Danny Garcia With Dan + Canelo Surgery And '26 Hall of Fame Ballot Talk | BFW Preview Podcast - Big Fight Weekend Boxing Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
The countdown is on to fight time. This is Big
Fight Weekend. Now here is your host, DJ Leaves.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
All right, we get ready for the first weekend in October,
a little lighter weekend again in terms of fights, but
we are here nonetheless kind of in the preview mode.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
We got a.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Former two division world champ actually in a conversation with
Dan Rayfield. We're gonna play, We've got fight news and
much more. It is the Big Fight Weekend preview podcast.
I am the somewhat competent host TJ Reeves, Hello, Big
Dan Rayfield. Always good to be back with you in
a new month. There we say, the last quarter of
the year, and we promise peeps, the more noteworthy fights

(00:46):
are coming. There are some fights coming. It's a lean
time right now, but we're gonna be here. We're gonna
do our best.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Now.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
We got to say up front, first of all.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Good to be with you, yes, sir, and we're ready
to go over the news and everything else that's happening.
Fulfill that. On some there's not a lot to go over.
But Sunday we're gonna be nostalgic. You and I love
the nostalgia because it's the fiftieth anniversary of Ali Fraser three,
The Thrill in Manila. So on Sunday, we're gonna put
out a full retro on that on the YouTube page

(01:16):
and on this podcast feed. So that'll suffice for the
weekend show coming off the week We do what we
can to be there for the savages, right, we always
have for the last three plus years we've been doing this,
So we'll have something there even if it's not a
bountyful let's say, weekend of Action in the Ring. All right,
So there's there's the pledge to the peeps. Uh, thank

(01:38):
you for finding us on the pod feed, Apple, Spreaker, Spotify.
Make sure you're following subscribing. Go to the YouTube page
and make sure you're subscribed and you're liking us. There.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Great conversation, no exaggeration.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
With Mark Kriegel, long form, hour long conversation about his
new Mike Tyson book that is out now, Baddest Man,
The Making of Mike Tyson, You and I One More Time,
Let's play. You and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to him.
Great stories about the rise of Tyson in the eighties.
That's what the theme of the.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Book is about. How did we get there.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
How did we get to rise in the destruction of
Michael Spinks that was the zenith of his career.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Go ahead and no, we also discussed Canelo and conference
since he was part of that Netflix broadcasting.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Correct that at the beginning, and then a lot on
Tyson and the Nostalgias to go find that on the
YouTube page and again.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
On Sunday Eve.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
On Sunday Eve, you will get the nostalgic segment first
on YouTube about Ali Fraser three and the end of
Muhammad Ali's of the greatest run in the year subsequent
to that, So get it on YouTube and then it
will be on this podcast feed much later in the night.
Two for one on that two ways to find it

(02:46):
and hear it. But see us first with the moving
pictures there. All right, So the loan about to really
preview is a junior middleweight world title fight in Lilistrom, Norway.
I mean, we go all over the globe and Emma
Cozen is defending the WBCWBO Women's Junior Lightweight Championships. But

(03:07):
the bigger name is Cecilia Break. Whose Break? Who's who
is the Hall of Fame fighter to be? Who was
the Women's undisputed welterweight champion, held at least a portion
or the undisputed title for twenty five consecutive defenses. She
is in the ring one more time in a title fight,
and this is essentially her farewell picking up on that

(03:28):
dan on all the nostalgia in and around her as well.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, listen, she's been a great fighter, and you know
she came along a little bit too late to join
the crowd of the of the of the top women today.
But I would believe very strongly that if she was
in her heyday, she would compete with with all the
top women that we talk about today, whether it's Katie Taylor,
Amanda Serano, Mikhaela Mayer. You know that she's too small,

(03:52):
probably for Claire so Shields, but you understand my points.
She's in that same level. You know, she sort of
was just before the uptick in in the women's side
of the sport. But she was a great fighter, a
master technician, very popular. The reason why this fight is
in Lilla Stram, Norway, is because that's her home country,
is Norway, and this is her announced farewell fight. She's

(04:14):
certainly not getting any younger. She is forty four years old,
and so she's going after one more time. You mentioned
she held the welterweight title or a piece of it
for a very long time. She made twenty five defenses
of either a singular belt or of the undisputed title
in women's boxing. That's a record, and as a matter
of fact, it matches the record for men, which is
Joe Lewis. So I mean it's obviously different. I'm not

(04:36):
trying to say she's joelais different, but in terms of
the record's per gender, the female record or the male
record are the same. She's on that level in women's
boxing history. That's how good she's been for so long.
I mean, she went years and years where she barely
lost rounds, yeah, in her fights, and I think a
lot of people that watched her in America didn't really

(04:56):
get to know her a little bit or see her
much until she was sort of on her best days,
like she had, for example, a fight on HBO near
the end, that sort of thing. So she's been out
of the ring now for about fourteen months, and so
she's taking on cos And who also, by the way,
hasn't fought for the last couple of years. Even though
she won those two vacant titles in her previous fight.
She's coming back after twenty three months out of the ring.

(05:19):
She just has the one lost cosin. She's a good
fighter also, just we haven't seen her in a while,
even more so than it's been since Cecilia was in
the ring. So it's the farewell fight. She's gonna see
if she can win a title in the second way
class to see her way out the door. So she
obviously was Walter Way champs. She can now win two
of the belts at junior middleweight. And I'm sure they'll

(05:41):
have a great crowd there at the big Arena in
Lila Strom and she'll she'll go to go to battle
one more time.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
And I didn't mention this UFC Fight Pass has the
bout in the United States if you want to watch it.
You've brought them up before and again. The one thing
I keep coming back to because we've talked about Cecilia
Break Who's four on our shows and on our pod.
It's not just the fact that she won the twenty
five title defenses in a row, but amazingly she was

(06:08):
able to make the weight for the better part of
twelve years in the same division.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
So I'm just making the comparison.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
If you're fighting, obviously at heavyweight, you can fluctuate between
five or ten pounds and it doesn't really thirty pounds,
yeah right, but five or ten pounds doesn't matter. Five
or ten pounds means everything in the smaller weight classes.
And she was able to make welter weight for the
better part of twelve years at the highest level. That's
amazing conditioning. I'm just propping that up as well.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, no doubt about it.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
I don't know what she has left for this fight,
but it's a nostalgic thing for her.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
I mean, with this weecond if she's got something and
even cozen As you know, who's good. Also, if Cecilia's
got anything left, she should win the fight just on
her muscle memory if if you ask me, just the experience,
her technique. She goes into this fight thirty eight wins,
two losses, one draw, nine knockouts, and if this is
in fact her last bout, then she will of course

(07:05):
three years hence be on the Hall of Fame ballot.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
And we'll talk a little more about the Hall of
Fame ballot that's out right now, because you're always salivating
whenever that comes back around about who's on the list,
who should.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Be on the list. We'll do that in a few
moments without further delay. Though.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
For the peeps and the savages, let's bring on a
former two division world champ as Danny Garcia will headline
one of the fights on his own Swift Promotions card
at Barclays Center coming up.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
This is a farewell to Brooklyn.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
That Garcia is going to talk more about here with
Dan Rayfield, as you had a chance to speak with
him recently here. We'll play that conversation right now.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
But is my great pleasure to welcome to the podcast
this week. It is none other than the former two
division world champion, my man who I've been to many
of your fights, Danny Swift Garcia is back in action. Danny.
I'll tell the folks what you've got coming up. You're
going to be taking on New York work Daniel Gonzalez.
He'll be headlining your own Swift Promotions card at the
Barclay Center in Brooklyn, take place on October eighteenth. Card's

(08:08):
gonna stream live for those who want on pay per
view on millions dot Co. So thank you for doing this.
I appreciate we'll discuss your role as the fighter and
as the promoter.

Speaker 4 (08:18):
This is paying the butt, that's what I know.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
The here you go. So I wanted to start off
with because I think when this fight was announcedanding it
came as maybe a little bit of a surprise to
some people, because I think a lot of people frankly,
I kind of wasn't really thinking too hard about it,
but I was like, oh, I thought maybe he was
all done. He gave it a go in the last
fight thirteen months ago, you moved up to middleweight, you

(08:42):
challenged Arislandi Lar for the WBA title. You were coming
off a long layoff even going into that fight, and
you know, it didn't really quite work out for you.
You know what I'm like, You know, Danny's got a
young family, you just had another baby, he had won
world titles in two divisions. Have their businesses made a
lot of money. I had a hell of a career,

(09:03):
and I was like, boy, he's coming back. So my
question for is what is the motivation for this comeback?

Speaker 4 (09:09):
You know, the motivation for this comeback is everything you
just said. You know, my company, my family, the loss
to Laura, I just can't. I feel like I can't
in my career that way. I've done too many great things,
even though he's a great champion and idea to be
great infl short, but I think everything you just said
is motivating me to be for this fight, everything you

(09:30):
just said to my fans, you know, my family and
me just being running the and it's off being a
boss and getting my hand raised no matter what. That's
the most important thing for me.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
Well, that fight with Laura that you mentioned that took
place in September of twenty twenty four, and honestly, I
mean it just seemed like it was a disaster from
the opening belt it just did not not You just
were not sharp. You were coming off like a twenty
six month layoff, fighting at your heaviest weight, obviously fighting
another talented fighter. And what do you think what was

(10:04):
what went wrong? Was it? Is it the layoff? Was
it the way just that.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
I just think my spirit is a fighter since I
wasn't in the ring for so long, even in training,
I just felt like I couldn't get my mind to
that championship level, that spirit of a fighter you need.
It just wasn't It just wasn't you know, it wasn't there.

(10:27):
You know, it just wasn't there. And I tried. I
tried to fight through it. You know, it just it's
just one of those days where it's just and unite.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Well, did you think, though, when it was all said
and done, that okay, you know what, I gave an effort.
Maybe it wasn't my night and I did have a
great current, So I am going to retire or did
you always feel like I'm going to come back at
some point?

Speaker 4 (10:48):
No, I knew I was going to come back and
just do probably do one more fight and promote my
own next fight, because I've ready been hitting it in
my interviews that I want to do. I want to
promote my last fight and kind of just go out
like that, you know, as a doing my own fight
and winning with my hand raising the air and that's it.
I mean, it's like my last fight is like you know,

(11:11):
the Titanic, my Jack Dawson dies at the end. It's like, damn,
I didn't want the movie to end like that.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
Understand that, But yeah, So that's how that's how I feel.

Speaker 4 (11:21):
It's like the Danny Garcia movie cannot in that way.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
So your your Swift Promotions is the promoter of this fight. Obviously,
that's the company that you founded, and they're putting on
this fight at Barclay Center, which has been the host
to numerous major fights through the years, including many of
Danny Garcia's fights. You're obviously from Philadelphia, everybody knows that,
but Barclay Center has been your I feel like it's
your your home arena in many ways. You are seven

(11:47):
and two there as a professional. You obviously hope to
be eight and two after this October eighteenth fight. The
two losses were very close and tremendous battles with Keith
Thurman and Sean Porter. What is that building meant you?
You opened it for boxing with there we were victory against
Eric Morales, and you've been synonymous with their boxing program, right.

Speaker 4 (12:07):
I remember when when I first won the title mens
Morales and I had to remeasure with him. I really
wanted to do the fight in Philly. I remember, let me,
let me come back to Philly and you know and
do a uh, you know, like a homecoming, and they
were like, you're fighting Brooklyn. I'm like, I'll find why
am I finding? You know why? Am I finding Brooklyn?
I want the fan my titles in Philly first, Yeah,
and then uh, it's just like an instant marriage, you know.

(12:31):
I remember that there was like thirteen thousand people in there.
Is actually the first world title fight ever in Brooklyn,
and then ever since then, it's just like New York
has just adopted me.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
Well, first world title fight in like eighty years or
something like that. Not the first ever, but at the
Barclay Center. Yeah, yeah, I mean it was the first
ever boxing event that they had there. You headlined a
very big showtime card and besides that, that victory against
Eric Morales, you knocked him out after having beaten him
in the first fight, sent this great Hall of Famer
into retirement. You had several other big wins against top

(13:04):
quality names in the Barclay Center as well as ab Judah,
Lamon Peterson, Pauli Malinaji. Obviously the two close losses and
really great fights against Thurman and uh and Porter. Do
you have a favorite fight there that you had there
and why what was doing that?

Speaker 4 (13:19):
I think my favorite fights at the Barclay is Morales
because I knocked him out and then Thurman. That was
a crazy that was an Electro fun fight. You know,
even though I felt like I probably did enough, but
it's still like Brooke All type of records at that time,
and I feel like those were great, great, great fights.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
Those were definitely big ones. And I have to say though,
from my perspective having been at those fights, Uh, that
left hook knock out of Eric Morales in the rematch
that sent him off into retirement was something spectacular. Plus
the controversy of course with him coming into that fight
with the positive drug test that the New York Commission
allowed him to fight with, So there was a lot
in the backdrop.

Speaker 4 (14:00):
Yeah, he woke up that they think that I wasn't fighting.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
You know, I remember talking the night before the fight,
just coincidentally coming back to my hotel room, running into
you guys were on the same floor as me and
the hotel just by coincidence, and running into your father
who was very distraught about should I let my son
fight because they for some reason, the commission was leaving
it up to you know, you guys of what you're

(14:24):
going to do. So I understand why that was like
a really big deal that you did fight and get
that great knockout or one of the many memorable fights
for your at that building. So, like I said, you
face a lot of top guys in that building, but
you've also faced a lot of top names not at
Barclay Center. You know, you had the great victory by
knockout to unify titles at junior welterweight against a Mere Khan.

(14:45):
You had the huge upset decision against Lucas Matisse, who
was the big boogeyman at that time, big favorite. You
went on, you beat Robert Guerrero to win the BBC
welterweight title. I mean, I can go on and on.
You had a lot of good wins even before you
were a champion, Nat Campbell, Kendall Holl for example. So
do you ever think about the prospect, you know, once

(15:08):
you are all done and it's in retirement, about being
elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, which I
know is you know that is the ultimate for any
professional Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (15:17):
I feel like you know, I thought, I think in
boxing will make sure Hall of Famer is fighting the best.
Obviously winning the world titles and becoming a world champion,
that's one thing. But I think fighters are always remember
for who they fought at what time, And I fought
everyone when they wanted me to fight him. I thought
Keith Thurman when we were both undefeated young guys. I

(15:39):
fought Amir Khan we were both in our prime. I
fought Matisai when he was in the time. I mean,
I fought prime fighters, and when loser draw I always
came and I gave him all. I sold out arenas,
I won world titles. I lost some world titles. But
at the end of the day, I think that's the
definition of a Hall of famers fighting as wings and

(16:00):
drug and obviously world titles. And I did that.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Yeah, no doubt, you've been doing that your whole career.
I mean you didn't even mention you guys at GARYL.
Spence when he was still undefeated. I mean plenty of
top names. So you just mentioned all these top names
that you did fight, and it's pretty much the litany
of the of the best guys in and around. Uh.
Was there ever a fight that you wanted among the

(16:27):
bigger names that you didn't get in that career that
you've had so far.

Speaker 4 (16:31):
Probably many, or Floyd, I guess I always wanted to
test my skills against those guys, all time greats. It
just never happened. But that's probably about it.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
I mean, those would have been interesting, I suppose at
that time.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Sure, So we're we're where now you're going to this fight.
You're you're thirty seven, You're promoting this fight with Daniel Gonzalez.
It's being billed as farewell to Brooklyn. Now I know.
Notice that it's not farewell to boxing. It's farewell to Brooklyn,
which is obviously in reference to all the great matchups
that you've had at Barclay Center. So is it in

(17:09):
your mind that if everything goes well, that you are
going to carry on, maybe we'll have a farewell to
Theffilly or whatever where where you're thinking this is really
the end of the line.

Speaker 4 (17:18):
I'll tell you one thing. It's a eighty of what
this is my last fight?

Speaker 3 (17:24):
What's the fifteen percent on the other fifteen percent?

Speaker 4 (17:27):
Because I'm a fighter, Just because I'm a fighter, and
you know, you go in there and knock somebody out.
Now you're feeling all good again. Your name's buzzing. They're
saying this, They're saying that the phone might ring. But
I feel like I've done so much in boxing, you know,
I still want to keep I don't want to be
one of those fighters. He just keeps fighting and keeps fighting.
You know, at the end of the day, I got

(17:49):
I gotta worry about my health too, you know.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
And I get the impression, Danny that some guys, look,
let's just be honest, some guys come back as they
need the money. I get the impression that Danny Garcia
is not in dire knee of like the financial I mean,
if the money is great, don't get me wrong, but
I can't.

Speaker 4 (18:03):
Imagine like extra money, good money, you know.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
But right, but this isn't like this is not a
mega fight that's paying millions and millions.

Speaker 4 (18:10):
I'm doing this fight for the money. I'm doing this
because I want to win and I want to promote
my own own company, you know. So I'm doing this
for the love of the sport. How many fighters can
say they've done that, and yeah, So I'm just doing
this fight right here because I want to win. That's
I'm just a I love winning and I want to
go out on my hand raised.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
So if you do that and it does go your way,
and you have that great moment where you know, they
say in the winter, Danny Garcia and you've done this
in front of a nice crowd, in front of the
arena that you call home. Uh, can you just walk away?
Or like what would it what would it take you
to bring you back to do something else?

Speaker 4 (18:44):
I mean, if I look great, but if I look
like I won, but it's just like you know it
wasn't Danny Garcia, then it's like, you know, I don't
want to you know, it depends how I win. But
the way, the way I'm training is ah, I feel
like I'm gonna have a great night. I feel like
I've had a great now. I feel good. I mean
everything that takes longer for me to recover, that's about it.

(19:06):
But everything else I still I'm still good. I'm still sure.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
So you're coming off, like I said about a thirteen
month layoff, and I wonder, what are you expecting from Gonzales?
Obviously you your opponent is across the ring. You got
to deal with him. He has a good record, He's
fought some good guys but lost him like a Chris
Alger for example, Chris Algery for example, a former world champion,
He'll also be moving up and wait to fight you.
So what is it about Gonzales that that you looked

(19:30):
at and said, that's the guy I should fight. Like,
what are you expecting for him to bring to the
ring after then the desire to put a great name
like Danny Garcia on his record.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
Yeah, so you know I sparred him before for Sean
Porter about seven years ago, and I remember he's a
guy that worked hard but never got the exposure. And
I say, look, I don't mind sharing the ring, giving
a guy some exposure. And you do good against Danny Garcia,
you know, it might change your life, might get you

(19:58):
some bigger fights. But just giving somebody the opportunity, you know,
on my night to try to shine against me, and
some fighters never get the opportunity. And I know how
I feel. So he's a guy who with a solid record,
comes to fight, he's in great shape, and I feel
like it's gonna it's gonna be a good fight. It's
a good fight for me.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
So we talked a lot about the accomplishments that you've had,
the great matchups you've had, the fact that you fought everybody,
been a long career, done a lot of great things
in it. Is there one thing that you're most proud
of in the course of this eighteen year career.

Speaker 4 (20:32):
You know, the most I'm proud of is just being
a world champion and listening to my father Andrew Garcia,
being a good listener, and just investing my money and
just you know, I'm blessed and just now I'm just
happy to have my own promotion and try to help

(20:53):
other fighters. But I'm proud of a lot of things.
I'm really proud of myself listening, you know, because this
is really you get to a certain level where it's
like you think you know it though, and they got
to have you got to have some type of discipline
to listen. So I feel like me making it this
farest because I listened to my father.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
You know, he asked you, how excited is Angel will
get back in action? I mean, you know, because he's
gone along as you've gone along. It's not like he
has this big stable of fighters he trains. Uh, he's
been out of the action as a trainer. Now, I
guess for a while since you haven't been fighting. So
is he as pumped up as this for this as
you are?

Speaker 2 (21:28):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, he's excited. You know. Andreel had a stroke last year,
so it took him. It took him some time to
get back. He's still getting better, but he loves boxing.
This is what's keeping him alive. He's boxing, so this
is he he loves going to the gym, you know,
is what I've been doing since I was a kid.
So this is making him stronger as well, you know,
keeping him sharp, keeping him in the game with the

(21:49):
young guys in the gym. And he just loves boxing.
It's just when you think about Andrew garciad just think
about boxing, because that's that's all he cares about.

Speaker 3 (21:58):
I'm glad that he's doing okay. After the Oh, that's
great to hear. I've been doing this covering boxing for
twenty six years, almost twenty six years Danny, and of
all the fighters I have covered, I've gone back and
I've tracked this to some degree. I've been ringside for
more Danny Garcia fights than just by any boxer in
that time period, I believe. Well, I was at the

(22:22):
Laara fight. I think that was my twenty fifth of
your fights I've been ringside for, including your professional debut.
I was at when you won the title one forty,
when you beat Matisse, both the Judah Spans Porter. I
want to know, do I get a prize.

Speaker 4 (22:37):
Oh yeah, for sure. Listen, I got you. I think
of something. I'll think of something for sure. For being
on my side and covering all my fights, that's a journey.
That's a lot of hard work.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Tell me that. I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (22:49):
And you know, you take a lot of criticism. We
all do, but it's a part of being who you are.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
Right, Absolutely, that was just sort of little joke there
to wrap things up. I appreciate it, No, you do.

Speaker 4 (22:59):
I mean he deserves a lot of I think the
media does deserve a lot of credit because without the media,
now me knowing everything, you can't really have fighters. There's
no way for them to get out there. So the
media plays a big play in boxing. It's good or bad.
Hear that they ain't talking about you, you ain't doing

(23:19):
something right, So that is true.

Speaker 3 (23:22):
I suppose. Yeah, well, all right. October eighteenth, Danny Garcia
back in the ring against Daniel Gonzalez. Danny had been
a pleasure. I wish you the best of luck in
the fight him. We'll have to wait and see what
happens with that fifteen percent possibility of fighting after this.

Speaker 4 (23:35):
Thanks Dan, I appreciate you.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
Bet, good luck to you for sure.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
All right, again, we remember this guy in and around
the big showdowns, especially at welterweight that he was also
having with the likes of Sean Porter, Keith Thurman, those
different guys. Tell me a little more about talking to him,
and it's a couple of weeks from now that he
does this Farewell to Brooklyn card October eighteenth.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
I mean, Danny is his member. He remembered for the
battles you mentioned because they were bigger events, let's say,
against Thurman and Porter particularly, but he was at his
absolute best when he was the dominating champion at junior welterweight,
where he knocked out him mere cont to unified titles
and had the massive upset that we discussed in the
interview against Lucas Matisse and you know, a slightly over

(24:17):
the weight fight that should have been a unification fight,
but nonetheless they were the two best junior welterweights at
the time. When he defeated Lamon Peterson. I asked him
about the potential for Hall of Fame. He believes his
Hall of Famer. I think Danny Garcia has a very
good chance to be a Hall of Famer based on
the caliber of wins, he has the domination of one
hundred and forty and the bigger names that he fought

(24:38):
throughout his career, and so he's trying to give it
one more go. He said farewell to Brooklyn, as we discussed,
not necessarily the farewell to boxing. But we'll see what.
You know, it's going to depend that, he said, on
how he feels coming out of the fight on the eighteenth.
So I've always enjoyed watching Danny fight and always been
one of the good guys in my mind. And I'll
see what he's got left. It's been a little while
since has been in the ringing. You know, never easy

(24:59):
to come back off a long way off when you
haven't been at the top for a little bit.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
All right, let's get to some updates and some news.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
The update first is the Hall of Fame ballot is
out for the upcoming twenty twenty six right, the Hall
of Fame class. All right, So tell I know you're
big into this as a voter. Tell the audience real quick,
a little more about the ballot, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
So the ballot was released on October first, So that
was earlier this week when the Hall of Fame announced
the people that were added to the ballot. I have
not gotten my and I don't think anybody has yet,
because we're only a couple of days later. They send
out the paper ballots to the elector. So I suspect
that I will receive my actual paper ballots because I
vote in most of the categories in the next future.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
I tell you that I still love the old school
that they send a paper ballot, that it's not all
just digital electronics, send an email and fill out the email. Well,
I say bravo to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
They still go to school.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
I think the Baseball of Fame still gets a paper ballot. Also,
I mean I like it. Nothing wrong with that.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
I know for a fact.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
The Heisman Trophy doesn't send a paper ballot. You do
it electronically now, because guys that vote for it have
told me in the past you usually.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
Have to do it through a log in and an email.
And let's just say.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
That I've talked to more than one of them that
have forgotten and haven't gotten into the system and voted.
The former Heisman winners can vote, so not everybody does.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
But I like the Heisman, don't they have like a
thousand people vote for the hind.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
Well, and when it comes to like baseball and boxing,
you're talking. The Boxing Hall of Fame is elected by probably,
like you know, under two hundred electors. The Baseball of
Fame is I think a little like what about maybe
a few like three or four hundred voter that right,
So I like the paper ballot, I take the picture,
I fill it out, I sign it.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
You know, so we don't have the paper ballot yet,
but give us a date.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
Go right, Well, that the paper ballot will have the newcomers,
but it will still have the guy could go back
and look at the old ballots and who didn't get
elected last year, that those won't change. These are just additions.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
They basically take out the folks that were elected last
year and add in you know, various names per category,
but the big one, the marquee category, the one that
most people talk about, is the modern men's category. Those
are the top men's fighters that we all know and
have covered and watched for years. So and they add
three to the ballot each year. Sometimes it's fored depending

(27:10):
on if there is a tie in the previous year
or something along those lines. So the three new people
that are being added, and this is always what creates
the most conversation and discussion. Ganadi Gluffkin, Triple G now
out of the ring three years, so that's the time frame.
For a long time. It was five years, but now
three years. So Triple G is on the ballot. In
my opinion, he'll be an automatic selection. I don't I mean,

(27:31):
if you don't know, I don't think you know anything
about boxing, you should have your fucking card taken away.
That's just me. So he's on the ballot for the
first time. You know, tied the all time record for
twenty consecutive middleweight title defenses, fought everybody of his time
that would fight him because he was one of the
most avoided fighters that there was, you know. And it's
unfortunate he didn't get the victory officially against Canelo Alvarez

(27:55):
that he deserved in the first fight that they had,
because that would certainly have changed the opinions. I think
of a lot of people, they forget that he got
really badly ripped off that night. But anyway, so he's
the biggest name, and then the two other ones are
a little bit of a throwback. This is a man
that I have campaigned to be on I'm not saying
I'm gonna vote for him. I haven't made up my mind,
but I have campaign relentlessly for years to have this

(28:15):
person on the ballot. When I was in Las Vegas
at the Canelo Alvarez Terence Crawford fight, at an opportunity
to in person sit and talk with Ed Brophus, the
executive director of the Hall of Fame. And for years
and years they've always canvassed me to ask my opinions,
not myself only, but others also, and I do usually
either on a phone call or by email. But it
was good to sit and talk to him in person,

(28:37):
and I once again made the plea, if you will,
And I hope that that was part of the reason
why he's finally on the ballot for all these years,
it's taken. And that's Vernon Forest, who was a tremendous fighter.
He has, you know, a great talent level. The United
States Olympian beat Shane Mosey, who was the number one
pound for pound boxer in the world at that time,

(28:58):
in a big upset to win the title. That welterweight
beat him again in the immediate rematch, had one of
the best jabs you'll ever see in the in the
sport and just was a tremendous fighter. Two division world
champion at welterweight, also at junior middleweight. Actually when he
fought Sugar Shane Mosey in the first fight, it should
have been a unification fight because he had won the
IVF title, but because as we can say, he going
all the way back then the IVF doing IBF things,

(29:20):
he was basically forced to vacate because it was either
take millions of dollars to challenge Shane for the WBC
title or defend his IBF title for like you know,
I don't know, a bagged lunch or something like that
against Michelle Piccherillo. So he took the big money in
the big HBO spot at Madison Square Garden and he
went there and he kicked the shit out of Sea.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
You've talked about that in the past, yep, yep.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
And the other one is the two division world champion,
very popular fighter from the UK, Steve Collins, who's got
you know, a thirty six and three record, tangled with
a lot of those top guys of the day. That's Irish.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
Stevie Collins am I right.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
There, you go. You know, I never never got a
chance to fight some guys, you know Roy Jones, people
talked about him fighting him as some point did happen.
I'm not so sure that would have gone well for him.
But Steve is a guy that you know, he they're
they're kind of making up because guys like Collins and
Vernon haven't been in boxing for years and years and years.
Obviously Vernon passed away many years ago, but was a

(30:15):
tremendous fighter at the time.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
But the phrase is they deserve consideration, considerate, not that
they're necessarily locks to get in. They deserve to be
discussed and considered.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
But Stevie Collins, you know, he's got two knockout victories
against Nigel ben Uh, He's got i know, two victories
against Chris Ubank, who both have been on the ballot
for many years. So and he won titles in two
way classes. So it's hard for me to understand why
he wouldn't be.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
Why he wouldn't be considered.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Yeah, on the ballot. Like I said, so those are
the three newcomers to the men's ballot, and obviously that's
going to create a lot of conversations and if you
run through some of the other ballots, uh, you know
once again uh. In terms, they have women's who are
up for consideration. Nayoka Fijoka from Japan. You have Christina Hammer,
who people I think know a little bit because she
did fight years ago. Claressa Shields, Jackie Nava from Mexico

(31:07):
who was a top fighter from her day, you have.
They also do the early years old timer ballot, which
is people that go back to the previous you know,
to like the eighteen hundred sometimes or you know, early
nineteen hundreds. Willie Davies from Wales. Can't say I have
ever heard of him. I'll do my research and check
them out. A popular category is the non participant ballot.
That's promoters, cut men, trainers, me, you know, all kinds

(31:31):
of people that aren't involved in boxing in the fighting part,
and not the observers, which is a separate category. This
would be like, you know, all kinds of people ancillary
to the sport that are still important, you know, promotional people, publicist,
that sort of thing. So anyway, the people that are
on this year are the trainer, cut man, Jimmy Glenn,
a beloved figure in boxing before he passed. Probably more

(31:54):
famous actually for owning the Jimmy's Corner famous boxing bar
in mid tim and had a few blocks from Madison
Square Garden where if you're a boxing than who've ever
gone to a boxing event in New York and haven't
gone to Jimmy's Corner one night to hang out? You
dig yourself at the service. Jack Reese, the great referee
who recently retired from refereeing but is now still working
as a judge. You have Kelly Swanson, the outstanding publicist

(32:15):
who was actually coincidentally, she was Rarning Forest publicists for
many years. She's known by anybody in the media. She
was Floyd Mayweather's publicist for many many years. She got
her start as a in her twenties when she was
the publicist for Riddick bow on his way to the
heavyweight championship. I mean, you want to talk about an
experienced publicist and oh, yeah's been around, it's Kelly Swanson.

(32:36):
It's definitely her. And the number one judge in boxing
today Steve Weisfeld. So he's on the ballot, well deserved.
I think any of those, any of those four, I
forget the number. I think they elect to maybe. Plus
there's all the folks that are that are on the
ballot still some of the some of those newcomers, of
those four newcomers, some of them are going to get elected,
I believe.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
And by the way, we should plug to the audience.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Search this podcast feed because Dan talked with Jack Reese
at the conclusion of his refereeing career because he's still judging, right,
he told you that he's still going to hang around
and judge some huge Also.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
He also was doing he works as a replay official
for California Goo.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
So hear Jack Reese in his own words about his career,
and he was the referee of the Tyson Fury first
fight with Deontay Wilder, very famously, among a lot of
other championship fights. Search his name, Jack Reese's name on
this podcast feed and that conversation will come up because
we had him on here probably a year ago somewhere
around that, but it'll come up in the search.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
And then in the observe the observer category, which would
be you know, journalists mostly. They added three people, all
three of whom are who I've known for many years,
who I consider friends. And that's the outstanding British box
boxing journalist and broadcaster Steve Bunts. Our buddy from the
old Showtime Showbox series, longtime executive producer and who ran

(33:54):
that show for the entire run of its existence, was
his Gordon Hall. And one of my good buddies from
the days when I started in this business, Steve Springer,
the longtime boxing writer for the Los Angeles Times, also
went on to write the autobiography or you know, ghost
write the autobiography for Oscar de la Hoya. So those
are the three newcomers to that ballot, and so we

(34:14):
got some work to do in the next few weeks
to discuss and figure out who I'm going for for everything.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
All right, good on that some news you were writing
about this. I do read my Dan Raphael Substack. You
guys should be on the Substack Fight Freaks Unite Substack
and the newsletter that Canelo Alvarez is now set to
have elbow surgery. This is not an injury sustained though
in the fight. This is as you as you wrote about.
It's something that was bothering him leading up to the fight.

(34:40):
He didn't use it as an excuse and this is
a cleanup procedure. If you will in part for later
on in the month. The one thing that I that I,
you know, just ponder with this is this, do we
know is this the same elbow because he had elbow
surgery before, I remember that, or risk surgery. Is it
the same armor? Is it the same and that's been

(35:00):
cut on before? I'm not sure.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
I don't know, but he's never had elbow surgery.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
So whether a risk surgery that was before for him.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
So he's having left elbow surgery to clean up loose
particles October twenty third. And like you said, it's not
this was not from a specific injury that he had
happened during the fight with Terrence Crawford a couple of
weeks ago. This is really the byproduct of the wear
and tear when you throw as many punches as a
professional boxer and training and in fights. He's been a
professional for twenty years. I mean, so inevitably that's gonna happen.

(35:30):
Could you only imagine how many left hands Canelo Alvarez has.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
Throne thousands, It's got to be a undred.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
Thousands, hundreds of thousands, not just.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Not just in fights, but in sparring, training, whatever.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
Oh, absolutely so he's having that surgery, so you know,
I'm it's pretty basic kind of surgery, not exactly anything
too complicated Arthur scoppercase procedure that is scheduled. Then you know,
the reason why it's somewhat interesting from the standpoint of
his schedule is because prior to the fight with Crawford,
Turkey Alshk, who obviously has two more fights left on
a contract with Canelo, they were discussing the possibility of

(36:03):
his return in February. February. I believe that the reason
was because that would be a way to close the
current READ season festival, and then he would fight a
second time in Read in two thousand and twenty six.
The question is, if you're having an elbow procedure on
October twenty third, and you just made like over one
hundred million dollars for Terrence Crawford fight, you need to

(36:24):
rush yourself back into the ring for February. So you
never know, but my gut would say it is highly
unlikely that he will be fighting in February, and that
more likely maybe he goes back to the May time
frame where he's used to or perhaps you know, later
into the year. But you know, February would seem to
be a rush.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
In mind, I will weigh in again.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
I will believe that Canelo's fighting two more times in
Saudi Arabia. When we see Canelo fight two more times
in Saudi Arabia.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's any doubt that
Kenelo Aubers is going to continue to box. He's not
gonna retire his career at this point.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
But I will believe he fights two more times in
Saudi Arabia.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
When I see him fight more times.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
That's fair. But again, the money is going to be
the money.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
So you know, I don't know how much more of
the guy wants to fight. I don't know who else
he wants to fight. I don't know if there's a
rematch possibility with Crawford and how realistic that is.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
Tay tuned, stay tuned these guys.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
He's gonna have surgeries for a little bit, you know,
and get held up, and you.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Gotta and you gotta be mindful that. Anthony Joshua, I'm
not comparing the procedures.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
I'm not an orthopedist. I'm not even playing one on
the podcast. But he had elbow surgery earlier this year
and has not returned from it the entire year.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
You don't know, do you know?

Speaker 3 (37:28):
This is going to be the first time, I believe
since like two thousand and seven where we're going to
go an entire calendar year where Tyson Fury and Anthony
Joshua are both on the shelf and didn't fight either
guy didn't fight the entire calendar. Y that tells you,
you know, the ear is coming to an end. And
with Canelo, as I mentioned, he's been a professional twenty years,
He's got nearly seventy fights thereabouts. He's coming off of

(37:50):
a loss. He's thirty five years old. I mean, time
waits for nobody in this business a man.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
All Right.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Something else that was added this week, Paramount Plus and
Zoo Boxing are now going to have a boxing deal
that comes on the heels of their massive deal that
they did for over seven billion dollars with the UFC.
All Right, So Dan, give us the details because this
is going to be part of the regular boxing series.
Dana White has been doing some interviews with the media

(38:19):
talking about this series, So go ahead and give more
on the particulars.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
So, as you mentioned, well, it was about a month
ago they did a deal in I guess, and sometime
in the mid to late August they did their deal
Paramount Plus did with UFC, which is obviously the sister
company of the newly created ZUFA Boxing. So they've got
that seven point seven billion dollar deal done to carry
the UFC events, and now this is completely expected that

(38:44):
they also locked up the rights for ZUFA Boxing. Now
quite a bit of a difference UFC. Obviously, in an
established company, an established product, you kind of know what
you're going to get. Zufa Boxing and Dana White, they're
starting this basically from scratch. They're signing some fighters. I've
not heard any big name that. I don't think they're
signing top champions. You know. Dana has been, like you said,
doing interviews talking about they're not going to recognize any

(39:05):
of the sanctioning bodies. They're going to create their ZUFA belt,
They're gonna do their ZUFA rankings. We'll see how that
works because they still have to take care of if
they can get it through the amendment to the mammad
Ali reformat that would make that allowable there. So there's
a lot to go. But what is going to happen
is that starting in January, somehow, some way, Paramount Plus
is gonna stream the first of what's supposed to be

(39:27):
twelve of their ZUFA Boxing events for twenty twenty six,
with as they mentioned in their announcement, that took place
on Monday, with plans to grow that number in subsequent years.
They also will recognize the ring title, Dana has said,
but I'm not sure how that's relevant, because if you're
starting out with a bunch of guys that are not
at the world class level, they're unlikely to be in
the ring rankings, and if they are, that's a problem

(39:48):
because then you'll know they're not legit. We'll see that's
obviously for the longer term. But anyway, Paramount Plus has
the rights to whatever ZUFA Boxing puts on in the
United States, in Canada and in Latin area, and that'll
be starting in January, and they'll have a monthly show
at least to begin with. And you know, I'm going
to reserve my thoughts in my opinions about till I

(40:08):
see the types of fights that they now, so the
types of fighters that they sign and all that. But
one thing you can probably expect is that if they
do a similar thing to what they've done with UFC,
you know, and have good production, it'll look good and
you know, and that type of thing. And so you know,
the jury is out. But they've got their deal.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
They have a regular they haven't.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
Anounced any financial aspects of it. We don't know what
they're getting paid for this thing.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
They'll have a regular series, and we don't know what
any of the other particulars are financially or the fighters
or that kind of thing. One thing that I that
I you know again, we give opinions over and over
and over again. So Dana White has said this comment.
He set it in around the Crawford Canelo build up
when giving interviews.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
He said it again.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
I saw a clip when he was talking to Brian Campbell,
our colleague, on his show, and he said it in
another interview somewhere else where.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
He keeps saying, you.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
Know, boxing has made zillions of dollars, zillions of dollars everywhere,
and they have nothing to show for you know, that's
his big, uh, you know, marketing tagline.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
They have nothing to show for it.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
And my response in sitting back is you have fighters
that have made hundreds of millions of dollars, in some
cases half half a billion dollars.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
And they're mad about a billion dollars. You are probably.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
Over Anthony Joshuall. You can kind of go down the list. Yeah,
you can go down on the recent. But even even
when you go back earlier in this century, et cetera,
there are fighters that have made hundreds of millions of
dollars like Oscar de la Hoya, manipacie Aalynox Lewis of
and Er Holyfield, Mike Tyson on. So the nothing to
show for it is incorrect. The fighters became multi millionaires,

(41:41):
multi multi multimillionaires. Now, whether they have any of their
money left is a different argument on whether they have
anything to show for it.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
But that's the whole rub on what we're talking about.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
This.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
While we give it legs and while we give it publicity,
this is going to be lower level, low paying stuff,
at least at the beginning and for the fourth seeable future,
because the biggest names aren't gonna go participate, right, They're.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
Gonna try to look Dana's gonna try to build stars.
They're gonna try to sort of copy the the formula
that they found to be quite successful with Dana's Contender
series that they did that helped launch I guess a
lot of the future stars of UFC Boxing is a
little bit different obviously, uh in in in the UFC,
in m m A. Essentially UFC has a monopoly. It's

(42:26):
not officially or legally monopoly, but they have most of
the best fighters from around the world and in boxing.
Uh you can you can like that part of it
or not like that part of but just the reality
and this is not an opinion based this is a
factual thing. The best fighters are set, they're spread around.
You know, PBC's got top fighters, top ranks, got top guys.
You know, Frank Warren and Queensberry got top guys, boy

(42:48):
As top guys, matchrom Ass top guys, and there's other
fighter other fight promotions that have you know, Teaking promotions
in Japan has some of the best fighters in Asia.
You can go country by country. Everybody has somebody and
so you can't it's a lot harder to sort of
roll everything up at once. Now they're trying and we'll
see if they can be successful. Whether that's good or bad,
you know, remains to be seen. But anyway, it all

(43:11):
starts with this Paramount Plus project and whatever series they're
gonna produce and put on. I mean, for me, for
personally speaking, I hope it's successful, even if they're not
going to play in the same sandbox with other people,
because the more boxing that gets recognized by the public
and by the media, et cetera, it makes it better
for the overall sport. And I've never been one to

(43:32):
fear competition. You know, if they put on a good product,
people will come to it. If the product's no good,
then they won't. And you're gonna sink or swim based
on whatever you know you can produce. So I wish
them good luck.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
All right, stay tuned on on what happens in the
specifics on that.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
That's for down the road too, for when all that begins.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
All right.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
A couple of other things you did talk to us
about Pittbull Cruise and Lamont Roach. You had been reporting
that they were going to get the deal done. Give
me more dec tales on when this is and where
it is go ahead.

Speaker 3 (44:03):
So the deal, apparently, from what I'm told by a
few different people that are involved, it is done, hasn't
been announced yet. Of the expectation that I was told
by these folks is that they're looking to have a
news conference sometime next week to roll everything out and
uh and make it all official. But what I'm told
is when I talked to you about it in the
last episode, we were discussing about the possibility of the

(44:23):
two dates that we're sitting there. One was December sixth,
one was December twentieth. They've decided December sixth is the
date they're going to go to the Frost Bank Center,
which is the home arena for the NBA San Antonio Spurs.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
I was unaware that we have a new sponsor name
on the Spurs Arena, and what is the Frost Bank.
I've not heard of the frost I've heard of Frosty
the Snowman, but I've not heard of Frost Bank.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
So there, so I was like, I never heard of
that place before. So when I looked it up, I
believe it used to be the AT and T Center, correct,
and it just simply changed to the Spurs Arena.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
That's right off of downtown at the Alamo Dome. But
that's in interesting that's going to be the site.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
So here's the thing about that though, TJ as far
as PBC has been going along doing their pay per
view fights, certainly since they've been involved with with Prime Video,
but even before that, when they were doing events, whether
they were on Showtime or on Fox, most of the
time they were doing their pay per views in the
in Las Vegas. They did occasionally they'll had, you know,
they did you know, Tank Davis and Roach was in

(45:24):
New York City. You know, prior to their Prime Video stuff,
they had obviously done some events in California. They hadn't
really gone out of like the mainstream those sort of locations.
So I do think it's kind of good that they're
going back to a great boxing city like San Antonio,
which has got great fans and I've been there for
fights on a bunch of occasions through the years. Great city,
great fight fans, and I think they believe that the

(45:47):
popularity of Pitbull crews in that market, especially with you know,
so many Mexican Americans to populate the arena, that they'll
they'll bring out a good crowd for it, and uh,
you know, we'll see what I'll say add to the show,
So that that's the plan as of now. You know,
we'll see if it actually comes to pass. But that's
what I was told by people directly involved with doing
that deal. I'm expecting at press release any day now
that we're having a press permertson here of the details.

Speaker 2 (46:09):
All right, So stay tuned on pittmull Cruise Lamont Roach
being made official. We also know that Raffia l Espinoza
the WBA or the WBO excuse me, Featherway Champ, he
will be back in November. You have been talking to
us about this before. He's part of a Zanfer promotions card.
So give me the details on the fighter he's fighting
and the date, etc.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
And where.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
So Espinosa is with Top Rank and as you know,
Top Rank has no TV platformer or streaming platform at
the moment. And they've had a decades long relationship with
zan for promotions. They've done business together forever. They've co
promoted several fighters through the years together, most notably Eric
Morales and so Zandfer is doing an event November fifteenth
in Mexico, San Luis, Potosi, Mexico. And this is we

(46:53):
spoke about the lindolf Al Delgado finally eliminator that's going
to take place now on that car and so this
is the main event of that card, again hasn't been
officially announced yet. He'll be defending the title against Arnold
kay Guy. He is a Ukrainian fighter who's based out
of Los Angeles, who was high up in the rankings. Uh.
Took a loss, but but bounce back got a kind

(47:15):
of I guess you call it like a mild upset
over Joet Gonzales. Uh. They put that fight was on
a one of the pro Box cards, So that's gonna
be the title defense. And like I said, there's supposed
to be other other top ranked fighters on that card.
They've talked about. I don't know. Again, I don't I
don't have My reporting has not said that this is
one hundred percent, but I've seen reports that they're gonna
have Richard Torres Junior on that card. They also have

(47:37):
Emiliano Vargas on that card, so some of the uh,
some of those prospects in addition to the World Championship
fight as well as the title eliminator with Delgado, So
you know, they're trying to keep their guys busy as
best as they can until they land something or get
something wrapped up. But Espinoza, uh, you know, for my money,
is one of the more exciting and fun fighters to
watch that you could ask for. When I said, by,

(48:00):
by the way, that Ka guy who is the Appontenta guy,
actually lost the the fight to Joe Gonzalez. He has
bounced back since that and gotten one victory. So he's
maybe a questionable title challenger. But again, this is not
a you know, he's a good fighter, and he's been ranked,
and he's you know, he's been busy, but this is
not a a a what I would call a super

(48:20):
high profile, high money.

Speaker 1 (48:22):
Not a serious threat to Espinoza.

Speaker 3 (48:25):
But then again, he's a threat because he's a good boxer.

Speaker 1 (48:27):
I said serious threat. He is a serious threat. Stay tuned.

Speaker 3 (48:31):
It's an optional defense. Put it like that.

Speaker 2 (48:33):
Yeah, all right, So more on that November show, November fifteenth.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
That one is coming.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
One thing that we have left to do here, let's
talk some nostalgia as you and I do this. We're
doing this and releasing it Thursday night into Friday on
the pod here. October two, two thousand and four, now
over twenty years ago, twenty one years ago that Felix
Trinidad came out of retirement. Speaking of coming out of retirement,
as we did earlier in the pod with Danny Garcia.

(49:00):
Go on former welterwaight and junior middleweight title holder Riccardo
Majorga in a middleweight bout at Madison Square Garden.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
You were there.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
It was electric ringside at the garden. Tell us more
about the nostalgia of Trinidad's return.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
Well, there is nothing better if you ask me, in
boxing at that time then a Felix Trinidad fight at
Madison Square Garden. It was was electric as you could
ask for that. When I talk about the greatest atmospheres
I've ever been in for fightes, I've said many times
Trinidad versus William Joppy. I don't count Trinidad versus Hopkins
because of all the emotion because it was just a

(49:37):
couple of weeks after nine to eleven. Had that not happened,
otherwise it would have been an unbelievable scene. I am
sure I've talked about, you know, Tito Trinidad against my Orga.
Also among those great atmosphere fights Antonio Margarito's rematch against
Miguel Coto. And what do they all have in common
is because they have amazing Puerto Rican fans. But the
Myerga fight. Tito's return was so welcomed. Everybody was so

(49:59):
happy to have him back. Remember, he had lost to
Bernard Hopkins. Anniversary of that fight was just a few
days ago in two thousand and one. It's been, you know,
twenty four years, I guess since that was at two
thousand and one to twenty twenty, twenty four years, Yeah,
since he got stopped by Hopkins for the undisputed title
when they met for the to unify all the belts
at the time, the three belt era. He had one
more fight left after that on his HBO contract. He

(50:22):
went back home to Puerto Rico. He destroyed the former
middleweight title holder, Hassin Sharifi, and then he retired and
everybody kind of was like, oh, he's gonna be back,
and you know, a year goes by and he's not back. Finally,
two and a half years later he comes back. They
line up with my Orga, who was the quintessential you know,
villain to the to the absolutely beloved Trinidad, incredible action fighter,

(50:43):
both of them, and they just put on an amazing
event in Madison Square Garden. It was an exciting fight.
It was a tremendous battle. But Trinidad. One thing I
always remember a vivid remembory of this when they rang
the first bell for the fight and the garden was full,
I'd probably be about twenty thousand people, whatever it was,
every single person like when the belt rode to their
feet in excitement when the when the opening bell went

(51:03):
and they put on an amazing battle, and you had
Trinidad just overpowering my Orga, who showed a lot of
a heart and took a lot of punches and stuck
his chin out and did all the nonsense that he
would do, but always made it entertaining, and finally he
put him away in the eighth round, and you have
the very classic scene of the late great Hall of
Fame referee Steve Smoger, who refereed that fight, standing like

(51:24):
in front of him, counting in Spanish. And you know,
finally given the very dramatic waving off of the fight,
I mean, just in the crowd gon't absolutely fucking berserk.
I mean, it just does not get more exciting than that.
And you know that was actually when you think about it,
because when that fight happened, Trinidad continued his career and
next fought your boy Winky Wright, who he got beat by,
retired again and came back and you know, a few

(51:45):
years later fought Roy Jones and lost again. So this
is actually the final victory of Trinidad's career. If that's
the way to remember your last win, what a way
to go out, because it was as exciting as it
can as it can be. I mean, you know, he
can't even if you weren't around at the time that
the excitement throughout boxing for Tito's return was just tremendous

(52:08):
because he when he retired. Yeah, okay, he lost to Hopkins,
but I don't think anybody considered him at that time
like a shot fighter, a gun fighter. Remember it was
one fight before Hopkins, who he was favorite to beat,
that he had won the Joppy fight. Looked absolutely amazing
in that fight, looked incredible when he got up to them.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
We say this all the time. The kids have got
a YouTube up because it's been a little bit. Go
watch the knockouts of Tito Trinidad and you see what
the lore is about. And the fandom in Puerto Rico
and in New York with the Puerto Ricans and the
Puerto Rican fan base, it's easy to see why he
was constantly so revered, and the atmosphere was electric, and
you're talking about the fans rising at the opening bell

(52:47):
because he may come right across the ren and lay
the other guy out that wall.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
Yeah, Tito was vulnerable. So my Orga actually scored a
knockdown in the third ground of the fight. It was
like he forced him to touch his glove down on
the canvas. But than Trinidad, like he'd done a thousand times,
came storing back and you know, dribble them off the
canvas three times in the eighth round, and like just
you know, with that vaunted, big giant punching power that
he had. So you know, you had knockdowns, you had
all out action, you had excitement just for the return

(53:15):
for a guy that you knew was always gonna give
your money's worth. I mean, Keino Trinidad is one of
my all time favorite fighters to watch. There's very few
fighters that I can think of that were fight in
and fight out more consistently, entertaining and did so with
a sense of joy. He was not stoic, he was
not introverted. He loved the fans, he loved the adulation,
he loved the event, and he loved to kick ass,

(53:37):
I mean, you know, and then jump up on the
ring and pete his chest. I mean, even if you're
not Puerto Rican, it was hard not to get caught
up in the emotion of a Tito Trinidad event. So
when he came back after the long layoff, it was
such a welcome sight to have this superstar back in
action and then go out there and kick ass again
against a fighter in my orger who was always exciting.
Also what was the ultimate villain? And they just put
on a great show and it would it could you know.

(53:59):
I remember I think this is the fight where when
the fight was over, ye had Jim Lampley doing the
fight for HBO pay per view at the time. You know,
it's a you know, uh, it's a two word headline,
Tito's back, and that's exactly what it was. I mean,
he was on top of the world after that. He had,
you know, put the whatever happened to Bernard with Bernard
Hopkins and in the background, and and uh, you know
they titled the fight back with a Vengeance. I mean

(54:20):
they were playing up the return obviously, and he had
Don King, who was the promoter, doing his normal his
normal thing and beating his chest and you know, yelling
at from the rooftops about it. I mean, it was
a great promotion, it was a great fight, and it
was just awesome to have Trinidad back in action.

Speaker 1 (54:33):
Love all of that.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Okay, So we've given you a bunch on a weekend
that's kind of a light weekend, including Danny Garcia Swift
Garcia with us earlier in the program. Once again, a
reminder that off the weekend, we will have a nostalgic
piece up first on the YouTube page of you and
I talking Thrilla in Manila, Ali Frasier and the Greatest

(54:56):
in in one of the greatest, if if not the biggest,
most noteworthy slugfests in heavyweight history.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
It's certainly one of them. It's now fifty years old.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
We will wax nostalgic on the YouTube page first, and again,
if you're on this podfeed, you'll eventually get it on
the pod feed Sunday night on the Monday. But go
find the YouTube video about it and hit subscribe there
like and help us out if you enjoy the content,
help us out. We don't ask for much on the Savages.
Help us out along the way by subscribing and by
spreading the word and sharing it out, etc.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
Other than that, Big Dan, have a great weekend.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
We always appreciate it and I look forward to here
in October we get back to bigger fight weekends and
more interesting fights that we have and we both look
forward to that.

Speaker 1 (55:42):
Other than that, have a great weekend.

Speaker 3 (55:44):
Thank you, you bet, thank you.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
There is Big Dan. Rayphiel, I'm merely TJ Reeves.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
Like subscribe, follow us along on Apple, Spreak or Spotify.
You've been with us on the Big Fight Weekend Preview
podcast

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Danny Garcia With Dan + Canelo Surgery And '26 Hall of Fame Ballot Talk | BFW Preview Podcast