?
And then my dad was like tough,like you know, he's always like
, hey, get your, get it straight, get it right.
And then, uh, when the timecame, he was able just to make
things clear to me, right for meto understand.
And, yeah, it was, it was, uh,blessing.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
I mean, my father just did an amazing.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
Yeah, my parents did an amazing job.
That's why I said whenever itcomes to my success, I give them
all the credit.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
Man, they seem great.
Definitely we should meet them.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
Give me some parenting advice.
Yeah, straight up, man.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Yeah, that's great, I'm going to so we always talk
about food, man, I know you talka little bit about Aria, but we
always ask our guests aboutfavorite restaurants.
What's your favorite restaurantin Vegas specifically?
Maybe when you're not intraining camp you can have a
little fun, man.
But what's a good restaurant?
Maybe hole in the wall or finedining that you like let's see,

(47:54):
there's a lot of greatrestaurants in Vegas.
That's the thing, man.
Yeah, I'm a big foodie, so Ilove it for sure but El Dorado,
cantina El Dorado.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
Cantina is great great tacos and the lobster
tacos.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
Right there are out of this world, and they're 24
hours too.
Yeah, they are delicious.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
You have two different locations.
You have one in Summerlin,that's the one by my house.
Okay, then you got one todowntown.
Yeah, um, for tacos I go thereokay um, let's see you.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
Second person that said that cj watson said that
too at the el dorado cantina.
It's good man, I'm telling youI like that any time of day.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
Their brunch is pretty good too, yeah, um, let's
see you got mijo is okay, it'sinside durango, that's that new
spot, yep casino yep new casinoin town it's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
I was surprised, it's pretty good.
Yeah, casino, new casino intown it's pretty good.
I was surprised by the food.
It's pretty good.
Yeah, ambiance is beautiful.
It is yeah for sure.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
Nico is okay inside Durango.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
Durango has good restaurants the steakhouse at
Nico, yeah, okay, I'm gonna sayout of the strip at Durango yeah
, you have Carbone, which isamazing.

Speaker 2 (48:53):
Italian food, amazing italian food, delicious, man,
um, sdk's, the ambiance, sdk isgreat.
If you come out to vegas, youwant to party a little bit, all
right, have a nice dinner, orjust you know.
It kind of gets you goingbefore you.
It's like the pre-party before,uh, before the actual party,
sdk, is always popping.
Yeah, that's the way to put ituh, zuma is great sushi.

(49:13):
Yeah, amazing sushi.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
Man, you're hitting on a bunch of them, man, you
gave us a list of them.
Yeah, you hit on all the onesthat I like.
Yeah, man, they're great man.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
Yeah, catch is cool with like very.
You know different menu becauseyou got like from Asian fusion
to steaks.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
We just went to Cathedral.
I didn't realize becomingliterally like the Mecca for
everything right now, for food,for culture.
I mean, it's always been theboxing hub.
Boxing capital of the world100% UFC headquarters is here,
so it's just too much going on,man, I love seeing what's

(49:48):
happening with Vegas.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Yeah, man, I love it as well.
What's next for?

Speaker 1 (49:52):
you man.
You jumped in.
Didn't you put your hat in forpolitics for a little while,
right?
Is that still a focus?

Speaker 2 (49:58):
or is it?

Speaker 1 (49:58):
something else that you want to do.
You know what man I?

Speaker 2 (50:00):
had high hopes Okay.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
Because you want to be a congressman right.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
Yeah, yeah, I had high hopes.
I was hoping that I couldrepresent my community to a
certain extent.
Sure, but you know what?
It's not for me.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
Politics is no joke man.
As much as I try, it's no jokeman, it's not for me.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
Yeah, I mean you always want to be helpful, but I
think there's other ways to behelpful as well.
Sure, you know, you get tolisten in to everyone's point of
view and everyone's perspective, and that's the type of man
that I am.
Right, I want to listen toeveryone's perspective and then,
you know, get a little bit here.
I mean, I've been helping,trying to find ways to help the

(50:35):
community since I was 24.
So since I was a world championeven before, actually, okay,
yeah, and helping out just theyouth in boxing gyms.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
Yeah, helping out with equipment yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
Equipment, advising and setting up new gyms as well.
Okay, Right, and in troubledareas, but so I was always
trying to be.
I was always in that direction.
Yeah, but so I was alwaystrying to be.
I was always in that direction.
Right now, I'm like you knowwhat, let me just step out a
little bit.
They would just get moreknowledge in different areas and
that way, when they do comeback and just try to be more
helpful, I'm just more informed.
That's what's up.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
I think that's what it takes.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
But yeah, right now I'm just listen, I'm relaxing.
Yeah, you see me like I'm inCancun because I'm chilling.
I'm a boxing commentator aswell.
I'm not doing that right now.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
Okay, yeah, I forgot, you did commentating yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
I first started in 2014.
Yeah, yeah, and you know, eversince then they kept hiring me.
But right now, I'm just likeyou know what?
Let me just chill.
Sometimes you just got to sitback, relax and gaining
knowledge in different areas.
So I want to get my businessdegree, okay.
So that's, that's my mainobjective.
Awesome, in the meantime, thatI'm going to have this injury,
okay, and then, after I recoverfrom the injury, then I'll be

(51:41):
back in the ring, but thedoctors haven't told me, you
know, when I'm cleared, it'sstill very painful,
unfortunately, Okay, but youknow, hopefully you know I'm
optimistic.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Get you back in there .
Man Keep tabs on you man, thankyou.
What's your social handles, man, or anything that you forgot to
leave us out on?

Speaker 2 (51:59):
No just thank you for your support.
Thank you for tuning in to theVegas Circle.
Appreciate you.
Make sure to come out here.
If you're looking for a placeto visit, stop by Las Vegas.
You're going to have a goodtime For sure.
Great food.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
It's a great place to to visit and follow me on
social media.
Jesse vargas underscore it'sthe man, man.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
So I appreciate you, man check us out
thevegascirclecom.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Appreciate your time, brother.
Thank you man.
My pleasure man.
Yeah, that's good man.