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Boxing Podcast: The Race To Replace Gervonta Davis Starts Saturday? · Big Dog Lukie Boxing Podcast

0:01
SPEAKER_00: It's your man, Lukie,
0:01
SPEAKER_00: and we are on a special post-fight show with Steve Wellings,
0:06
SPEAKER_00: a super boxing expert from the British side of the world and very knowledgeable
0:11
SPEAKER_00: and also someone that I enjoyed the podcast a long time ago with the Bell U of
0:15
SPEAKER_00: the Week.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: Steve, how are you doing?
0:17
SPEAKER_02: Not too bad, Lukie.
0:18
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for inviting me.
0:19
SPEAKER_02: How are you, sir?
0:22
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm living.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about Ben Whitaker, man.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: What a performance in all the wrong ways.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: It feels to me like he has some aspects of being a bully showing off
0:31
SPEAKER_00: and it almost bit him in the butt in the very end of the fight.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: It feels like he's a fighter who's snake bitten with having a cocky attitude,
0:38
SPEAKER_00: but then putting himself in positions for people to question how tough he is based
0:45
SPEAKER_00: on some of his antics.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: What did you think of this fight and what's your takeaway?
0:50
SPEAKER_02: I think I've seen all I needed to see.
0:52
SPEAKER_02: The commentary on DAZN, we're talking about boxes being ticked.
0:56
SPEAKER_02: They're just propaganda as far as I'm concerned.
0:59
SPEAKER_02: If you put it on him, he crumbles.
1:01
SPEAKER_02: The evidence is there for all to see.
1:03
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I didn't find anything particularly enthralling until round 10.
1:06
SPEAKER_02: We ticked what he needed to do.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: We all know he's got the style.
1:10
SPEAKER_02: The question is, does he have the substance?
1:12
SPEAKER_02: He showed towards the end of the fight,
1:14
SPEAKER_02: he does have a bit of substance,
1:15
SPEAKER_02: but round 10,
1:16
SPEAKER_02: Offered insight to me, I believe, into what will happen when he fights a live body.
1:20
SPEAKER_02: We saw it before in the Liam Cameron fight and we've seen it again tonight as far
1:23
SPEAKER_02: as I'm concerned.
1:24
SPEAKER_02: I've seen the evidence, all I need to say, Lukie.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of worried beyond that of just like,
1:33
SPEAKER_00: is the showboating a way for him to kind of market himself and be
1:37
SPEAKER_00: a standout fighter?
1:39
SPEAKER_00: And is that kind of more of his identity than being a championship boxer?
1:44
SPEAKER_00: Because it felt as though he liked playing with his food in this fight and kind
1:48
SPEAKER_00: of got himself into trouble.
1:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, if he doesn't get rid of you early, he starts playing about.
1:53
SPEAKER_02: And even when he was in trouble, he was still trying to showboat.
1:57
SPEAKER_02: And I'll give him respect for that because if you're showboating against journeymen,
2:01
SPEAKER_02: Gatekeepers, lower level guys.
2:03
SPEAKER_02: I don't like that.
2:04
SPEAKER_02: But if you're showboating in IBF title eliminators, that's fair enough.
2:08
SPEAKER_02: Prince Nazeem did it against the best.
2:10
SPEAKER_02: But whenever Eddie Hearn talks about Ben Whittaker,
2:13
SPEAKER_02: he talks about his social media following,
2:15
SPEAKER_02: his viral moments,
2:16
SPEAKER_02: the amount of likes and views and subscribes
2:19
SPEAKER_02: and all these other things he's getting.
2:20
SPEAKER_02: He very rarely mentions his ability in the ring.
2:23
SPEAKER_02: Not saying he hasn't got ability.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: He clearly has a lot of athletic ability.
2:27
SPEAKER_02: But can he tick those boxes, those sort of tangibles?
2:31
SPEAKER_02: Has he got the heart?
2:32
SPEAKER_02: He clearly has.
2:33
SPEAKER_02: Has he got the stamina?
2:34
SPEAKER_02: Has he got the minerals?
2:35
SPEAKER_02: Is he as fit as he needs to be?
2:37
SPEAKER_02: Can he take a shot?
2:38
SPEAKER_02: We don't know about these things, but I'm starting to see a jigsaw puzzle start to emerge now.
2:42
SPEAKER_02: Because early on, you could tell Wallace was too slow.
2:45
SPEAKER_02: He was trading on his durability.
2:46
SPEAKER_02: He was in defensive mode, always on the heels, throwing a few pouring shots, looking to escape.
2:51
SPEAKER_02: He was trying to win a boxing match.
2:53
SPEAKER_02: It was a pressure game that Wallace needed.
2:55
SPEAKER_02: And soon as he put it onto Whittaker,
2:57
SPEAKER_02: We saw what Whittaker had and those viral moments are just going to disappear.
3:01
SPEAKER_02: They're going to dissipate because it's about doing it in the ring.
3:04
SPEAKER_02: Eddie Hearn's not stupid.
3:06
SPEAKER_02: It's show, don't tell in boxing.
3:07
SPEAKER_02: You can talk about people's followings all you want.
3:10
SPEAKER_02: But when push comes to shove,
3:11
SPEAKER_02: people will see that 12th round there holding on for absolute dear life.
3:16
SPEAKER_02: It probably should have been a 10 out in the final round.
3:17
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what the referee was doing.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
3:22
SPEAKER_00: and I also think that like there's a weird thing with Whitaker where he's talked
3:25
SPEAKER_00: about like a social media fighter,
3:27
SPEAKER_00: yet he is an Olympic silver medalist and he has marquee wins as an amateur.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: Yet it's almost like he embraces this side of boxing that maybe purists don't.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's the contrast worm is he's like, I'm all in on doing dances and elaborate walkouts.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: But there's a part of me that pisses me off when you have a long, elaborate walkout.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: You hurt a guy seemingly in the third round,
3:49
SPEAKER_00: and then you decide to just kind of laze around for nine rounds.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: And the next consequential action comes from the guy
3:55
SPEAKER_00: that you had basically every physical advantage over.
4:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's a kind of a misfits element,
4:02
SPEAKER_02: which is silly because he is an Olympian and he's a very good fighter.
4:05
SPEAKER_02: But they're talking about him like he's a 21-year-old prospect.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: He's 29 years of age, I think it is now.
4:10
SPEAKER_02: So Eddie's definitely trying to squeeze the juices out of him.
4:13
SPEAKER_02: Given his marketability, but they know they're going to have to tread carefully.
4:16
SPEAKER_02: That's probably why he sidestepped the domestic rivals.
4:19
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying he would necessarily,
4:20
SPEAKER_02: it's guaranteed he would lose to an Anthony Yard,
4:23
SPEAKER_02: given his current state,
4:24
SPEAKER_02: or Joshua Boazzi,
4:25
SPEAKER_02: given what we've seen of him,
4:26
SPEAKER_02: or even a Willie Hutchinson or the other fellow who Hutchinson beat
4:30
SPEAKER_02: in his last fight, whose name escapes me right now.
4:32
SPEAKER_02: But they sidestepped those fights and they've manoeuvred him carefully.
4:36
SPEAKER_02: And he's looked like a puncher in his last few fights since the Liam Cameron rematch.
4:40
SPEAKER_02: But the time's going to come now to step up to that big level
4:43
SPEAKER_02: and people are talking bivols and whatever,
4:45
SPEAKER_02: but he's going to have to ditch that misfits element and Bellew's calling him
4:49
SPEAKER_02: the best six-round fighter in world boxing.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: What does that even mean?
4:56
SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess I'll go with the literal and just say,
4:59
SPEAKER_00: I guess he's just the best six-round boxer in world boxing.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: It's just an ism.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: But I like what Toker said on the program this week
5:08
SPEAKER_00: that maybe he would fight like Boatze Hutchinson,
5:11
SPEAKER_00: the winner of that fight,
5:12
SPEAKER_00: because that does feel like the logical next progression of his career.
5:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it does.
5:18
SPEAKER_02: But I think they'll look for,
5:20
SPEAKER_02: I think they'll probably expect Bivol to maybe drop the IBF title
5:23
SPEAKER_02: and maybe he can get a vacant or something.
5:24
SPEAKER_02: I think that's probably what they're doing.
5:26
SPEAKER_02: I don't think they'll fight the winner of Hutchinson-Bowatze,
5:28
SPEAKER_02: who are both under contract to Frank Warren as well, as far as I know.
5:31
SPEAKER_02: So I'm not sure how logical that is.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean,
5:36
SPEAKER_00: I guess I'm just now in this illogical sense of boxing where I'm not even thinking
5:40
SPEAKER_00: about the business anymore.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm just looking at matchups because it just feels like we're boxing is a going out
5:45
SPEAKER_00: of business sale week in, week out.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: Talk to me about this undercard because I got opinions on fights on the undercard,
5:51
SPEAKER_00: but let's just breeze through this undercard.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: In my opinion,
5:53
SPEAKER_00: it wasn't there wasn't a lot of super notable action here,
5:57
SPEAKER_00: but I did make notes on this undercard because I'm basically a loser when it comes
6:01
SPEAKER_00: to boxing.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: So I'm curious to get your thoughts on this undercard.
6:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think Bilal Fawaz looked good.
6:08
SPEAKER_02: He's got a good story.
6:09
SPEAKER_02: He's durable.
6:10
SPEAKER_02: He's awkward.
6:11
SPEAKER_02: Ethan James is in the puncher and he gets stopped when he steps up in levels,
6:14
SPEAKER_02: which was borne out tonight.
6:16
SPEAKER_02: I think Hamza Udin looked good.
6:18
SPEAKER_02: Needs to sort of iron out the rough stuff a little bit, hitting people when they're down.
6:23
SPEAKER_02: Bruce is tough, but he's not on that kind of level.
6:26
SPEAKER_02: What else did I watch?
6:28
SPEAKER_02: The guy who was in the sort of chief supporting role.
6:31
SPEAKER_02: I'm not really sure what they see about him.
6:33
SPEAKER_02: Maybe he was nervous,
6:34
SPEAKER_02: but it looked like he was breathing heavy after the first couple of rounds,
6:36
SPEAKER_02: that Kamara.
6:37
SPEAKER_02: So I don't know what they're going to do with him, but it's early days.
6:40
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it was a decent enough fight card altogether.
6:44
SPEAKER_02: The crowd seemed to be invested in it.
6:45
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I pretty much watched as much as you did, Lukie.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: So like my thing with like putting a pro debut or in the co-feature is you're kind
6:54
SPEAKER_00: of setting a young guy up to fail.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: I've never really remembered that being a good one.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: I remember Mark Castro was put as a co-feature a while back for his pro debut.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: And it just feels like maybe I'm old school this way,
7:06
SPEAKER_00: but you'd rather a guy make a pro debut and a few people in the crowd and get
7:10
SPEAKER_00: the reps in and just kind of learn on the job rather than having to be
7:13
SPEAKER_00: on these big stages and dealing with the anxiety of the stages.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: My standout was I'm probably going to say the name all wrong because I had it on mute.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: I was in a phone call,
7:21
SPEAKER_00: but Udon,
7:23
SPEAKER_00: the flyweight,
7:24
SPEAKER_00: really impressed me in terms of normally when I watch British fights,
7:28
SPEAKER_00: and I don't know if this is right or wrong of me,
7:29
SPEAKER_00: but I think a British level,
7:31
SPEAKER_00: and then I think a world-class level,
7:32
SPEAKER_00: and he looked like a guy that could actually compete at another level.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: How far he goes,
7:36
SPEAKER_00: I don't know,
7:37
SPEAKER_00: but I went into this fight and thought this was almost a competitive bout,
7:42
SPEAKER_00: and he actually ended up stopping him.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: I thought the Suleiman fight It also was interesting, but the wrong way interesting.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: It felt like he was on track to lose the fight and righted the ship
7:51
SPEAKER_00: with physical ability kind of coordination and stuff.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: But that felt like,
7:55
SPEAKER_00: you know,
7:56
SPEAKER_00: in a monster movie when the when you see a foreshadowing of the monster coming
8:00
SPEAKER_00: to get someone or the door left open.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: That was kind of my big takeaway.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: And then Adam Maka was a guy that I'd never seen before.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: And he just screams of being a guy that when they step him up, it's going to be hard.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be hard for Adam Maka.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: That was in my notes, too.
8:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I didn't catch the Maka fight tonight.
8:19
SPEAKER_02: He's okay.
8:20
SPEAKER_02: Aaron Bowien, I think he did a good job against Baptiste as well.
8:23
SPEAKER_02: I forgot about the Spider-Sullivan fight.
8:24
SPEAKER_02: I think he showed a lot of bottle late on to land some hard,
8:27
SPEAKER_02: accurate shots to turn that fight against Hardy around.
8:30
SPEAKER_02: Yes, Spider-Sulloman's been separating himself a lot in the past from guys.
8:35
SPEAKER_02: So to see him step up a little bit in levels and maybe it was a closer fight
8:39
SPEAKER_02: than people expected.
8:40
SPEAKER_02: But as for Udin, yeah, Bruce, I expected Udin to maybe do a job like that.
8:46
SPEAKER_02: Bruce is OK, good, solid British champion.
8:48
SPEAKER_02: But I think Udin's destined for bigger and better things, actually.
8:51
SPEAKER_02: So that didn't surprise me so much, that one.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: That one just,
8:55
SPEAKER_00: I guess,
8:56
SPEAKER_00: maybe I didn't really think Juden was going to be that good of a fighter,
8:59
SPEAKER_00: and I thought Bruce was just a physically tough guy that could take you into
9:02
SPEAKER_00: the big nasties deep waters,
9:05
SPEAKER_00: you know,
9:06
SPEAKER_00: and you never want to go to those big nasty deep waters,
9:08
SPEAKER_00: especially when you're a flyweight,
9:09
SPEAKER_00: that's heavyweight deep waters, that could be bad.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: And the fact that he did that was really impressive.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: I'll just run through quick notes before we go into next week because it kind
9:19
SPEAKER_00: of sums up boxing as a whole that you can sum up the week of action
9:23
SPEAKER_00: in 10 minutes is kind of boxing in a nutshell right now.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: But Omari Jones in America got a second round stoppage over Alan Sanchez.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: Didn't love the stoppage.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I've grown up around Sanchez for about 14 years.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: Felt kind of rushed.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: It felt like it was inevitable that Omari would win the fight.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: But I feel like there's this narrative around Omari Jones that he can't punch.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: And man, do we rush to judgment with young fighters, especially Olympians.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: You know, last year he's knocking everybody out.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: This year he wants to take a lot of fights, good records.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: This fight he gets a knockout, you know.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm sure people will say he's a puncher for whatever reason,
10:03
SPEAKER_00: even though it was kind of a weird stoppage.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: I was just curious if you have any type of feeling of Omari Jones at this point,
10:09
SPEAKER_00: like an Olympian that has some traction in America.
10:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I saw the fight.
10:14
SPEAKER_02: I saw the whole card, actually.
10:16
SPEAKER_02: I like what I see from Jones.
10:17
SPEAKER_02: He's definitely got a hometown following,
10:18
SPEAKER_02: which helps,
10:19
SPEAKER_02: you know,
10:20
SPEAKER_02: when you have that buzz in the crowd,
10:21
SPEAKER_02: it makes you more invested in someone, I think.
10:24
SPEAKER_02: So I like that.
10:25
SPEAKER_02: He's definitely impressive.
10:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he's tall.
10:26
SPEAKER_02: He stands up.
10:27
SPEAKER_02: Good job.
10:28
SPEAKER_02: Like any prospect, we don't know everything about him until he's tested.
10:32
SPEAKER_02: And I thought you could kind of tell early on that Sanchez,
10:35
SPEAKER_02: he didn't have much physical definition, maybe even less of a chance.
10:39
SPEAKER_02: And once Jones took that centre ring and he showed that he was the dominant fighter,
10:42
SPEAKER_02: I'm the guy on the way up.
10:44
SPEAKER_02: There are levels between us.
10:45
SPEAKER_02: Our careers are going in different directions.
10:47
SPEAKER_02: He made that statement straight away.
10:49
SPEAKER_02: And I think Sanchez kind of knew his role.
10:51
SPEAKER_02: I agree with you on the stoppage.
10:52
SPEAKER_02: I thought maybe a count for leaning into the ropes could have been more appropriate.
10:56
SPEAKER_02: And referee Christopher Young does annoy me when he grabs hold of fighters
10:58
SPEAKER_02: after they've been stopped, especially when they're not wobbling and rocking around.
11:01
SPEAKER_02: But anyway, that's a side point.
11:04
SPEAKER_02: I think as soon as Jones stopped playing,
11:07
SPEAKER_02: unleashed the heavy shots,
11:09
SPEAKER_02: we saw a man in Sanchez who maybe had a little bit of ambition to survive.
11:14
SPEAKER_02: I like a conclusive finish.
11:16
SPEAKER_02: I don't like, oh, the writing was on the wall, X, Y or Z was going to happen anyway.
11:20
SPEAKER_02: But I think in this case,
11:21
SPEAKER_02: Sanchez,
11:22
SPEAKER_02: he might have survived that count, but he was going to get banged out soon after.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: It's 2021.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: I watched an amateur tournament and did an interview with him.
11:35
SPEAKER_00: And that's neither here nor there.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: But I guess you have a little bit more emotional investment.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: And it feels like people are quick to say he has an amateur style.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: I think his fighting style, they allude to in the telecast, comes from a karate background.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: He's got a little bit of that.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: But I've also thought that he's done a good job adjusting to the pros.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: You can sit on his shots.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: He's just chosen to fight this year some tough guys.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: And when you fight tough guys,
11:59
SPEAKER_00: especially as a young pro,
12:00
SPEAKER_00: unless you're a generational puncher, you don't typically get the knockouts.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: I felt like for this one also, for a broadcast head dude, Alan Sanchez is a backfoot boxer.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: He's a pure boxer.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: And the idea that he's a pressure fighter,
12:16
SPEAKER_00: nothing about this fight showed that he's a pressure fighter.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: His biggest win against Pablo Cesar Cano came off of the backfoot.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: So I felt like...
12:24
SPEAKER_00: That was a little bit of a misstep, too,
12:26
SPEAKER_00: is talking about how Sanchez is your traditional Mexican fighter when he's kind of
12:31
SPEAKER_00: the guy you bring in to go rounds and be tricky.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: I think he gave Luis Colazo maybe a tough fight back in the early PBC days.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, that's a long time ago.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: But I was impressed with Jones.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: What did you think of the bantamweight Jordan Orozco
12:43
SPEAKER_00: and his godly perfect knockout record of 18 straight knockouts in this fight
12:48
SPEAKER_00: that he had?
12:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was definitely set up for him.
12:51
SPEAKER_02: I think, like, wasn't it his birthday or something as well?
12:54
SPEAKER_02: And he'd had all those knockouts and then the opponent was kind of outboxing him a little bit.
12:59
SPEAKER_02: I was sort of half watching it with the commentary.
13:00
SPEAKER_02: I could hear them saying that he was winning round after round.
13:04
SPEAKER_02: And then eventually Orozco caught up with him and managed to keep the streak going.
13:08
SPEAKER_02: But if someone like the Cuban fella can outbox him like that,
13:11
SPEAKER_02: then maybe someone at a higher level can outbox him too.
13:13
SPEAKER_02: So we'll give Orozco his win.
13:15
SPEAKER_02: We'll give him his birthday celebrations.
13:17
SPEAKER_02: But going forward...
13:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, maybe he needs to do a little bit more,
13:20
SPEAKER_02: otherwise he's going to find himself maybe outboxed.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
13:23
SPEAKER_00: it just screams that he's a guy that any good boxer is going to want to fight
13:28
SPEAKER_00: because he has a perfect record with a bunch of knockout wins.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: And it just seemed like he's been largely untested.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: And it seemed like he was struggling to figure out how to cut the ring off in this fight.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: And it basically looked like...
13:41
SPEAKER_00: Let me get the guy's name because I shouldn't just say a random name for him.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: But I have it in my notes because I'm...
13:51
SPEAKER_00: Usenel Abrahante was clearly outboxing him and it appeared like he hurt his hand
13:57
SPEAKER_00: or hurt his shoulder.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: And basically an injury that occurred stopped the fight for him.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: He didn't want to fight through an injury, which...
14:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think boxing has a bad history of being like, oh man, that guy's not tough.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: He won't fight with a broken jaw.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: And I think it should probably be the opposite.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: Like, wow, what a tough guy.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: He's fighting with a broken jaw because I think if you and me were fighting with
14:17
SPEAKER_00: a broken jaw, we'd just call it a day.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: And to be honest, it was a very unsatisfying ending to a fight.
14:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think on that point, you have to look at fighters over a period of time.
14:45
SPEAKER_02: You know,
14:45
SPEAKER_02: people talk about Mikey Garcia bailing out against Orlando Salido
14:48
SPEAKER_02: or Vitaly Klitschko bailing out against Chris Bird,
14:51
SPEAKER_02: but it turns out to be one-off in their careers.
14:53
SPEAKER_02: If they do it all the time,
14:54
SPEAKER_02: then we get more of a picture about what kind of guy they are,
14:56
SPEAKER_02: what kind of fighter they are.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: But I think when it happens once,
15:00
SPEAKER_02: we have to give them the benefit of the doubt and look at their career as a whole.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree with that.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: Also...
15:08
SPEAKER_00: Fairly, a fairly decent upset on the undercard.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: We had, what's his name?
15:15
SPEAKER_00: Man, the struggle podcast for me with names today.
15:19
SPEAKER_00: Fidencio Hernandez won a majority decision over Diego Nieves.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: And my guy, Dante Lane, super middleweight.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely love him.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: I think if he could get active, he's a really promising guy.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Also on the red owl card for the super sickos, junior lightweight.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: Deontay Brown had a win.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: But I'm going to tell you that really just felt like the definition of a stay busy win.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to see more from Brown, to be quite honest.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: I believe he was the lead sparring partner for Oshaki Foster against Ray Ford.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: He's kind of right in the mix with a good record to possibly get a compelling name.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: And it just felt like this fight could have happened anywhere in America,
15:57
SPEAKER_00: whether it was on TV or not.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: And I feel a guy in that position, I want to see a little bit more urgency.
16:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's fair.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: Deontay Brown, I think he was fighting a guy called Padilla.
16:09
SPEAKER_02: I have it ready in my list, but I haven't got around to that one yet.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, is it worth a watch, do you think?
16:14
SPEAKER_02: Or maybe let that one slip by?
16:17
SPEAKER_00: I'd skim it.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: I'd watch the sixth round.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: This is real sicko boxing guy talk, by the way.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: But the sixth round is the round that I thought I wanted to see more from Brown in,
16:26
SPEAKER_00: so I'd watch that in the sixth round.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, the whole show as a whole, I think Red Owl does a good job.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: I really like the telecast,
16:33
SPEAKER_00: actually, with Brian Cohen and Corey Erdman, I thought, did a phenomenal job.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: But I think they're kind of struggling to find their identity is,
16:42
SPEAKER_00: are they a prospect testing ground or do they develop fighters?
16:46
SPEAKER_00: I think that I'm having trouble watching these shows and understanding what it is.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: It reminds me of an old school Southern pro wrestling company.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: And I kind of enjoy the quirk in a more corporate boxing circumstance,
16:59
SPEAKER_00: but I'm also someone that looks at fights and goes,
17:02
SPEAKER_00: where does this fighter go from here?
17:04
SPEAKER_00: And Naomi Cordenis was the only fighter on the card where I see a clear path forward.
17:14
SPEAKER_02: Fair enough.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now to more interesting stuff.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: This coming week, we got Floyd Schofield versus Lucas Boddy.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: We can do tons of analysis, but I'm going to ask you a different question.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: Is this the race to replace Gervonta Tank Davis?
17:30
SPEAKER_00: Tank Davis obviously is a big star.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: He's coming back on social media and staying stuff.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: But are we getting to a point with him out of the ring for almost two years
17:38
SPEAKER_00: where we're now starting to wonder and ask who can be someone that can hold a belt,
17:43
SPEAKER_00: that can be a compelling figure?
17:44
SPEAKER_00: And is any way this matchup in the conversation for that?
17:51
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
17:52
SPEAKER_02: It seems like a weird sort of issue, but.
17:57
SPEAKER_02: Tank had to start somewhere,
17:58
SPEAKER_02: obviously,
17:59
SPEAKER_02: but when he came through and he had the Floyd backing and he was banging people out
18:03
SPEAKER_02: and he knocked out Pedraza and that.
18:05
SPEAKER_02: He looks so impressive.
18:07
SPEAKER_02: I just don't see someone like, say, if Lucas Bardi won the title on Saturday night.
18:10
SPEAKER_02: I just don't see him having that same kind of buzz as Tank Davis.
18:13
SPEAKER_02: I know guys have to start somewhere and whatnot,
18:16
SPEAKER_02: but I was just a massive Tank fan,
18:18
SPEAKER_02: but obviously I've gone off him recently because of his antics and he's a hard guy
18:22
SPEAKER_02: to support these days and he's out for so long.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: He might come back and beat somebody and then he'll disappear again for another 18 months.
18:29
SPEAKER_02: How can you get behind somebody like that,
18:31
SPEAKER_02: even With his out-of-the-ring misdemeanours notwithstanding.
18:34
SPEAKER_02: But I think Floyd Schofield is better placed to sort of not pick up the Tank mantle.
18:39
SPEAKER_02: Because the thing was about Tank, he was just annihilating people.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: Those highlight reel knockouts
18:57
SPEAKER_01: against guys like Leo is what really
18:58
SPEAKER_02: launched him.
18:59
SPEAKER_02: But I like Floyd Schofield.
19:01
SPEAKER_02: I like a lot of what he's about.
19:02
SPEAKER_02: I like the way he dealt with Tevin Farmer so comprehensively
19:05
SPEAKER_02: after Farmer had had good fights with Zepeda and Murataya.
19:08
SPEAKER_02: So he's definitely better placed to become a star.
19:11
SPEAKER_02: And I think it'd be better for boxing if he won and better for the division if he won.
19:16
SPEAKER_02: But I do expect him to win as well.
19:18
SPEAKER_02: But as for replacing Tank,
19:20
SPEAKER_02: I think both of these guys have got a long way to go to sort of get to that level at
19:24
SPEAKER_02: the moment.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: Stylistically, who do you favor in this fight?
19:32
SPEAKER_02: Schofield, I think.
19:34
SPEAKER_02: Bardi, I think if he gets close to people and is able to let his big shots go,
19:37
SPEAKER_02: I think he's a problem.
19:39
SPEAKER_02: If I remember rightly, I know the Silv fight was a long time ago, but Silv was doing well.
19:44
SPEAKER_02: He was winning the boxing match, and then Bardi caught him.
19:47
SPEAKER_02: I saw one of Bardi's fights a couple of fights ago.
19:49
SPEAKER_02: I think it was against a Filipino guy.
19:51
SPEAKER_02: Maybe based in Canada, I can't remember his name.
19:54
SPEAKER_02: And it's pretty run-of-the-mill stuff.
19:56
SPEAKER_02: I just think Floyd Schofield's probably just going to be too fast and as long
19:59
SPEAKER_02: as he stays switched on.
20:00
SPEAKER_02: I think he'll win a 12-round decision,
20:02
SPEAKER_02: even though he's a bit of a puncher and he's got those fast twitch movements,
20:05
SPEAKER_02: which he showed against Farmer.
20:07
SPEAKER_02: I think Bardi is durable enough.
20:09
SPEAKER_02: I haven't seen anything from him to suggest that he's chinny.
20:11
SPEAKER_02: Or that he can't take a shot.
20:13
SPEAKER_02: But if the stoppage came, I wouldn't be surprised because I think Schofield is a good fighter.
20:17
SPEAKER_02: But I'll play it safe.
20:18
SPEAKER_02: I think he wins on points.
20:20
SPEAKER_02: And I think it's better if he wins as well.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: So my analysis that I've said and I'll say all week is body reminds me of Claudio Moreo.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: And he reminds me of Moreo when he fought Xavier Martinez,
20:33
SPEAKER_00: a fighter I knew from my area in the sense that like he'll lose eight rounds to you.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: He'll spot you eight rounds,
20:39
SPEAKER_00: but he's banking so much on his power that he waits to kind of get you used
20:44
SPEAKER_00: to doing things with him.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: And then he's going to take his chance.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: And he believes so much in his power that he's going to take his chance.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: But I think the problem with body is He has a very low punch output.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: And he gets into a habit of just waiting and believing.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: And it feels to me this is a fight you kind of said it is.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: It's about Floyd Schofield's mental folkness, right?
21:06
SPEAKER_00: With Whitaker, he lost focus in the late rounds.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it was fatigue.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it wasn't as fun.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it didn't come easy.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: Schofield can't have lapses.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: And I think what intrigues me and makes this fight so fun
21:16
SPEAKER_00: to me is Rene Telly's Garan did knock him down.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: And if he gives body that moment, body from what I've heard in the gyms is such a puncher.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: You might not get up from it.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: So I think that for me,
21:31
SPEAKER_00: this is kind of like the shark in the water fight where there's the shark in
21:35
SPEAKER_00: the water, but the guy has a nice boat.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: But like you're wondering,
21:38
SPEAKER_00: is he going to dangle over the edge too close and get bit by the shark?
21:41
SPEAKER_00: That's the way I look at this fight.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's enough intrigue where I'm pretty all in.
21:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think that's a perfect analogy.
21:49
SPEAKER_02: And if Floyd stays focused, then yeah, he'll win the fight.
21:52
SPEAKER_02: Bardi.
21:54
SPEAKER_02: He's got to throw caution to the wind.
21:55
SPEAKER_02: He's got to do what Connor Wallace did tonight in that 10th, 11th, 12th round and go for it.
21:58
SPEAKER_02: But I don't think he's got it in him.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: So I think we're in agreement for Schofield to win.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: Notes on the undercard.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: We got Ricardo Sandoval taking on our guy, Sergio Mendoza.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: It comes after he was going to fight Oscar Colazo.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: I personally thought he was going to beat Oscar Colazo
22:17
SPEAKER_00: because I just think moving up in weight classes and fighting a bigger,
22:21
SPEAKER_00: more physical fighter in your first outing is probably not a good move.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: That might be controversial.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: Who knows what people think.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: But to me,
22:28
SPEAKER_00: this just screams of Sandoval is going to make a title defense against a guy
22:32
SPEAKER_00: on short notice to stay on the card.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: But it's not all that compelling.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: But I respect it that he's staying on the card.
22:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, that's good.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: It's a shame.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: I think that Colazo, I think he got a rib injury or something in the end.
22:44
SPEAKER_02: And he's obviously starved of big fight opportunities down at minimum weight.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: So fair play to him for moving up a couple of weight classes.
22:53
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it's Sandoval.
22:55
SPEAKER_02: I expect he'll be a favorite to win this.
22:57
SPEAKER_02: But it's a shame the Colazo fight fell through.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: How good is Colazo on a deeper philosophical level?
23:04
SPEAKER_00: Because I always think to myself,
23:06
SPEAKER_00: Agat Cabell has a hell of a record, and there's a couple other guys out there.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: Even my guy Yabuki has a pretty good record.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: But Colazo's been this consensus, hey, let's put him in the pound for pound.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: And the more he's inactive and the more he doesn't chase unifications,
23:21
SPEAKER_00: the more I start to question it.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he's got some big wins, but I'll throw to you, how good do you think he is currently?
23:29
SPEAKER_02: I think he's very good.
23:30
SPEAKER_02: I think he's very sizable compared to, was it Niamh Trong?
23:36
SPEAKER_02: I think he beat up on that Riyadh card and Niamh Trong had had a close fight
23:40
SPEAKER_02: with somebody before.
23:41
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to remember all the guys now,
23:42
SPEAKER_02: but he kind of was showing that he was fading a little bit
23:45
SPEAKER_02: and Kalaza just absolutely bullied him.
23:46
SPEAKER_02: So until he steps up and gets those unifications,
23:51
SPEAKER_02: which I would have liked to have seen him taken as well,
23:53
SPEAKER_02: Or steps up and fights someone like a Sandoval.
23:56
SPEAKER_02: We don't really know how good he is,
23:57
SPEAKER_02: but from what I see on the eye test,
24:00
SPEAKER_02: opponents notwithstanding, he's a very good fighter.
24:03
SPEAKER_02: I think he punches so precisely and he dominates people.
24:08
SPEAKER_02: I really do like him.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people in Puerto Rico compare them to Chocolatito so
24:15
SPEAKER_00: that they don't just throw around praise like that from any guys.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to throw three undercard fighters at you.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: You tell me how interested you are.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: My guy, Jamal Harvey, Joshua Edwards, and Grant Flores.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: Of those three, which ones do you have to see?
24:30
SPEAKER_02: Joshua Edwards, I think.
24:32
SPEAKER_02: I like the way he's being moved.
24:35
SPEAKER_02: Everybody loves a heavyweight, don't they?
24:36
SPEAKER_02: And if he's going to continue to knock people out.
24:38
SPEAKER_02: I saw him fighting some guy.
24:39
SPEAKER_02: I can't remember the guy's name, to be honest, a few fights ago.
24:41
SPEAKER_02: But he was seriously out of shape.
24:43
SPEAKER_02: Joshua Edwards did what you do against those kind of guys.
24:46
SPEAKER_02: Just annihilated him.
24:47
SPEAKER_02: And he's been kept active as well.
24:49
SPEAKER_02: And he's under Oscar's supervision, whether that's a plus or a minus these days.
24:54
SPEAKER_02: Who knows what kind of mental shape Oscar's in.
24:58
SPEAKER_02: But if he's switched on and focused, then hopefully he can guide Edwards to the top.
25:04
SPEAKER_02: It's early days, but he's doing what you're supposed to do against those level of opposition.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: Jamal Harvey...
25:11
SPEAKER_02: I definitely saw him fight recently against somebody,
25:14
SPEAKER_02: but again, there's that many fights going on.
25:16
SPEAKER_02: I can't for the life of me remember who he was fighting, but I was impressed with him.
25:19
SPEAKER_02: I thought he looked pretty good.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, to me, Harvey's a future star.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's the standout guy of the 2024 Olympics.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: He fought on the Manda Serrano card that happened on TikTok,
25:30
SPEAKER_00: which was terrifying for someone my age.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: I had to try to figure out how to use TikTok until I found out it was on YouTube,
25:38
SPEAKER_00: which was actually much a delight.
25:40
SPEAKER_00: But he knocked out a guy.
25:42
SPEAKER_00: And the tough thing with Jamal is,
25:43
SPEAKER_00: to be perfectly honest,
25:44
SPEAKER_00: knowing some behind-the-scenes details,
25:46
SPEAKER_00: he's trying to fight undefeated prospects, and they're not fighting him.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: So...
25:51
SPEAKER_00: He's faced some criticism for his opposition, but he's willing to make these fights.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: I think he's really, really good.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: I think Grant Flores is someone you should be watching because he has,
26:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying he's Virgil Ortiz,
26:02
SPEAKER_00: but he has a level of being a great Mexican pressure fighter.
26:06
SPEAKER_00: Who has a willingness to take hard fights and is kind of stepped up every time I've seen him.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: I saw him in person January 2025 and he was definitely the most notable fighter on
26:17
SPEAKER_00: an Eric Priest Golden Boy card.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: So I think that he's worth noting for me Edwards is probably the lowest priority of those three.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: Not that anyone cares.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: It's just my show just because I think.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: He feels a bit undersized.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: There's talent and they're moving him,
26:33
SPEAKER_00: but he almost feels like every heavyweight we've had in America recently
26:37
SPEAKER_00: where you question if they're a heavyweight or a cruiserweight.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: And it's not necessarily the scale number.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: It's just kind of an eye test thing where you go,
26:45
SPEAKER_00: are you a cruiserweight or are you a heavyweight?
26:47
SPEAKER_00: And it feels like America lately,
26:49
SPEAKER_00: we have kind of these guys that would be perfect for bridge or weight.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like Edwards kind of feels like that to me.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: And I always,
26:55
SPEAKER_00: when he was an amateur,
26:57
SPEAKER_00: Remember, I think it was 2019 Eastern Qualifiers Amateur Tournament.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: He's always reminded me of Steve Cunningham a lot.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: And I think that also kind of shades me to the cruiserweight comparison
27:08
SPEAKER_00: because Steve was such a successful cruiserweight.
27:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you mentioned the B word there, bridger weight.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: Obviously,
27:16
SPEAKER_02: it's sort of a bit of a dirty word in some boxing circles,
27:19
SPEAKER_02: but there's definitely moves to try and bridge that gap for want of
27:22
SPEAKER_02: a better expression.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: I know the British Board of Boxing Control have brought in like
27:25
SPEAKER_02: a light cruiser weight or something,
27:27
SPEAKER_02: I think it is, to try and tighten things up as well.
27:30
SPEAKER_02: But whether they'll take off or not, I don't know.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: It depends whether the matchups are compelling.
27:33
SPEAKER_02: But there's definitely got to be something done about it because
27:35
SPEAKER_02: the weight disparity between some of the guys is just ridiculous.
27:38
SPEAKER_02: And especially when you get from cruiserweight to heavyweight or
27:41
SPEAKER_02: from light heavyweight to cruiserweight as well.
27:42
SPEAKER_02: There's such a big jump.
27:43
SPEAKER_02: Something needs to be done.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean,
27:46
SPEAKER_00: just imagine like you could fight a guy 40 pounds bigger than you and
27:50
SPEAKER_00: that would be like a basically a super middleweight fighting a 130 pounder.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: But because you're a heavyweight, people go, ah, that's nothing.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: You're like, ah, that's normal.
28:01
SPEAKER_02: Look at Deontay Wilder.
28:02
SPEAKER_02: He was significantly lower in weight than many of his opponents.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it's all about...
28:10
SPEAKER_00: How you get the job done.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Two last things because I got to jump onto the next podcast I'm doing,
28:15
SPEAKER_00: but we're going to finish this out properly.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: Astley's Iglesias.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: He is my favorite right now.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: I feel as though he doesn't get enough praise because he's all substance, no style.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: And in this modern world, just being a great world champion who seemingly passes the eye test.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's a dark horse candidate to be
28:33
SPEAKER_00: a number one pound for pound level guy.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: Just based on what I'm seeing, the performances, the type of guys he's fighting.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: He's fighting Zoran.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if you have any any invested interest in this fight, but I am super excited.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you my thoughts.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: I don't think Zoran really has a chance because I watched tape on him
28:49
SPEAKER_00: and it seems like he just likes going forward.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: And that doesn't seem like the move against Iglesias is to be the guy that's trying
28:54
SPEAKER_00: to dictate going forward.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: It feels like you're going to walk into a check right hook.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you this matchup.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: How do you feel?
29:00
SPEAKER_00: And Iglesias, what's your excitement level?
29:05
SPEAKER_02: I agree with you on Zoran.
29:06
SPEAKER_02: I've seen a little bit of him because he was a Sowerland fighter on UK cards.
29:11
SPEAKER_02: He is a guy who's going to come forward, throw shots very straight.
29:16
SPEAKER_02: I think Iglesias will probably beat him up and get rid of him after
29:19
SPEAKER_02: a few reasonable early rounds between the two, get rid of him in about nine rounds.
29:23
SPEAKER_02: I like Arslas Iglesias.
29:26
SPEAKER_02: I think he's the good.
29:27
SPEAKER_02: I honestly do.
29:28
SPEAKER_02: I think he's 40%.
29:29
SPEAKER_02: A lot of guys with similar styles, I think, which is maybe a bit of an issue.
29:32
SPEAKER_02: I think it was Ivanov, Svedenko, Shishkin, whoever the last guy was.
29:37
SPEAKER_02: I think it was Pavel Sasulin he fought last.
29:39
SPEAKER_02: All these Eastern European guys,
29:41
SPEAKER_02: as Floyd Mayweather used to say, straight top and down, no special effects.
29:45
SPEAKER_02: We need to see Iglesias fighting someone...
29:47
SPEAKER_02: With a different look, I think.
29:49
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I wouldn't like to inflict William Scull upon the world,
29:51
SPEAKER_02: but somebody is going to move a little bit,
29:53
SPEAKER_02: fast hands, fast feet, maybe show him something a little bit different.
29:57
SPEAKER_02: I don't think Zarin punches hard enough to keep him off him.
29:59
SPEAKER_02: He hasn't got the job of Michael Kessler to keep him off him either.
30:02
SPEAKER_02: I think the bout could be pretty exciting because Zarin is going to go for it for
30:05
SPEAKER_02: as long as it lasts.
30:06
SPEAKER_02: But Iglesias, he reminds me of Johan Pablo Hernandez.
30:09
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if any of the listeners remember him.
30:11
SPEAKER_02: A cruiserweight from the early 2000s.
30:12
SPEAKER_02: You mentioned Steve Cunningham earlier.
30:14
SPEAKER_02: Yep, had some good fights with Hernandez.
30:16
SPEAKER_02: He was a skilled southpaw, very fast, punched very hard.
30:20
SPEAKER_02: But he was maybe a little bit chinny, maybe a little bit weak on the defensive side of things.
30:25
SPEAKER_02: But as for Iglesias, so far, he's just showed all the moves.
30:28
SPEAKER_02: I mean, when he hit that Shvedenko, wasn't it where he sent him like twitching on the canvas?
30:31
SPEAKER_02: Those are the kind of things that get people interested.
30:33
SPEAKER_02: And the main guys are going to avoid him.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: And for good reason at the moment, because I really like the look of him.
30:39
SPEAKER_02: And I like those eye of the tiger cards as well.
30:41
SPEAKER_02: So I'll definitely be tuning into this one.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: What I also like about him is it seems like he can win a fight two ways.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: He could win a fight going backwards and he can win a fight going forwards.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people mention Yoleni Hernandez.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm not as high on him because he feels like one speed, one direction.
30:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure he can win on the back foot.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: What's impressed me about Iglesias is, yes,
31:00
SPEAKER_00: he has power,
31:01
SPEAKER_00: but we've seen against Shishkin, he picked his spots to box in that fight.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: That wasn't just an all-out aggressive fight.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: And I think that he's a truly dangerous fighter.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: And I think the highest compliment to him is no one's like, yeah, I want to fight Iglesias.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: Like you don't hear one guy calling him out.
31:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for good reason.
31:24
SPEAKER_02: He's a titleist now.
31:25
SPEAKER_02: He's got the IBF, the IBO, no matter what people put stock in that.
31:28
SPEAKER_02: But you would think they would be ready to fight him.
31:31
SPEAKER_02: But no, I think it's going to be difficult to match him, to be honest.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: I also think that he's fought that one style because there's a part of me
31:38
SPEAKER_00: that believes that those are the guys that will say yes.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: So it's like he's also a victim of, yeah, these are the guys that are going to say yes.
31:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think that's a fair comment.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: Final one on this card is Wilkins Mathieu.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea how good Wilkins Mathieu is.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be perfectly honest with you.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: I am very confused on his ceiling.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: He is taking on our guy, Vladimir Shishkin, the former title holder.
32:05
SPEAKER_00: Some people believe he should have beaten William Skoll.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: This feels like a pretty big jump and a lot of confidence Eye of the Tiger have in Mathieu.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: I've talked to people at Eye of the Tiger and they believe that he has the goods.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't just jump off the page for me.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: So you're a pretty smart boxing guy.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: What are you?
32:24
SPEAKER_02: I like the look of him.
32:25
SPEAKER_02: Maybe I'm biased because I've watched him right from his debut when he was 18
32:28
SPEAKER_02: because of watching these either tiger cards.
32:30
SPEAKER_02: So I've watched him mature.
32:31
SPEAKER_02: Lovely.
32:32
SPEAKER_02: I think his last few fights, he's just got better and better against Shaquille Finn.
32:35
SPEAKER_02: He looked really good in his last fight.
32:37
SPEAKER_02: He fought the Brazilian Falco top of my head.
32:40
SPEAKER_02: I think he stopped Falco in the end.
32:42
SPEAKER_02: Look really good.
32:43
SPEAKER_02: He's putting his shots together.
32:44
SPEAKER_02: Lovely.
32:45
SPEAKER_02: He's just got a bit of maturity about him.
32:47
SPEAKER_02: I think it's going to be one-sided.
32:48
SPEAKER_02: I'm going out on a limb.
32:48
SPEAKER_02: I think he's going to put a bit of a beating on Shishkin and maybe even stop him late.
32:52
SPEAKER_02: I think Shishkin peaked at school and ever since.
32:56
SPEAKER_02: I think Matau is just going to put the latest dent in him straight after Iglesias
32:59
SPEAKER_02: and whoever else.
33:00
SPEAKER_02: I think Matau is a really good fighter and I think he's going to do a job on Shishkin.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: So Steve,
33:08
SPEAKER_00: any others on this card,
33:09
SPEAKER_00: the Eye of the Tiger card that you're looking at that you want?
33:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, shout out to Podrig McCrory.
33:16
SPEAKER_02: I think he's still on the card,
33:17
SPEAKER_02: but I've known Podrig for many,
33:18
SPEAKER_02: many years, right before he turned pro when he was an amateur.
33:21
SPEAKER_02: And he's up against it because he's basically one foot out the door retired
33:24
SPEAKER_02: and he's going in against a beast like Iman Kotaev,
33:27
SPEAKER_02: who punches like a monster,
33:29
SPEAKER_02: went toe-to-toe with Morel,
33:31
SPEAKER_02: has had sort of dodgy substances in the past linked to him as well.
33:35
SPEAKER_02: Podrig ain't got an easy one here in Canada.
33:37
SPEAKER_02: I think if he gets past round three or four, he'll be doing well.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: It's also Lukie's favorite amateur from the 2020 Olympics.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: That's that's an incredible every that he was my number one guy from that Olympics.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm like every fight and Ben Whitaker beat him.
33:53
SPEAKER_00: And I always say after Whitaker beat him,
33:56
SPEAKER_00: Whitaker sat in the ring like it was like a title fight.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: And I always feel like that carried over to his gold medal match
34:01
SPEAKER_00: that he was like emotionally kind of drawn.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: But I like Ketoff a lot, man.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:09
SPEAKER_00: Any final thoughts that you want to say before we get you out of here?
34:12
SPEAKER_00: It's been a fantastic year.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: You made a fantastic pro debut on the Lukie live Substack.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: I definitely think you're in the running to give Ben Whitaker a case for
34:23
SPEAKER_00: the best six rounder in boxing because this probably fits a six rounder
34:27
SPEAKER_00: and you might be right up there with Ben.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure you had the same hand speed and quirk, but I think you're right up there.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: Any thoughts that you want to put out there?
34:38
SPEAKER_02: No, not really.
34:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's been an interesting weekend.
34:41
SPEAKER_02: Not the best weekend of boxing, but I'm looking forward to fights upcoming.
34:45
SPEAKER_02: And no, thanks for having me on.
34:46
SPEAKER_02: I'll not keep you any longer because I know that you're a man well in demand.
34:49
SPEAKER_02: But yeah,
34:50
SPEAKER_02: if there's any more six rounders or maybe I can even move up to
34:52
SPEAKER_02: an eight rounder next time and give me a shout,
34:55
SPEAKER_02: you know, I can come in at short notice.
34:56
SPEAKER_02: So I'm here.
34:58
SPEAKER_02: Have gloves, we'll travel.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: We're going to give you a half camp.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to bring in an eight rounder,
35:03
SPEAKER_00: but we're going to give you a half camp so you don't get to fully prepare.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: For everyone in the chat, please follow me over to the Good Fight live stream.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be jumping over there.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: You're going to hear more Lukie.
35:13
SPEAKER_00: Support Steve.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: Support his Substack.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: He does great work in boxing.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: I've always enjoyed it.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: The boxing podcast you had a while back was just a ton of fun that I love
35:24
SPEAKER_00: the humor involved in it.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: We need more people like you.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for coming on.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Lukie.
35:30
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, everybody.