TMCP Ep 20: Bobby Hitz Exclusive, Berlanga vs Sheeraz, Shakur vs Zepeda and More!

Jamieson Welsh and Classy were pleased to be joined by the man, myth and absolute legend, former boxer and longtime promoter Bobby Hitz for today's episode. The former heavyweight pro and longtime #boxing promoter broke down his upcoming event, the #Chicago fighting scene and the fight game at large.

The guys also recapped the #Berlanga vs #Sheeraz and #Shakur vs #Zepeda fights and other news from the boxing world.

Watch the full episode here:    • The Mixed Company Podcast  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
In this corner standing it six foot five, weight class
unknown hailing from Sin City, Las Vegas, Jamison Welch And
in this corner standing it five foot nine, Wayne Town
with six wins.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Three losses, two arrests, four late.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Payments on student loans and two total painkruptcies hits the
Classy I'll go high.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (00:32):
Welcome back to another edition of the Mixed Company Podcast.
Of course, as always I'm one eros Jamison Wells, and
as usual I'm joining my d classy alcoholic classic.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
What's going on, man, Jamison? I am so excited right
now because we have a very special episode for y'all today.
We have another guest on the program, a man who
is not just a boxing promoter, but a former professional
fighter himself. I'm so excited to talk to this guy,
so let's not waste any time. Let's welcome to the ring,
mister Bobby Hits. Bobby Welcome, Hi, guys, how are you fantastic?

Speaker 4 (01:04):
Fantastic?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
So yeah, I really appreciate you being here and got
a lot of questions for you. But first things first,
you're here to promote a fighting event, a showcase. This Saturday,
July nineteenth, Bridgeview Illinois. Can you give us a little
preview of this event, what kind of fights, how many
fights we would expect, any names we should be keeping
an eye out for it. Please let us know all

(01:26):
about this.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
You know, this is one of our series of fights.
We just started working with the hard Rock Casino here
in Rockford, Illinois. So I called this the hard Rock
Fight Series because they are one of our title sponsors
of the event. And this is just a great show,
good local flavor with some you know. I have the
heavyweight Deontay Pettigrew, number seven in the world and the

(01:48):
WBA expecting big things out of him. Marlon Harrington from Detroit.
On the comeback trail. You have Hunter Lee, who is
part of the brand new Kronk Stable, who the branding
is fantastic being part of Kronc. If you're a boxing fan,
Kronk was all the rage and it's gonna be back again,

(02:08):
and so I hope the least part of that, you know,
Eddie Ala Veriz, Lucas Moldenauer, Local Chicago kids, Lane Lane Hamlin,
Tellia Halverson, Jonathan Cruz, Demetrius Green. This is a stacked card.
It is it. We're gonna have twelve thirteen fights. It's

(02:29):
gonna be in a stravaganza. I'm just crossing my fingers
that the rain holds out. This is an outdoor event
and a beautiful soccer stadium where the Chicago Fire played.
It was our professional soccer team here. But if we
have to move, and we'll move it inside to the
dome and the show must go on. So we're still
in business. We're good.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
I love it. Got to have a backup plan. Yeah,
So for those of you who don't know you, you
know you're a Chicago promoter, Chicago based promoter. I went
there once many long time ago. I got to get back.
But what's the fight culture out there like in Chicago.
You know, all we hear is New York and Vegas,
New York and Vegas. What is what does Chicago bring
to the table.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
You know, Chicago is under the radar, so to speak,
and I like being that way. I don't like being
in the spotlight. I don't like all eyes on you
because it's a bigger it's a bigger risk for the fighters.
And right now we're in a redevelopment stage. We're gonna rebuild.
It's like having a professional sports team you know you

(03:31):
you have a nice run. I've had a great run.
I've been doing this over thirty years. I've had many
guys fight for world titles, regional titles, top ten, like like,
I've run the gamut. Every single base has been covered
as far as far as I have accomplished in boxing,
except winning a world title, a real world title, which

(03:54):
that's the only thing missing. But as far as building guys,
getting him raided, getting him to a title, getting to
the next level, we've done all that so right now,
and it's really post COVID, because you know, COVID, we
lost almost three years of business and a lot of
guys who were part of the roster have just fallen off,
turned off the boxing, and at the phenomenon nowadays, the

(04:15):
guys have seven, eight, nine fights and they just decided
to quit. It's too much for them. So the days
of having the guys that have fifteen, eighteen, twenty twenty
five fights here in Chicago, that's you got a better
chance to see him Bigfoot. But we're developing that. We're
developing that again and bringing this new crop of talent.

(04:36):
So all the folks I mentioned earlier are all part
of the rebuild, and like I tell these these fighters, listen,
Chicago's dying for a superstar. Is it going to be you?
You know, so Chicago's wide open for one of these
kids to step up and take the mantle.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Now we've heard a couple of times from different people,
other guests that yeah, after COVID, you know, kind of
things fell off. And I'm not even saying asking this
as a joke. You think because everybody was inside and
nobody was working out, everybody just started eating and you know,
kind of not taking care of themselves. Is that part
of it?

Speaker 3 (05:10):
Well, I'll tell you, being a fighter is a lot
about discipline. It's a lot about you know, you know,
doing the right things. And I think when you have
all that free time, I even know myself, My god,
COVID was the best thing that ever happened to me
because I finally in my whole entire life got like
a three year vacation. It was fantastic. I had. I

(05:32):
had a blast during COVID. It was fantastic. But your
eye gets off of work, Like to me, I wasn't
like I'd wake up every day like what day is it?
What do I have to do? Absolutely nothing? You know,
and we'd hang out all day long. The camaraderie between
me and my pals were just it was fantastic. It
was a it was it was an extensive spring break,

(05:52):
so to speak, for three years. But as a fighter,
I couldn't imagine not having anything to do. So I
think once it happens and you become a little I
guess the word civilized like you know, wow, there's you know,
like like wow, it feels good not to get up
and have to go to the gym and have to
spar and then then your whole life takes out a

(06:12):
different connotation. So it's like, I think COVID did a
lot of a lot of not good things for a
lot of people as far as business wise and mindset
and whatnot, because I think people became very complacent.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
No, definitely, Yeah, it's a weird time for all of us.
For myself, first, of course, I got very, very very fat,
but then it was too much and so I got
into boxing classes at that time actually after COVID, so
I started to going to the gym doing sparring and
all that stuff, and it was a lot of fun.
So but it didn't work the same for everybody. Yeah, right,
but right, So, so you're you're a professional fighter, and

(06:52):
I wanted to see just some thoughts on your career overall.
What did you think you know, you've fought in the eighties,
Uh was it fun or what?

Speaker 4 (06:59):
Because was a job?

Speaker 2 (07:00):
You know, maybe it wasn't as fun it was too
focused because like I said, my boxing lessons were a
lot of fun, but I wasn't competing. I was just
farring with friends.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
It was an absolute blast. It was the easiest thing
I ever did in my life compared to my life now.
If I could go back and do it all over again,
trust me, I'd have a do over tomorrow. I only
had three amateur fights and I turned pro, so I
learned on the job, which back then was a little
bit easier to do. But I said to myself, listen,

(07:30):
I'm gonna have to give myself at least three or
four losses before like I know my way around the
ring because I only had three amateur fights, so I
had no experience. Everything that I did in the ring
was brand new. So but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The

(07:51):
friendships I made in the relationships last to today. And
it was fun, Like I really enjoyed it. It got
serios is, but even the seriousness was fun because I
just really enjoyed fighting and doing what I do now.
Being a fighter was way easier if I had to
compare the two.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Trust me, that's very interesting to hear from, you know,
an insider's perspective, And I appreciate you talking about taking
losses and having to do that to learn, because a
lot of folks I think might be afraid to lose
these days, they don't take as many risks. That's my opinion.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
Listen. You can't win unless you know how to lose,
because when you lose, if you take something away and
learn something, you actually won. And so you know, I
never I never got all caught up on all that
because to me, the goal I was setting myself on
what was to you know, fight for a time, whatever

(08:49):
the case may be. Like I didn't have I didn't
really have a end game in my mind, like, oh,
I want to be a world champion. I want to
see how far I could take it with as little
experience as I so to me, you know, listen, I
I you know Jackie Callen, I was her first fighter,
and then James Tony joined our stable and I got

(09:10):
to be part of his whole rise to fame. And
you know, the night he beat Michael Nunn, I was
in his corner and like so to me, like I
got my Harvard education in boxing in that that time period.
So it was the greatest thing that ever happened to
me because I got to use that in my business
life now as a promoter. So it was it was

(09:31):
a well, a well valued run for me. Great.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Well, I have a ton more questions, but I don't
want to monopolize the conversation. Jamison, please jump in. You
got any questions for a guest?

Speaker 4 (09:43):
Yeah, So you mentioned that what you do now is
a lot more challenging than than boxing. What are some
of those challenges that you come against as being a promoter,
especially in this day and age.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
Well, the first thing is making real fights, getting these
fighters to convince them that they have to have real fights,
because I tell them it's about building credibility. And a
lot of these guys they just do not want to.
They do just don't want to do the heavy lifting
and you know, or fight a local guy or whatever
the case may be. It's just I don't know. To me,

(10:19):
that's the hardest part making good fights, because my goal
every time out is to make good fights, make good
competitive fights. And when I can't make that for the
silliest of reasons, it's really troublesome to me. It's a
lot of like brain damage for no reason, Like my god,
Like you know, you could lead a horse to water,

(10:40):
you can't make him drink it. Well, these a lot
of these guys just they have this idea and I
think a lot of it comes from the buying a
fight syndrome. I can't tee how many phone calls I
get saying how much have to buy a fight on
your show? I'm like, I don't do that. So you
have these guys that call themselves promoters and literally have
guys buy on pay what's called the slap fee and

(11:02):
all this stuff. Like to me, you know, when I
started doing this, that was the exception, not the rule.
But now these kids will go and go fly to
these third world countries and pick up these fights and
everybody can tell what they're doing. And the problem now
is there's too much information. You can't bullshit the public.
You cannot build your record against these guys and actually

(11:26):
believe that they're going to believe it because the minute
someone hears your fighting, they jump on the internet and
they pull them right away. They can see what's going on.
So you can't fool these people. And to me, I
don't want to do that. I don't you know, Like
to me, if you're gonna be a fighter, be a fighter,
if you're gonna put in all that heavy work and
do all that stuff that you do to be a

(11:46):
fighter and train every day, then put that to test, like,
see what you're made of. There's no listen. I'd rather
you fail trying than not try it all. When I
got guys that literally will call me and say I
want to fight a bum, I don't like that term.
And I'm like, well, there's no such thing as a bum,
because anybody that climbs those steps, it just means someone's

(12:08):
better than someone else. But to say the word bum,
if you climb those steps, to me, you're a winner
in my eyes. There are guys that give less of
an effort. I get that those are I have another
word for them. I won't use it, but but you know,
I think if you're a fighter who trains hard and
does everything you're supposed to do, and then you don't
put that to work, you know, like Sonny, like they

(12:30):
said in the Bronx, till waste the talent, Like why
do all that if you're not going to put it
to the test to see where you're at, So waste
everybody's time, you know. So that's those That's one of
the things that's really problematic. Another thing is guy's idea
about how things go. Like they'll tell you when they
want to fly in where like where they want to go.
It doesn't work that way. Like I'm hosting this party,

(12:53):
you're my guest, I'm bringing you in, and here's how
we're going to do things. It's just it's just crazy,
you know. And it comes from being directionalists by the
people who are around you, because you know, I came
from an era being around the great Emmanuel Stewart and
the great trainers here in Angelo de d and Patlakasa,
all these different people right who literally kept kept the

(13:15):
fighters in in in the corral kind of like you're
a fighter that you're supposed to do and let the
business people do the business. But now the fighters all
of a sudden all want to do the business. And
to me, you can't be all things, all people, all
the time something's going to give. If you're a fighter,
surround yourself with good quality people. Let everybody do their

(13:39):
job and you do your job. But when they want
to start doing everybody's job, it creates mass confusion and
it's like it's a recipe for disaster. It just this.
It's difficult.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
So you said you've been doing this for thirty years.
Is that something you say it was more recent or
has it always been like that?

Speaker 3 (13:57):
Oh, no, it's more recent. It was never like that.
This is more recent. Like I wouldn't have lasted thirty years.
If I had to start today, I would start and
finish in one day. I'd be done. Anybody that says
they want to be a promoter, I go, what are
you met at? Your money? Like, why do you want
to do this? Well, they're like they're like, well you're
doing it. I have no choice. I'm over thirty years

(14:19):
on the business and I'm stuck. You have other choices.
Don't do it, Go buy a building, go do something else.
You do not want to do this. It's a it's
a thankless job because the promoter is always the bad guy.
The promoter is the guy that's always I love these
guys when they're turning pro and you go to make
a deal to sign them and they say, I don't
want to be taking advantage of it, and I just

(14:41):
laughed taking advantage and I go, let me ask you
a questions, son, you're a nice kid. How much money
do you have in your pocket? I got two dollars
and thirty seven cents, okay? And where do you live
with my mom and dad? And what kind of car
do you drive? Why drive my dad's car? And okay,
Well that's all fine and Danny, because that's how it
should be when you're a young kid. You that I
could take advantage of you, for the only guy that

(15:02):
could be taking advantage of is me. So there's nothing
I can take advantage of you for. You don't have anything.
But if the day comes or I can take advantage
of you, We're all gonna hop in my car, we're
gonna go to church and we're gonna say a prayer,
and I'll go, why is it? Because that means you
became something. So like, let's hope for that day and
then we'll worry about that at the time. But there's

(15:23):
not a thing that I could do to take advantage
of you because I need you to win. If you win,
you're in So like, why would I take you on,
attempt to build you and then not want what's best
for you. So like, just the promoter always gets the
bad name when it's really a lot of times it's

(15:44):
the fighter. People don't want to believe that the fighter
can be the bad person, but they one hundred percent
can be. I've been victim to it many times, and
I can honestly say there's never been a fighter that's
been with me that hasn't gotten paid, hasn't gotten everything
they have coming to them, that I've gone over and
above to take care of them. And I could probably

(16:05):
probably say the deads of gods out of the truth
because my integrity to me means more than anything. So so,
there are some unscrupulous people in this business, and I
get why people are larry, but Bobby Hits isn't one
of them. So when I could both, I could boldly
say that.

Speaker 4 (16:20):
Now, with all that being said, what are some of
the craziest things you've had to go through as a promoter?
You mentioned you've been in the game so long. You're
dealing with boxers, dealing with trainers, You're dealing with agents.
What are some of the crazier things that the public
necessarily wouldn't know about? How five gets made some of
the crazier stories, but some of the things that are
kind of regular in your line of business that you're

(16:43):
allowed to say certain things, I know you're probably not
allowed to say.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
Well, you know, I I think, you know, I think
just just just the the being uninformed about how business
actually works and kind of subscribing to the Floyd Mayweather
way of doing things, and fighters want to follow that

(17:06):
same path, which is nice to want to be a
world champion, but let's face it to me, I'm not
a fan of his. I don't think think I think
what Floyd did was great for Floyd, but I don't
think anybody should want to mimic that because you're not
Floyd Mayweather. It worked for him. Let him be him.
But you know, like listen, we all have our favorite singers,

(17:26):
we have our favorite baseball player, whatever it might be.
But at the end of the day, we still have
to stay true to who we are. And when you
lose sight of that, you know. So, I mean, there's
crazy stuff that happens every day. Expectations like I can't
even you know. I had a manager one time who

(17:49):
I was trying to make a fight for their fighter,
and it was a kid's mom was his manager, and
I literally offered them ten fights that they said no to,
every single fight, And I'm like, like, this isn't like
I don't have a factory where I called back to
my warehouse and go, hey, Joe, go to aisle ten shell, fourteen,

(18:14):
six to the left and one on top. Give me
that guy that's undefeated, good looking, has a great record,
can't punch and can't take a punch. Give me that guy.
Like it doesn't work like that, you know. And so
when when I finally offered them the eleventh guy, I'm like,
this guy has to be the guy. Imagine that eleven
fighters you went through and you couldn't say yes to

(18:35):
any of them, Like like that's crazy. And I said,
why are you not taking this guy? Why am I
not taking him? They go, did you hear his interview?
I go, well, what did you hear his interview? Did
I hear his interview? I go, this isn't a debate,
it's a fight. The guy's a good speaker, God bless him,
but you're not debating him. You're fighting him. What does

(18:56):
the interview have to do with you taking the fight?
Oh no, no, no, he did not without fighting him.
So like the silliness of stuff like that, you know.
I remember one time at one of my weigh ins. Uh.
This was early on, and you know, early on in
my career as a promoter, we had canceled the fight
like two weeks earlier because the guy who was fighting

(19:18):
got hurt, was sick or something. The fight got canceled. Well,
the guy showed up, and this guy was a former contender,
fought for a world title, and he came in trying
to shake me down to pay him still, and I'm
doing my book working on and I was married at
the time. My wife said, he says, hey, let him
do his stuff. He'll talk to him in and he said,
shut up, woman, this is a man's business. Mind your
fucking business to my wife, right, and she was pregnant

(19:41):
at the time. So he starts walking towards her very aggressively. Well,
I jumped up and left hook this guy right at
the way and bow my left hook him knocked him
out cold at the wig And and this guy just
fought for a world title you know, and I had
been retired for I don't know, four or five years
at a time, like, wow, I still got it, you know,
I mean that guy. But it's like the commission was

(20:02):
there and they're like, I can't believe you did that.
It's always gonna take my wife. And the one commissioner
said to me, I used to like you, now I
love you. It's about time someone stood up to these
guys when they try to bully everybody. I go, well,
it just wasn't right what he was gonna do to
my wife me. I could care less about me. I
would have worked it out with a guy, but I
felt so bad I invited them to Thanksgiving dinner, like
the next to the next day, the next week, so

(20:22):
I f I invited him to my house for Thanksgiving dinner.
So you know, that was that was crazy. They have
to have. But like these sometimes they push you to
the limit. You know, when I want to start getting
aggressive with women, you can't do that. It's not right.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
There's an age old that talk shit, get hit right.
So so Bobby, you know, I didn't want to talk
about your professional career a little bit more. I hope
you're not sick of talking about this, but yes, you
did fight George Foreman in nineteen eighty eight, and I
asked some questions about that. Uh, this was George's come back,
a year and two his comeback. What was the general

(20:56):
perception of him at that time? Is it was he
still very or was it this old guy like he's
got nothing? What was the vibe at the time when
you fought him?

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Well, yeah, it was Well, first of all, gotta remember
I was a young kid. I was maybe twenty three
maybe or something, so to me, he was old, right.
But ye, but you have the idea that like fighters
weren't coming back at that age. I mean, guys were
retiring at twenty five, twenty six, twenty eight years old, right.

(21:26):
I think when I fought him, he was like thirty
six years old, which is a young guy. He was
thirty six or thirty eight, which is still young. I mean,
right now, forty is the new twenty as a fighter, right,
fighters fighters are fighting well into their forties and being
very competitive. But it was an anomaly back then, so
no one like really figured out me. I took the
fight on four days notice. I was supposed to fight

(21:49):
him three other times, and every time they pushed me
out of the fight and put someone else in. And
he I was supposed to be his very first fight
of his comeback. The fight was gonna be in France.
Something happened. They moved over here. By that time, it
moved over here to the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California.
He took on Steve Szowski. They had pushed me out
and put Steve in the fight, but I had already

(22:10):
been training like six months, so they didn't want any
part of me. And so like that happened three other times. Well,
the fourth time, I literally, you know, was come off
a hand injury. I was hanging out in a nightclub,
like the last thing I was thinking about was fighting,
and I went and checked my messages and my trainers like,
let me a message on my recorder saying meet me

(22:33):
at the airport tomorrow. We got the form and fight
and I was I was dead broke, and they offered
me lifetime type money and it was like, okay, let's go,
you know, like I didn't. I didn't believe that I
would have anything to worry about. And this is an
old guy, right, Well, I learned real quick what old
is right, and so when they say youth is waistedunded young,

(22:53):
it held true to me. But out of that fight
a lot of great, tremendous things happened, and so I
was very you know, I formed a great friendship with
him after the fight, him his corner which was Archie
Moore and Ron sand Like, we all went out for dinner.
It was great. We had a great time, and through
the years we would stay in touch, and I had
fighters fighting for world titles and he's doing the HBO

(23:14):
commentating and just very friendly his brother Roy. So when
he passed, it was very saddening to me because it
was like an end different era and him and I
will forever be connected to one another. And what that
fight against him did for me as a person opened
up a whole bunch of doors, which then trickled down
and opened up a whole bunch of doors for a

(23:35):
lot of other people. So like me taking one bad
situation and almost kind of throwing myself on the sword
for the betterment of what I do now was basically
what is the takeaway. I don't like talking about it.
I'm a winner. I don't like to lose. I'm not
happy about it. I don't I take no. You know,

(23:57):
when people talk to me about it, I really don't
like it, you know, but at the end of the day,
let's face it, if I would have beat George Foreman,
you guys would have been enough to Bobby hits Grown.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Who'd want to do that?

Speaker 3 (24:11):
So so, you know, so like to me, like it
all happened the way it was supposed to for everybody.
But you know, and uh, you know, Jerry Cooney's my
friend I love to death, And you know I told Jerry, Jerry,
no difference between me and you against George's here was
what I go. I got up. You didn't, all right,
he goes, you want to go ahead it again? Like

(24:32):
so it's like, you know, to me, like you know,
like we're all fighters, we're all brothers. And like about
two months ago, I got to be at an event
here in Chicago, and it was Jerry Cooney, Lou Savorice
and myself and all of us at the Common Bonds.
We all thought George Foreman. So it was kind of
neat to be that a lot of people like that
resonated with a lot of people because George is a legend,

(24:55):
and and and I gotta tell you like, his passing
really affected me. I was very sick and by it.
And you know, because that was the last of the
great heavyweights of that era. Larry Holmes is the last
guy left. But Larry Holmes was kind of on the
tail end of what Muhammed Ali, Ken Norton, you know,
Joe Frasier, and like, I was fortunate enough to meet

(25:16):
and know all those men. So it's like, like, I
just feel so blessed what boxing has done for my life,
in meeting my heroes, meeting my contemporaries, all those things
that you know, boxing has just done so much for
me that you know, those heavyweights will forever be legendary,
and I was fortunate enough to call them friends, you know,

(25:38):
just great.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
Well, apart from the boxing, you know, Jamis and I
are and I were both born in eighty six, so
I literally would have starved to death without the George
for mcgrill in college.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
Literally, yeah, well it would have been to Bobby Hits Grow.
You know, I'm in the restaurant business also, so you
would have liked it if it was the Bobby Hits Grow.
But who'd want to eat at that? Who's Bobby Hits
Nobody but.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, I got one more topic to get to. But Jamison,
you got something you want to jump in with.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
Yes, with boxing entering a different era now where you
have a lot of outside money, non traditional people are
backing it now than ever before. Where do you see
boxing at going the next five or so years.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
You know, I've always been the tortoise in the hair,
and I've always been the tortoise, right, I've always just
done my own thing and blazed my own trails and
worked with my own money and didn't have investors and
made good deals. And we do it the old fashioned way.
We sell tickets and we just you know, we just
kind of grind it out, like I would be a
great farm system for one of those bigger guys who

(26:38):
like where I build guys. But at the end of
the day, like I've seen in my thirty plus years,
seen a lot of multimillionaires come into boxing and become
one hundred ears when it's all said and done, this
is a thankless sport and it's expensive, and you know,
you know, to me as a promoter, I want to

(27:03):
see asses in the seats. It doesn't like like like
I'm an old fashioned promolee. I'm grassroots, Like we're knocking doors,
we're selling tickets hand to hand combat, you know, we're
hanging posters were social media and now that which with
social media, these kids have so much more than I
had as a fighter. But when I was fighting, my
little group, we would easily sell six seven hundred tickets

(27:26):
amongst my my little following, you know. So I mean
to me, I wish I had a fighter that did that.
So I have to put a whole collection of guys
to just make up what I did as a fighter,
you know. And so I can imagine what I could
have done with social media back then, because if I'm
selling that many tickets in a day where social media
didn't exist, who knows. There was a guy here, Irish

(27:47):
John Collins. This guy would sell ten thousand seats like
he was a gigantic draw, you know, and you would
just say his name and people would go to the
box office. But he had his little band of workers,
family and everybody. It was very grassroots, and I kind
of took the same approach as a fighter, and I had,
you know, I had one of my friends would literally

(28:08):
have the tickets and we go to our local establishments
and have bus trips out of there, and we we
would we'd bring a good following when I fought, and
you know that was that was heavy work back then.
You know, nowadays you could touch so many more people
very easily that it's a wonder these kids don't sell
a thousand tickets apiece well with all the the people

(28:30):
they can reach very simply.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
Yeah, So totally pivoting to another topic. Seems that you're
an actor as well. You're been in a lot of
TV shows, more most importantly the TV show South Side,
which is one of the funniest things I've ever seen
in my life. That absolutely what what got you into that?
How and why did you get into acting?

Speaker 3 (28:52):
I started The first play I ever did was in
eighth grade, The Good It was a Good Man Charlie Brown.
I played Snoopy, and my friends and myself. The only
reason why we joined the play because you got to
get out of class. So our plan was we'll get
out of class, we'll go to these play practices, and
then when the play comes, we just won't do it.

(29:12):
We're not doing the play. So it got down to
the eleventh hour, the plays about a week away and
we tell the teacher I don't think we can do this.
We're not doing it. You guys have to you have
a commitment. The whole cast is counting on you. You
guys are the leads, because we got the leads in
the play and everything, well the other studies can do.
And this teacher convinced us we had to stick with it.

(29:35):
Well that was it. So then I really liked it.
And then I had a rock and roll band in
high school, and you know, I raced motocross and like,
I was just kind of like having fun. Then, like
Sophtmare in high school, I found boxing and that became
my thing. And then I got I was on a
couple of different TV shows, you know, in my late

(29:58):
teens early twenties, and then I got a wave making.
I was in the restaurant business and I was starting
to promote. I didn't have time to do it. And
then in two thousand and like ten, I got onto
a series ten or twelve called Mob Doctor. I had
a reoccurring role with William Forsyth, and I really was

(30:19):
at the point of my life where I could afford
to be an actor. And I was worked with Michael Matson,
who recently deceased, who became a good friend and William,
and I asked both guys, listen, what do you think
my path should be. Michael was like, listen, you're a natural,
be yourself. There's a lot of roles for you. You'll do great. William,
who's a well studied wall travel thesbian, He's like, listen,

(30:41):
when you were a fighter, what did you do? I go,
I went to the gym every day bingoing this craft.
You need to work on your craft all the time.
So I hired an acting coach, and you know, it
was the best advice I ever took. And Michael gave
me great advice also. So when I ever get a role,
to try to use both methods in implementing into the role.

(31:03):
So tonight I have to actually go to a premiere
for a movie I just shot called Before Dallas, which
is about the Kennedy assassination, and it's it's about real people.
Sam g and Connor, who was a Chicago mob guy.
My role is a guy named Milwaukee Phil Theorissio, who
is a Chicago mob other boss worked with Sam and

(31:23):
and our thing is it's set up the Kenny was
supposed to be killed here in Chicago, So I have
I have, you know, a few nice scenes. Then I
have another script that was just sent to me that
I'm gonna be working on in October of film So
and I've been on you know, like you said, Southside
to me, that was the most fun, the best show

(31:44):
I ever did in my life. And I've been on
a bunch of stuff, but the cast of south Side
was awesome. They accepted me like amazing, and the directing
with all that was just it was like, here's your lines,
but now just improv like do your thing like Ed liveds,
do the say what's that like it? So we got
to just have fun with with the scenes. And so

(32:08):
literally they brought my character, they brought him back again,
and then he was supposed to really be in like
I was. I was earmarked to be in like maybe
three or four episodes of season, which was fine for me,
and then that show got canceled. But what a great
group of people. It's so much fun. I really enjoyed
that show a lot. That was fun and I was
looking forward to having more time on that show.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
It was heartbreaking when it got canceled. It was it
was a very sad day for me because I absolutely
loved it, Like I said, but.

Speaker 3 (32:36):
Those guys are talented and funny and they're just great.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
Yeah, just still be up on HBO Max for the
listeners Southside on HBO Max. Check it out every season.
So it's not a huge commitment. But uh, and you know,
on this show, we don't just talk about boxing news.
We also do pop culture. Do you happen to have
a favorite boxing movie or do you not watch it
because you're so into the life.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
You know, this man was a good friend of mine
with Jake Lamatta was a good friend of mine. So
one of my rituals before I fought was I would
watch The Raging Bull and Jake was literally true to that.
That was Jake Lamatta. I liked that movie. I liked
The Champ with John Voight. Somebody up there likes me.

(33:20):
You know. They did a movie about about Jackie Kallen
Against the Ropes with Omar Apps played James Tony character,
but that character was made up of myself and James.
That kind of implemented our situation. James had a much
bigger career than I, but they had given me a
role on there. But I'm like, no, I want this

(33:44):
type of ro if I can't have that role, and
I'm not doing it. But I'm like, hang on in
and I go. None of this would have happened without me,
you know. There's a backstory that you know, and we
laughed about it. But it's like that was also a
pretty good movie, but it wasn't accurate at all to
what really happened in our stable and on our team
between Jackie, James, myself, and the rest of the guys.

(34:04):
It wasn't real. And I think Hollywood did that movie
a great disservice because I think the really story, the
real story of Jackie was much better, much more. Uh,
she was much more of a philanthropist that they didn't
that didn't come out. She really tried to help everybody.
And as she did, and and and and I I
was the guinea pig for learning how to become such

(34:27):
a great manager, like I got all the bumps and bruises.
So so it was great, but that movie didn't do
any justice. But there's a lot of good boxing movie
though it's okay, you know, they it all depends on
how they who who choreographs it, you know, like listen,
I'm a Rocky fan, like Rocky, you know, so Rocky

(34:48):
one is very true to life. Rocky two, Rocky three,
they got a little bit corner, but those the first
three were pretty pretty close to the life of a fighter.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
Again, that's great to know from somebody who was who
is there on the inside. Jameson, We're gonna start wrapping
this up at Jameson.

Speaker 4 (35:03):
Got something to add in here? Oh no, I'm good,
he was right.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah. Well, one last quick thing before we let you
go to your premiere, Bobby. I also noticed in your
record you found a guy named Michael Tyson. Have you
ever said, yeah, I fought Tyson and then left it
at that a million times?

Speaker 3 (35:19):
Well, that record's missing, that's missing five of my wins.
I was actually twenty one and four. But that's why
you can't believe everything you read. But I used to
get denied fights because it said I beat and guys
wouldn't fight me because I beat Mike Tyson. It was
iowa Mike Tyson. But I've won a lot of bets
saying listen, I beat Mike Tyson and nobody believed me.

(35:39):
So so I've used it to my advantage. I'm still
making money on Mike Tyson's name.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
Excellent. Well, we can't thank you enough for being here.
Just another plug for your event Saturday, July nineteen, twenty
twenty five. What is the name of it again?

Speaker 4 (35:52):
Sorry? Uh?

Speaker 3 (35:54):
Well, this is called Boxing under the Stars, an evening
of phistic uh magic under the stars. But at my range,
we're moving inside maybe I don't know so so we
have a plan B if we have to implement it.
But this is Boxing under the Stars, a beautiful night
in Chicago, hoping for and it'd be just a great
night to be in this venue. Fantastic. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
The tagline is boxing It's better live and I absolutely agree.
So if anybody wants tickets, go to Hits Boxing dot com.
That's Hits with a Z, Hits boxing dot com. Bobby,
is there anywhere people who can follow you on social media?
Or how can we keep up with news for your
future events?

Speaker 4 (36:31):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (36:32):
I'm on my let's see Instagram, Bobby Hits, Bobby Hits Live. TikTok.
I don't, I haven't.

Speaker 5 (36:41):
I don't use it. I'm sixty two years old. I
don't use all Facebook. I'm on Facebook.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
That's okay, that's okay.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
Well, and I'm on my Space. I'm on my Space.

Speaker 4 (36:52):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Exactly live journal, you know, all the cool stuff from
back in the day. Bobby, We cannot thank you enough.
This was an amazing time talking to you, and we
really appreciate your time here. Hopefully we can have you
back again so you can tell them.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Oh it was, it was so great.

Speaker 5 (37:07):
Uh, you know, and you're a very handsome man, Ali,
you cover your face, You're very handsome. Yeah, it's like
seeing him without his without the mask on, was like
seeing the first time I saw a kiss without makeup.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
Well, thank you so much, and yeah, well let you go,
but hopefully we'll catch up with you against soon.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
Thank you, Thank you so much to see you guys.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
I appreciate your time.

Speaker 4 (37:34):
Thank you, appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
All Right, we are back. That was an amazing interview.
But we don't want to let you all go Jesse yet,
because we've got to get some boxing news that happened
over over the weekend. Jamison, do you watch any boxing
this weekend? Anything interesting happens that you heard about it.

Speaker 4 (37:47):
I have to watch a guy lean back to watch
the pure fight. Uh, you know, she cares one of
the guys where you know, he's one of the faces
of boxing going forward, like he's one of the younger
guys that has a high talent and it was a
very impressive night for him. And we're not taking to
the other guy just yet, but it was good to

(38:08):
see a guy that is built is being very good
kind of winning away. We haven't seen him win and
it's good to see that he can throw punches in
the Millville ring. He can trade without you know, he
showed a different type of fight this time around, which
was good to see. We'll see how the big fights

(38:29):
happened going forward. It was just good to see a nice,
solid fight, even though he won decisively no matter how
you had it. So people had a ten to two,
some people had at nine to three. No matter how
you sliced it. He won the fight. He was dominant,
but it was it was a good contested fight, like
he got hit with some shots. By the end of
the day, he was victorious. And he moves on and

(38:52):
hopefully he fights a bigger name and we can get
a a mini mega fight with him and whoever else
it might be in the future.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
Yeah, I got to give you a shout out, Jamison
as usual. You know, you know, you know what you're
talking about because previous episode number nineteen. You said, you said,
I want to see Sugar be challenge, have to really
do something different, fight differently, adapt all of that, and
williams Cepeta over the weekend he you know, shout out
to him by the way. You know, yes, it was

(39:21):
a pretty clear loss, but William Sieppeta has my respect.
He put on a wonderful performance. The man did not
slow down, did not tire. He came to play. But
he really put shit Court through the ringer.

Speaker 4 (39:33):
You know.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
He had to not just rely on sliding around, moving
away fighting like Zippeeda got him in the corner many times.
Chakor's defense had to be as best as ever been.
Sa Court showed a lot of power. Zipeta took all
those power shots with grace, and I think it's definitely
should Core's best performance. What I really think, I hope
rather is that this shuts up the haters, you know,

(39:55):
because again I've been a Schkor fan, I've been a supporter,
and even I will admit that, you know, yeah, his
fights are not the most dynamic, exciting, energetic, especially the
Edwin Dillo Santos one.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
We talked about that.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
We're not going to rehash it. But yeah, you said
that you wanted to see. I think we saw exactly
what you wanted to see. Is that the case absolutely.

Speaker 4 (40:16):
When it comes to really good fighters, you want to
see if they can win in multiple ways, right, because
we all know everybody has a fastball, every fighter has
their strengths, but what do they do when they got
to win via plan bc AD. That's what makes a
great fire in my opinion, when you have to win
we don't have your best stuff, or when you have
to just on the fly, how do you do that?

(40:37):
That's always my thing. So it was good to see
him fighting a different element. It didn't look like he
was really challenged by the strength of the opposition. Didn't
feel that way. It didn't feel that way. Could be wrong,
but it didn't feel like he was worried about the
powers beta. So that's just kind of how it goes.
But it was just good to see him exchange a

(40:58):
little bit more than he has asked, take more chances
would also be the aggressor, like we haven't seen a
whole lot in the past, so it was definitely good
to see.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, I think you're definitely correct that he wasn't worried
about power, but I think he definitely got caught by
Septa speed. Yes, it was moving fast and you know,
known for being one of the best at hitting and
not getting hit. Uh it, he got hit. He got
hit several times. There was that one. Oh I wish
I remember which round, but it was one of the
earlier ones.

Speaker 3 (41:25):
Through a round.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
He got wobbled. He got hit in the chin, he
got wobbled. So you know, she Core is not not unbeatable.
He's not invincible by any means.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
And paid out.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
Like I said, definitely put up a strong fight no
matter what. You know, I want to see z to
pay his next fight, win or lose. He's proven himself
to be to be a yeah, definite contender. And I
also will take some some credit here for being on
shikhors side even when people were talking shit, saying, you know,
he's boring, he's he's over hyped, et cetera. I guess

(41:57):
I kind of felt that the kid had this in him,
had this kind of and you know, hope we see
it going forward. So Chaquor ends a beta, I'll be
there definitely for your next fight. The other thing that
happened this weekend, which is more hilarious than than anything
is Edgar Berlanga over hyped, burnout. Edgar from New York.

(42:18):
Puerto Rican fighter from New York fought against Hems this
year as and Edinburgh. Langa talked a lot of shit.
You know, he's after his canial loss. Somehow he talked
even more shit because he didn't die. I don't know.
I don't know what that reasoning was.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
But he got.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
Knocked out in very clear and hilarious fashion on round five.
After talking in interviews about how his chin, Bro, you
can't You've never seen a chin like this. I don't
care if I get hit with a bulldozer. I'm standing
up on my two feet.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
Blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
What did you think about this? The results of this fight?

Speaker 4 (42:50):
One, it was funny, but two, it's very hard for
guys to fight at home. It's very hard, man, and
I don't think it would have changed. I'm not a
big fan of his in general, but it's just very
difficult to fight at home. There's a certain expectation you
have when you're at home that it's not the case
in other places. So but yeah, it was more hilarious

(43:12):
than anything for all the shit he talked previously, and
for that to happen, it was kind of wild, but
that's how it goes sometimes. But yeah, it's curse of
Fat Joe. Fat Joe walked the Yankees out game through
the World Series last year. They lost on a way
of getting bounced in five games in the World Series.
And of course he walked Berlanga out this past weekend.

(43:33):
And you know, y'all saw him get leaned back. So yeah,
y'all see, Yeah, it's good.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
I love the sports so much because it could be
very serious and tense and dramatic, but also it can
be hilarious, like like you said, just now, oh man,
Now you know, I'll admit I was a bit naive,
you know when Berlino was up and coming. I think
he started when I noticed that he was fighting. It
was during the RONA because I remember some fights without crowds,
and his whole thing was like, oh, fifteen first round knockouts,

(44:01):
you know, in a row, like he just kept knocking
out guys, and I was like, Okay, well, you know,
I understand the hype machine, but hey, this guy's got
good power. You know, maybe with time and he develops
the skills, but he might be a great fighter, but
that kind of crashed and burned pretty quickly. I think
I don't remember which fight I saw where I actually
went the distance and I was like, oh no, this

(44:22):
guy's definitely been overhyped and with any real competition, you
know he's going to be laid out. I don't think
he deserved the Canelo fight. It was. It was a
fun fight though. I had a good time, a lot
of energy, so I really enjoyed that fight. So I'm
not going to talk shit about the match itself, but
it goes to show that, you know, the biggest name

(44:43):
in boxing, le face of boxing, could not knock out
Edgar Berlanga when hams Ashiers did in five rounds. That's
another thing, not even like round eleven or twelve, that part.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
But also I'm always I'm always weary of guys that
are knockout artists, especially when they're not fighting any quality
fighters best what's quick. It's one thing not the get
a guy out in six, seven, eight rounds, but when
you're like, knock guys out in one or two rounds
normally not fighting anybody like, that's always a you know,
a telltale sign of things like if you're if you

(45:14):
just taking if you're getting people out here in the
first sec round, you're not fighting quality enough guys for
you to be talking like he was talking, and it showed.
Boy did his show.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
I think we talked a couple episodes ago about Mike
Tyson and how his first round knockouts and you know whatever,
a minute and twenty seconds, minut and a half knockouts.
You know, they were for the more casual fans, you know,
real boxing fans weren't really all about that because they
got all dressed up, went out and then all of
a sudden events over. But the difference is that Mike

(45:44):
Tyson had the skills, you know, he could back up
the talk of the hype like he was a very strong, skilled,
technically skilled fast fighter. Uh. And I think guys, I
think we all as an audience need to be wary
of somebody who wants to be the new Mike Tyson,
does it have all of the technical skills that he
brought to the table to the ring.

Speaker 4 (46:03):
Rather Also, you got to realize, like this too, we
have biases towards fighters from certain parts of this country.
So if there's a guy from New York, no matter
what race, he is we're gonna hype them up, like,
we're gonna give them a lot of hype for whatever reason.
If they're from the East Coast, there's more boxing media
out there, there's more press in general, there's more boxing

(46:25):
venues and more boxing like for instance, like Philly, Baltimore, DC, Jersey,
New York. All those places have had events, like big
events and a lot of fighters from there. Their media
does very well with their athletes just in general, like
they really cover the sport well. They will pub him,
they'll hype them. The celebrities from there will go overboard

(46:48):
and hype their own guys out. It happens a lot,
happens a whole lot. So all that being said, we
kind of have to be wary all becaustomis from New
York or somebodys from Philly. That don't mean they a
great fine. That just means they have some celebrity fans
that like them. So we got to be very very careful.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
Well, speaking of big hype fights that might not lift
up to the expectations, This Saturday, July nineteenth is the
big comeback of many pact YEA, we won't be getting
into the details. We talked about it in a couple
episodes back. Suffice to say, we're I'll say this, I'd
be very curious to see what shape many is in.

(47:29):
You know, we just talked about George Foreman. The man
was in his forties when he won a heavyweight title.
It is for a belt, it is for a title,
so it's not just a random little showcase. So I'm
taking it more seriously.

Speaker 4 (47:39):
Than I would.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
You know, the Mike Tyson come back from last year.
But let's get real, like, let's put it out there
right now. What do you think the results are going
to be? Jameson as I don't know.

Speaker 4 (47:51):
It's hard picking a boxer in their forties when they
haven't fought in a while, especially when this is like
a cash grap It's not like he wants to keep fighting,
he wants to be a champion again, it's a cash grab.
Like if the fight wasn't for money, he wouldn't care
who has a belt. It's very very, very very difficult
to find out what kind of shape is in, but

(48:12):
also why is he fighting? Why? And we think about it,
why does any boxer fight when they're in their forties
because they're broke and or they need money, and to
be honest with you, I don't think he cares about
the wind of loss. I think he's there for the
pay day. So that's the case. I cannot bet on him.
I cannot take him. Could be surprised, could be shocked.

(48:34):
But he's been kind of washed for a while now,
and I think we see more washing this on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Okay, well, I'm gonna go ahead and give the man
a little bit of credit and say that I'm not
gonna say that he's gonna win. I'm going to say
that it's going to go the distance, and Mario Barrios
is gonna take it by a decision. I don't know
if maybe you know, if Barrios are any other fighters
who are fighting the legend kind of that gets in
their heads and they're like, well, this guy has sure

(49:02):
he's Manny now, but it was also Manny then. I
don't know if that makes him a little gun shy,
But I think that if Manny's gonna come back, he's
not going to come back just kind of half asking it.
He's gonna try his best, whether he's washed or not.
I think he's going to go the distance, but I'm
still gonna give it to Bodios, so we'll see. I
have never Yeah, I've never been worried about being wrong
on this show or in life at any time. But

(49:25):
that's my solid prediction. So whether I'll bet on that,
I don't know. You know what, I think I might
start betting on draws just across the board, like putting
five bucks on draws every single fight because the odds
are so against it. I'm just gonna make something right.

Speaker 4 (49:38):
I mean, it's like sometimes draws like twenty to one
the first Canelo Triple G fight, it was a draw
and a lot of people were mad because they bet
one or the other. But you're truly out of draw
just because of what you just said, so I understand completely.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
Yeah, I think that just might be my new thing.
I'm the draw guy. It's like always betting on black
but it's gonna be always bet on draws, right all right?
So well, when we come back, we're gonna talk about
the results of this fight and any other fights coming up.
So let's wrap this up. Jamison, Where can people find
you on social media?

Speaker 4 (50:10):
As always? On Twitter at you Jamison? And yeah, we'll
have another fight night soon. I can't wait.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
Awesome You can follow me at the Classy Alcoholic on
Instagram and blue Guy the podcast as its own Twitter
and Blue Sky account at Mixed co Podcast. Subscribe to
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(50:37):
show email address. If you have any questions for the mailbag,
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(50:58):
so much again to Bobby Hits for joining us, joining
us today, Thank all of you for listening. We have
been the Midst Company Podcast, a nineteen Media Group production.
Have a good night and salute