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Once-A-Week Podcast: Middleweight Is Fine · Big Dog Lukie Boxing Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: The middleweight division is probably more interesting than ever.
0:05
SPEAKER_01: But sadly, the hot topic will be, it's worse.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: Well, why is that?
0:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, this is Lukie and I'm doing the Once a Week Podcast.
0:13
SPEAKER_01: As always, thank you for being you and supporting the show.
0:18
SPEAKER_01: So there used to be a time when Canelo Alvarez was at middleweight.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: There was this guy named Gennady Golovkin, Sergio Martinez.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: It was a really interesting division.
0:27
SPEAKER_01: Before that, we had a guy named Kelly Pavlik who was really good.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: Felt like middleweight division was always a torchbearer.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: That hasn't been the case since Gennady Golovkin left the division.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: Janabek obviously was supposed to be that figure, but who knows what happened?
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Was he avoided?
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Was he inactive?
0:46
SPEAKER_01: Was it hard for him to make fights?
0:48
SPEAKER_01: Who knows?
0:48
SPEAKER_01: But now he is a super middleweight.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: He is out of the division.
0:51
SPEAKER_01: The current belt holders are Jesus Ramos Jr.,
0:54
SPEAKER_01: someone who I hold to a very high esteem and I think is an extremely good fighter.
0:58
SPEAKER_01: Their storytelling components just haven't been told on his career,
1:02
SPEAKER_01: but he's a top-notch fighter.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: Aaron McKenna, 2018.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: He was a Golden Boy prospect at welterweight at the time who was coming up through
1:10
SPEAKER_01: the circuit who looked very promising.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: Now he's a title holder.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: Amari Jones is a very promising fighter.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: Denzel Bentley,
1:17
SPEAKER_01: He probably won't ever be the best guy in the division,
1:19
SPEAKER_01: but it's a blue collar fighter who is there to possibly challenge top notch fighters
1:24
SPEAKER_01: if they want to do something.
1:25
SPEAKER_01: And Eris Landy Lara is an Ameris status champion who's in his mid 40s,
1:29
SPEAKER_01: who will probably fight once a year and albeit some.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: You might say, okay, he's taking up space in the division or whatnot.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: He's going to fight.
1:36
SPEAKER_01: He's going to take hard fights and it's going to be interesting for periods of time.
1:41
SPEAKER_01: Why middleweight is becoming a good division once again
1:44
SPEAKER_01: to me is you're seeing new talent that people are We could start
1:47
SPEAKER_01: to get compelling matchups that define an era.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: What middleweight has been lacking,
2:02
SPEAKER_01: is matchups that truly mean something in main event boxing and matchups
2:07
SPEAKER_01: that are going to be historically relevant.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: It's been a historically relevant division with some of the best ever.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: Aaron McKenna, Amari Jones and Jesus Ramos Jr. in particular.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: I think that while most people will tell you middleweight is getting worse,
2:21
SPEAKER_01: I am here to calm your nerves and tell you it's okay.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: And that I think middleweight's actually better than it's been in the last three years.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: Let's do the rest of the show now that I might have some bad audio because
2:44
SPEAKER_01: the podcast studio is having some internet issues since yesterday when I did
2:48
SPEAKER_01: a Julius Ballow interview, which should be up at The Good Fight sometime soon.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: First question, AJ's biggest...
2:54
SPEAKER_01: And you will see why AJ left McCracken.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: He wanted a Yes Man Instagram coach like Angel Fernandez, which is an editorial in the comment.
3:16
SPEAKER_01: You can also see McCracken guided Simpson to the full 12 rounds without getting knocked out.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: That's the corner AJ needed.
3:23
SPEAKER_01: I always feel this way about,
3:27
SPEAKER_01: you know,
3:27
SPEAKER_01: when guys leave their original trainer,
3:30
SPEAKER_01: the guy that brought him up It's never going to fully be the same because that was
3:35
SPEAKER_01: the magic formula.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: And you're never going to really have that same relationship once you truly leave.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: Because there's a level of hurt that doesn't get repaired when you come back.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: Also in the comment, Fraser Clark will...
3:55
SPEAKER_01: Also is now with Joe Gallagher.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: He left Fernandez.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: So basically they're just not high on Fernandez.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: Rob McCracken,
4:02
SPEAKER_01: the hidden story of the weekend leads Callum Simpson to a career,
4:06
SPEAKER_01: a career like resurgence when,
4:08
SPEAKER_01: you know,
4:08
SPEAKER_01: he avoids being a journeyman and he's going to have some dust ups from now on.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: David Naika might have lost something in the Jai Apataya fourth round knockout loss.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: That was a brutal KO where Apataya smashed Naika as he was following.
4:24
SPEAKER_01: Naika beat domestic Floyd Mason 7-5.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to push back a little bit,
4:29
SPEAKER_01: and Anthony Cox,
4:30
SPEAKER_01: who's a distinguished writer and just a great guy of the good fight,
4:33
SPEAKER_01: really wrote a stunning article that was quite great, and I enjoyed it a ton.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: And in that article...
4:44
SPEAKER_01: He really got me interested in Floyd Mason.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: So I think there's a little bit more to Mason.
4:51
SPEAKER_01: I'd be interested.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: You know, we have an Australian influx.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: We have some Aussies that we talk with.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: I'd like to get their perspective on that one because I think that was more of
5:00
SPEAKER_01: a real fight than we gave it credit for.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I see what you mean about Aaron McKenna being with Golden Boy.
5:05
SPEAKER_01: Aaron went to the U.S. at 16,
5:08
SPEAKER_01: signed with Golden Boy soon after,
5:09
SPEAKER_01: two years younger than Stevie partially explains between Aaron and Stevie.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: You can see the reach advantage at the earlier face-off fight week.
5:24
SPEAKER_01: And keep in mind, these comments came before the fight.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: I was on the road.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't do a paywall podcast.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: And honestly,
5:32
SPEAKER_01: unless there's no major storylines on Friday,
5:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm probably going to skip another paywall podcast.
5:37
SPEAKER_01: And we'll do one leading into the big pay-per-view the following week.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: The post-face-off interview, McKenna said that Olia...
5:47
SPEAKER_01: That's my interpretation is they're kind of getting at them saying, okay.
6:02
SPEAKER_01: You're having trouble with this weight thing.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm guessing Aaron is referring to the announcement faceoff
6:08
SPEAKER_01: or they had some obligation stuff they did together.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: Often fighters are paired.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: Aaron also said that he could move up to 168 if he can't find any future fights
6:17
SPEAKER_01: at 160 and he's expecting to be the bigger fighter.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: This may be a fight won in the gym.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm not opposed to this winning a fight in a gym.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to touch on that later because people asked
6:31
SPEAKER_01: about specific comments I've heard about McKenna and I don't know a ton.
6:34
SPEAKER_01: I was actually supposed to film Erin McKenna probably in 2018, 2019, maybe 2018, 2019.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: Rachel Charles,
6:45
SPEAKER_01: who worked with him at the time,
6:47
SPEAKER_01: I was in contact with her and I was supposed to do a little video feature
6:51
SPEAKER_01: on McKenna.
6:52
SPEAKER_01: And his brother Stevie.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: And it just never came to fruition.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: I think that series I did Sinisei Estrada.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: And I forget who else, but I did Sinisei was like the big name fighter I did.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: And at the time she wasn't a big name fighter, but it just shows the fluidity of it.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: And I never have been in the gym with Aaron, but I've always had a lot of respect.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: I think the almost match...
7:18
SPEAKER_01: Was Aaliyah's major test.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: It was a close win in the fight with Agon.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: I believe Agon is his promoter.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: So post-Almos,
7:26
SPEAKER_01: Agon protected him and carefully matched Aaliyah until he was ready
7:30
SPEAKER_01: to box Kyron Davis or Amo Williams.
7:33
SPEAKER_01: And now Aaron McKenna.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: Aaliyah probably makes a lot more money headlining a Zufa card at the three arena
7:42
SPEAKER_01: than boxing Kyron Davis in Italy or Austin Amo Williams in Orlando.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: I agree with that.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't be surprised if Aaliyah's weight cut are designed more
7:50
SPEAKER_01: to guarantee making the weight to avoid losing money than ensuring Aaliyah has
7:55
SPEAKER_01: the best chance of beating Aaron McKenna.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: Man, we have some smart people.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: This is just verbatim, and I think that's a great thing.
8:02
SPEAKER_01: Agon is the promoter of Vincenzo Guterres
8:05
SPEAKER_01: and has experienced moving Italian middleweights into the position Aliyah is now.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: Good to know.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: Aliyah started boxing at 14,
8:15
SPEAKER_01: but even though he was born in Italy,
8:17
SPEAKER_01: he has Nigerian parents who were not Italian citizens at the time of his birth.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: So when Aliyah became an Italian citizen at the age of 18,
8:24
SPEAKER_01: it was too late for him to join the Italian amateur team, and he turned pro.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: Too bad, because we know the Italians fully support their top amateurs.
8:33
SPEAKER_01: Once again, it's true.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure the word I'm looking for, Lukie,
8:38
SPEAKER_01: calls this a level swipe,
8:39
SPEAKER_01: but to me,
8:40
SPEAKER_01: it's more of a class,
8:42
SPEAKER_01: or not nepotism,
8:43
SPEAKER_01: but Aaron McKenna grew up in boxing almost from burst,
8:47
SPEAKER_01: whilst Aaliyah followed the,
8:51
SPEAKER_01: like they're saying,
8:51
SPEAKER_01: an African-European immigrant takes up boxing as a teenager model,
8:56
SPEAKER_01: like Christian and Billy, or Abbas Burau.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: It may also have been a fight won by the training team.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: I think McKenna will have Aaron make the cut,
9:05
SPEAKER_01: go past 170,
9:06
SPEAKER_01: and then dehydrate down to 169.5,
9:09
SPEAKER_01: and I suspect Aaron will do better at this process than Aaliyah.
9:13
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to talk a little bit about this because that's a really interesting thing,
9:15
SPEAKER_01: but it's a concept that I think we should talk about more and more as
9:19
SPEAKER_01: an educated fight show is the idea that...
9:27
SPEAKER_01: Guys don't have the same opportunities, right?
9:31
SPEAKER_01: In media, I look at all around and it's like, how many lukie spots are there for me?
9:37
SPEAKER_01: And there's not a ton, right?
9:39
SPEAKER_01: So I'm blue collar in it.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: We're figuring it out.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: We're doing what we do.
9:43
SPEAKER_01: And we got a great group of people.
9:45
SPEAKER_01: And you look at this guy, Aaliyah, and he's got solid wins, but they're not great.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: But he's built his way up and he's built this thing.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: And maybe if he had that opportunity,
9:55
SPEAKER_01: he could have had the great amateur career,
9:57
SPEAKER_01: but there is like the necessity that he has to fight.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: And McKenna,
10:01
SPEAKER_01: through amateur backing,
10:03
SPEAKER_01: through parents that had some ability to move him around,
10:06
SPEAKER_01: get him to America,
10:08
SPEAKER_01: he gets the kind of,
10:09
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't say protected, but you get like the coveted prospect role.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: And the perception is, for me,
10:18
SPEAKER_01: especially with European fighters of a certain ilk,
10:22
SPEAKER_01: Is to assume they're not going to be great.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: And that's a bad assumption for me.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: We're working on that, but that's an interesting insight.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: Upset so far in August, Cyrus Pattinson.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Pattinson was number three in Team GB behind McCormick Brothers.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I vaguely remember Cyrus Pattinson.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: I'm told they sparred a lot.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: Pattinson was an effective heavy bag for Patton Will.
10:50
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's not good.
10:50
SPEAKER_01: He turns pro with a match room,
10:52
SPEAKER_01: admits promises to be the Northern England ticket seller, Louis Ritson.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: Remember Louis Ritson?
10:58
SPEAKER_01: He was a fun one.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: He was already moved around from sparring.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: He gets dropped repeatedly and knocked out by Kona Walker as a 5-0 fighter.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: Um...
11:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, it happens, right?
11:13
SPEAKER_01: Like, I think that right now, um,
11:16
SPEAKER_01: gets dropped like Josh Kelly,
11:17
SPEAKER_01: retires,
11:18
SPEAKER_01: coming back, gets knocked out by 6-0, Club Schoebacher, I don't think he'll be back.
11:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Pierce O'Leary, too emotional, gets knocked out.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: Dylan Capatio, moment got to him, gets to him, gets knocked out.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: Samuel at want-e,
11:31
SPEAKER_01: too old to make 147,
11:33
SPEAKER_01: wins every round against a bigger fighter at 154, gets knocked out.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, Fight continues, gets knocked out again.
11:41
SPEAKER_01: And Tawanty,
11:42
SPEAKER_01: one of two boxers on the Nigerian card that
11:45
SPEAKER_01: the referee just did not have any sympathy for.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: They say it's the worst refereeing that they've ever seen.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, so that's what it is.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: I think I'll stick to Dylan Kapatia.
12:01
SPEAKER_01: And Pierce O'Leary,
12:02
SPEAKER_01: they're completely different fighters,
12:04
SPEAKER_01: but I'm very familiar with these two is Pierce O'Leary has a little bit of
12:09
SPEAKER_01: that domestic fighter in him.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: And what I mean with that is he's like got a little bit of that.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: Come on, brother.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: I want to just let him go.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: I want to throw my blows.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: I want to I want to come at you, laddie.
12:19
SPEAKER_01: I want to fight you toe to toe.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: And there is a charming trait to that,
12:24
SPEAKER_01: but that also you don't see the great British fighters want to stand and exchange
12:29
SPEAKER_01: and show their toughness.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: It's a uniquely club level thing, and it's especially a uniquely European club level thing.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: For me, Capetillo is...
12:40
SPEAKER_01: Somewhat unproven as a fighter.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: He had limited amateur success.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: He had won amateurs, but he hadn't really succeeded in the USA boxing system.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: And to move him quickly, he's fought a lot.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: And I think his dream has always been to be a pro boxer.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: So you're putting him on these big stages,
12:59
SPEAKER_01: and he's one of the best speakers already at 17 years old for a pro boxer.
13:05
SPEAKER_01: I think that it's a very difficult road because he was going to be someone that had
13:10
SPEAKER_01: to learn on the job,
13:12
SPEAKER_01: but the way he speaks and his passion for boxing is going to make you fall in love
13:16
SPEAKER_01: with the person he is.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm not upset with Thomas Taylor's stoppage in that one
13:23
SPEAKER_01: because you never know what another blow could do and Thomas Taylor's in the ring
13:27
SPEAKER_01: with him.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: The way Dina Thorsland and Trinika Johnson looked at the clip
13:34
SPEAKER_01: of their press conference is reminiscent of the clip
13:36
SPEAKER_01: of Ellis Kotny versus Trinika Johnson.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: This is the one where the commentators said, we're saying you could tell who the real boxer is.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, Thorsland is just someone who...
13:49
SPEAKER_01: I don't think has ever gotten her credit, and I certainly hope she gets it.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: She's really phenomenal.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: She's a top 10 level talent, and she just hasn't gotten the exposure that she deserves.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: She's the best Danish boxer since Mikel Kessler.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: Cala Simpson was implying that Troy Williamson had trouble making weight.
14:11
SPEAKER_01: He had trouble in the past.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that could be it.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: You know, there could be something there, but I mean...
14:17
SPEAKER_01: Could also be guys talking.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: Lukie said that making weight is more of a mindset than making any absolute numerical value.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: Is Williamson the latest proof of that?
14:30
SPEAKER_01: I think that Williamson, I wouldn't put in the category of it being a mindset, right?
14:36
SPEAKER_01: Because he's more of a journeyman.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: He's a guy who's going to take fights.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: He'll probably get enough notice to make the weight.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: But there's a level of physical wear and tear on his He's just slowing down.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: The damage is adding up.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: Year after year, he's just getting slower and slower, and things are happening.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: The motivations aren't the same, etc.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: When I talk about it as more mental, I think about the young guys who...
15:15
SPEAKER_01: Have full camps, have every opportunity, and you have to really...
15:21
SPEAKER_01: I feel like they start to psych themselves out because as you cut weight,
15:27
SPEAKER_01: you're not going to look as strong.
15:29
SPEAKER_01: And we're in like an Instagram generation where everyone wants to win every round
15:34
SPEAKER_01: of sparring and they want to put it on a kick stream and stuff.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like a weight cut is counterintuitive to this generation of being
15:42
SPEAKER_01: the cool guy because a weight cut is all about vulnerability and slowing down.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: Um...
15:48
SPEAKER_01: In regard to Williamson,
15:50
SPEAKER_01: I think he's a fighter who,
15:54
SPEAKER_01: you know,
15:55
SPEAKER_01: he's a physical tough brute who's going to do what he can to get down to
16:01
SPEAKER_01: that weight.
16:03
SPEAKER_01: And that's how I see it.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, that was concerning.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: And then the fact that he gets sparked out in a little over a minute,
16:22
SPEAKER_01: it doesn't give a glowing endorsement of the training regiment that he was a part of
16:27
SPEAKER_01: because it's like you miss by a lot and then you get stopped quick.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: So I think for Hemphill to return at this type of level,
16:36
SPEAKER_01: he's got to really think about things because that was not good.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: Someone implying that Sky Nicholson ducked Maya Yoshida.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's trying to age the 38 year old out.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: Well, this is a cheap time to plug.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: Dakota did a great feature on Maya Yoshida and that's really cool.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: So, um...
16:59
SPEAKER_01: Someone said that Dina Thorsland listed at 32.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: I thought she was older.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: Is this going to be a robbery for the sexier boxer?
17:08
SPEAKER_01: Is this going to be a Thorland upset?
17:11
SPEAKER_01: Theoretical.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, in hindsight...
17:14
SPEAKER_01: It was a Thorland upset.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: And to me, it wasn't really an upset.
17:18
SPEAKER_01: It was like she is the better fighter.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: It was just more about is Johnson's power going to show up?
17:25
SPEAKER_01: And is Thor's land both having an emotional issue outside of the ring,
17:30
SPEAKER_01: a miscarriage and having a layoff?
17:33
SPEAKER_01: Will that affect her?
17:34
SPEAKER_01: It didn't.
17:35
SPEAKER_01: Look for Fraser Clark to headline a BBC card, then headline a DAZN card.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're watching for it.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: 254 pounds, weigh in.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: That's a career low.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: Fraser donated silk sheets to Sean Hemphill.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: That's a good shot.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've always had a fondness for Fraser Clark,
17:52
SPEAKER_01: but the damage he took from Fabio Wardley and now with the Justice Hooney fight,
17:56
SPEAKER_01: which I thought he really could have won,
17:58
SPEAKER_01: it just feels like he's going to be the stepping stone guy.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: It feels like it's going to be tough.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: Please rank these British fighters.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: Royston Barney-Smith, Joe Pigford, and Billy Pickles.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: It almost sounds like a joke, but I know you're not joking.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: I am going to have to do the rest of this show.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: Well, no, I'm going to finish with the people I know.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: And then we're going to move to a non-studio location.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: And I will finish the rest of the show about the boxers that I'm not as familiar with.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to touch on the guys that I absolutely know and I can speak on.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: And then we're going to give you the...
18:48
SPEAKER_01: Fairest assessment of the film study breakdown.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: Oh, we still got a ton of stuff here.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: So I'm sorting in real time and editing in real time.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: We're going to do this as best as I can.
19:08
SPEAKER_01: Man, Stevie McKinney smashed a blown up lightweight.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: Stevie is not good.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Lukie and Lionel Watson for picking Dina Thorsland.
19:16
SPEAKER_01: Thorsland absolutely was the better counterpuncher.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: That was a great idea.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: What you need to understand is that in women boxing, not every women's boxer is an elite boxer.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Defeating multiple 40-year-old women while you put on your outfits for the fight,
19:35
SPEAKER_01: top-notch, but it's going
19:40
SPEAKER_01: show when you fight an actual elite-level champion.
19:43
SPEAKER_01: I think that the problem with women's boxing is It's new and it's not really like
19:49
SPEAKER_01: a career that I think a lot of women are trying to pursue for many reasons.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: Pay, damage, etc.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: Being ostracized or being looked at funny.
20:02
SPEAKER_01: And...
20:04
SPEAKER_01: There's going to be a level of no matter how good you are.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: The example this week, Clarissa Shields fighting 42-year-old unified title holder Kay Scott.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: Not a great matchup.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: I don't love the fight, but it is against a unified world champion.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: And Tam Theobald just won the belt this week.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: So can we really be mad?
20:30
SPEAKER_01: People questioning Johnson's resume, wide loss to Ellis Goatney.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to be mad at that.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: I think the win over, I think Johnson's resume is pretty solid.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: I think the way you have to contextualize Johnson,
20:43
SPEAKER_01: even though there is an OnlyFans element to her,
20:48
SPEAKER_01: Is the Nina Hughes fights were very big.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: Nina Hughes at the time was winning big fights.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: Sharetta Metcalf has proven to be a solid world-class women's boxer.
20:59
SPEAKER_01: She beat Crystal Rosado.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: She's proven to be tricky.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: To have that level of success, albeit against older fighters, is impressive.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, now we're going to Brandon Moore.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Brandon Moore's last match was canceled.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: Bryant Jennings won on that card.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: Now Moore is matched up with Jennings in two weeks.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: And I'm a big Brandon Moore guy.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Bryant Jennings must be about the same age as K Scott, about 42, I would guess.
21:32
SPEAKER_01: And it feels, what,
21:34
SPEAKER_01: I don't have the internet here,
21:35
SPEAKER_01: but Maybe my internet will come back on,
21:39
SPEAKER_01: but I dare say, man, when did the Vladimir Klitschko fight happen?
21:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm not exactly sure, but that was a long time ago.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: And that's really what I think is the apex of Brian Jennings.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: I know I interviewed him a long time ago too.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: Can you preview Atif Olberton versus...
22:02
SPEAKER_01: I can.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to move this.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: So...
22:07
SPEAKER_01: I know people are like, oh, this is so compelling, this part.
22:11
SPEAKER_01: There's just some British fights, and I want to get to every question this week.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: I don't fully know.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: All the fighters.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: And since you guys sent me in questions, I want to give you the best answers I can do.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: So, okay.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: Now I've sorted these.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to go...
22:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to go top to bottom here.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I'll get back to what I was saying about Atif.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: But Atif's now in a different spot.
22:46
SPEAKER_01: So they're like, how good is Jamal Harvey and what attributes or skills that make him good?
22:51
SPEAKER_01: Jamal is exceptionally good.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: I think some people, when they get to know him more...
22:56
SPEAKER_01: Are going to question why he's at lightweight.
22:58
SPEAKER_01: He's at lightweight because he's physically strong.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: To me, he has exceptional speed and he hits freakishly hard for the weight class.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: He's got a demeanor to want to instill damage on his opponent.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: He wants to hurt his opponent,
23:13
SPEAKER_01: but he has that huge amateur background from USA Boxing that really got him to
23:18
SPEAKER_01: that next level.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: So what I'd say with Jamal Harvey is you're looking at someone with a mean streak.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: You're looking at someone that can use distance,
23:25
SPEAKER_01: but So he's been doing this his whole adult life.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: And there's a normalcy for him,
23:52
SPEAKER_01: I believe, where he thinks that it's just normal for him to beat people up.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: And that alone kind of makes him good because I think that he just thinks it's weird.
24:01
SPEAKER_01: Please tell us about Duke Reagan's attributes.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: He's now working with Rick Morrigian and Bo Mack.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: Well, Duke is one of my favorite guys from his era of the amateur boxing.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: He won a silver medal in the 2020 Olympics.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: He's kind of got the most American name ever.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: Duke like John Wayne and Reagan like Ronald Reagan, American hero.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: Duke Reagan is a really good distance fighter.
24:24
SPEAKER_01: He's well faceted.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: He can fight within the range.
24:28
SPEAKER_01: The big issue...
24:30
SPEAKER_01: I feel with Duke was he was he lost his dad, right?
24:33
SPEAKER_01: His dad was imprisoned and his dad died.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: And that was heavy.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: That was hard.
24:41
SPEAKER_01: Without knowing him, I know that weighed on him.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: And I haven't seen him perform at the same ability where he started.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: His pro debut might be the greatest pro debut ever.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you can have a better pro debut than Duke Regan.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: He's a great counter puncher and he has exceptional timing and ability.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: His downfall sometimes can be he thinks he's doing too much
25:02
SPEAKER_01: and he can make fights too competitive by just shelling up.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: What I want to see from Duke Reagan moving forward is if he wants to fight.
25:11
SPEAKER_01: Because I think that he's in that gray area of does he want it or does he not want it.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: Can you describe the attributes of Ernesto Tito Mercado?
25:20
SPEAKER_01: I'd love to.
25:21
SPEAKER_01: To me, Tito Mercado fights like a rattlesnake.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: Fights like a king cobra.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: He's kind of almost fidgety and nervous in the ring is my read on him.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: And he's very sharp, but he throws these whip-like punches.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: And then when you get near him, he's really trying to hit you with something hard.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: And his power comes from straight extension and hard shots.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: His movement is a little awkward.
25:47
SPEAKER_01: It's a little weird.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: But to me, he feels like he's deserving of being one of the top guys.
25:54
SPEAKER_01: And it's strange that he hasn't gotten those type of fights just yet.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: Can you preview Atif Olberton versus Romero, Alexis Angulo?
26:03
SPEAKER_01: And there should be an interview with Atif Olberton coming soon to the Good Fight YouTube page.
26:09
SPEAKER_01: Be on the lookout for that.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: Atif Olberton is a wonderful body puncher.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: He's physically strong,
26:15
SPEAKER_01: and I think he's getting to that point of being a top 10 pound for pound prospect.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: Romer Angulo is probably best known for beating Anthony Sims.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: Anthony Sims is one of these guys who at one point was signed to a promoter,
26:29
SPEAKER_01: loses a fight, and I don't think he's ever really recovered from that.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: I think he's a gym owner or something,
26:35
SPEAKER_01: but he never really could live up to the potential that the promotions
26:38
SPEAKER_01: and Really saw, thought they saw in him, right?
26:43
SPEAKER_01: Angulo, what he does is he puts his head down.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: He fights like a lot of Mexican fighters,
26:49
SPEAKER_01: puts his head down and he's going to put you on the ropes and try to outwork you.
26:52
SPEAKER_01: The problem for Angulo is Olbert.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: Great eye last week on Sam Hickey and Aaron McKenna.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean by I was in the gym?
27:11
SPEAKER_01: So especially,
27:13
SPEAKER_01: so I guess a lot of people that listen to this might not know,
27:17
SPEAKER_01: but from 2016 to 2020,
27:20
SPEAKER_01: I had never been poorer in my life, but I was in the boxing gym a lot.
27:26
SPEAKER_01: I'd say since 2021, I have not been in the gym regularly, right?
27:33
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going on about five years of not being in the gym,
27:36
SPEAKER_01: but I'd been in the gym probably for about four or five years now.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: Three, four times a week.
27:43
SPEAKER_01: And I still get stuff like even even.
27:47
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was a different time,
27:50
SPEAKER_01: but 2021,
27:51
SPEAKER_01: 2022 guys would call you now just feels like everything in boxing is slowed down.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: You don't get the same phone calls.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: You don't get the same enthusiasm, etc.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: And.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: When I say I was in the gym, it means I either went down to LA with a fighter for sparring.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: The big one is like the Holy Grail is the top-ranked gym in Las Vegas.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: Going through the top-ranked gym.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: If you're in the gym with someone at that one in Vegas, there's a different feel to it.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: There's a different heat.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: So when I say I was in the gym,
28:23
SPEAKER_01: it means I was in the gym during a private workout or a professional workout.
28:28
SPEAKER_01: And I could kind of feel their spirit.
28:30
SPEAKER_01: You know, so that's what I mean by that.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: Can you preview Troy Isley versus Joseph Hicks?
28:36
SPEAKER_01: Isley said that his Salita deal had one stay busy match,
28:40
SPEAKER_01: one regional match, and one 50-50 eliminator type bout.
28:44
SPEAKER_01: Joe Hicks must be the regional match, and boxing a Salita boxer saves the promotion money purse.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, it also is a really interesting story for story-based people.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, So, Isley was the Olympic medalist.
29:04
SPEAKER_01: He fought in the Olympics, right?
29:07
SPEAKER_01: And he had lost to Joe Hicks at the Olympic Trials.
29:12
SPEAKER_01: Hicks then went on to lose to Javier Martinez, who won the Olympic Trials that year in 2019.
29:19
SPEAKER_01: The USA boxing team picked Joe Hicks over Martinez who had won the trials.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
29:25
SPEAKER_01: That's a different conversation for a different day.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: COVID happens.
29:29
SPEAKER_01: Isley is able to compete in the Olympics.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: So there's that loss that Isley had to Hicks in an amateur fight.
29:38
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, there's kind of like he took his Olympic spot.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: There's a storyline component to it.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: And who knows?
29:43
SPEAKER_01: Maybe there's more stories.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: I've heard rumblings that there could be even more stories.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: Um,
29:49
SPEAKER_01: To me, I've interviewed both.
29:51
SPEAKER_01: I really like Joe Hicks.
29:52
SPEAKER_01: I like Troy.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: It feels like Troy's pro career is progressing better than Joe Hicks' pro career.
29:57
SPEAKER_01: Joe Hicks has lost to Wendy Trusant.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: Wendy Trusant's a very good fighter,
30:01
SPEAKER_01: but you would expect someone that went to the Olympic trials and fought
30:05
SPEAKER_01: and could have been an Olympian, you would expect him to pass that kind of test.
30:09
SPEAKER_01: Troy Isley has had hard fights with Vladimir Hernandez, but...
30:15
SPEAKER_01: He's hung on.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: He's battled through it.
30:17
SPEAKER_01: I think Troy's pretty much ready to fight anyone.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: The only X Factor is he left BOMAC.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: Now he's training with Lamont Peterson.
30:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm not mad at that, but...
30:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm making sure that because it felt like Troy was stagnant after a while with K.
30:37
SPEAKER_01: And then he was growing a lot with Bo Mack.
30:39
SPEAKER_01: And now I want to see how he's progressing against Joe Hicks.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: I think this could be the one knock people have said is Troy is very hard on himself.
30:49
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, he can be hard on himself.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: And Joe might know Troy just enough to make this fight difficult.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: So I think it's a pretty good fight.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: And then they said knockout of the week is Sam Hickey.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: Okay, now I got to find an internet connection.
31:07
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to have really bad audio.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to return in a second.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now we're going into the final bit.
31:20
SPEAKER_00: I got the internets.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: Let's see, do I have the internets?
31:28
SPEAKER_00: This is wild.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we should have the internets back.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: We do have the internets back.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: And my first question is, rank these fighters.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: Royston, Marnie Smith, Joe Pigford, and Billy Pickles.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: Let's start with Billy Pickles.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: Love that name.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: Let's see, the unbelievable feud between Billy Pickles and Huey Wilson.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea who he is.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: Cannot even tell.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: Man.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: So I guess he's the bald fighter.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: Billy Pickles.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: Sounds like a...
32:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm not really impressed, to be honest.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: He's a come-forward, high-guard fighter.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: He's got some decent reflexes.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't blow me away.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: So he's the lowest fighter.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Royston Barney Smith without me even going back over film study is better than him.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: So let's look at Joe Pigford.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: Joe Pigford.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: Well, this is going to be a simple one.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: Joe Pigford, and he has the pig on his trunks.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm watching his knockout of Aaron Morgan.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: He's got some decent.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: The thing is, he reaches.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: Man, this is tough.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: This is tough.
33:47
SPEAKER_00: I thought he was really good.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: He reaches with his jab.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: I think,
33:52
SPEAKER_00: honestly,
33:53
SPEAKER_00: Pigford's the worst of the three because he stands so tall and he gets hit so clean
33:58
SPEAKER_00: and he's just fighting guys that don't have the same athleticism or strength
34:03
SPEAKER_00: That he doesn't really understand what's the next level.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: So I think he's the worst one.
34:09
SPEAKER_00: Billy Pickles is number two.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: And Royston Barney-Smith is like multiple levels above both of these guys.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: That's my assessment.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: Sam Hickey, Willie Hutchinson, Nathaniel Collins, Alex Arthur, McLun Arthur, Drew Lemon.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: Not mad at that.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: Not mad at that.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: I think that's probably the accurate one.
34:33
SPEAKER_00: Nathaniel Collins is the only X Factor, but I'm not mad at those rankings.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: Hassan Azeem, Junaid Boston.
34:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Junaid Boston's not...
34:44
SPEAKER_00: Not all that.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: Brad Axe was an Army boxer who just got brutally knocked out by Sam Hickey.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he was.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: Ben Vaughn is a former Army boxer and current boxer's lukie favorite.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: Echo Asuman beat a come forward no defense Ben Vaughn after the Owen Cooper win.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: Can you preview...
35:07
SPEAKER_00: Constantrain Uroso versus Ben Vaughn.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: I am very familiar.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: I should have done this in the higher quality studio.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: But I'm very familiar with Constantrain Uroso.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: I saw his fight.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: He's a fluid mover who took a step-up fight that looked very good.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: I think... Let me watch some tape on him so I can give you the full assessment.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: But...
35:33
SPEAKER_00: I think this is going to be a classic.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: A guy can do a lot.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: Let's watch him against my guy, Owen Cooper.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: Let's watch this fight.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
35:50
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we got this.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, Uroso is one of these guys that's annoying.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: He switches stances, and he does it to be awkward.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't really have kind of elite attributes,
36:04
SPEAKER_00: so he kind of has to fight really, really clumsy and weird to offset you.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: But it's very difficult to pick up on.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: He's a good timing fighter.
36:15
SPEAKER_00: He'll change stances.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: He's tricky.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: He's very tricky.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's see.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: What do we got here?
36:25
SPEAKER_00: Let's see what we got.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: Ben Vaughn.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: What are we going to see from my guy, Ben Vaughn?
36:41
SPEAKER_01: Let's see.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: I think Ben Vaughn, like he's described, is just a banger.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he just comes for it.
36:48
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this, he's just high guard, kind of my joke of domestic fighters.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: Let me see how tough you are.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to make it a hard fight.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: This is,
36:59
SPEAKER_00: Uroso is going to have to show a level of physical toughness and durability
37:04
SPEAKER_00: to win this fight.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: It's just that simple.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: That's what this fight is, is that he's got to show some physical toughness to do this.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: So, that's the fight.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: That is the fight.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: It's like,
37:18
SPEAKER_00: if Uroso is not physically tough enough and durable enough,
37:22
SPEAKER_00: he just simply won't win this bout.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay, on to the next one.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: Can you preview George Ladard versus Dario Morello?
37:32
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Ladard is like the big average.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: He does everything pretty well, but nothing stands out.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: He can box pretty well.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: He's got probably...
37:41
SPEAKER_00: Above average hand speed.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: But it also feels like someone in his position,
37:45
SPEAKER_00: I would almost expect him to be a tad bit better.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: It could be unfair.
37:50
SPEAKER_00: It could just be the process that he's in.
37:53
SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't quite jump off the page.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: But he has good ability, good hand speed.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: Everything's good.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: But let's check out what my guy Dario Morello has.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: You gotta figure out who he is, too.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: That's the great thing of this film study stuff, too, is I have no clue who these guys are.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm going in bold.
38:18
SPEAKER_00: Or no, that...
38:19
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so he's in the pink shorts.
38:22
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: Good record, all that stuff.
38:27
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's check it out.
38:29
SPEAKER_00: So Southpaw, so that can be an issue.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: To me, he looks like Sala.
38:34
SPEAKER_00: What's the guy that Xander fought?
38:37
SPEAKER_00: Slalwa, Sumpa?