Latest / Big Dog Lukie Boxing Podcast / Paywall Podcast: Is Isaac Cruz an elite junior welterweight and three more questions

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Paywall Podcast: Is Isaac Cruz an elite junior welterweight and three more questions · Big Dog Lukie Boxing Podcast

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, we are live.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: It is the paywall podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: If I ever decide to put this program behind a paywall, guess what?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: This is going to be one of the first things that we hide behind a paywall in order
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: for the good folks to tune into.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: But until that day and that day may never come.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: I will be here faithfully.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: And tomorrow I have a little bit busier day than I expected.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I figured, you know, might as well curse tomorrow's way in.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure now someone will wait because normally the paywall podcast is designed
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: for observations.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Around weigh in and final thoughts and anticipations.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know,
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: honestly,
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: I needed a little pick me up with my good friends and I want to do it tonight
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: because tomorrow is just going to be a little bit crazy.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: But every day is crazy and it's boxing.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Every day is crazy.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: So let's check this out.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: One more.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: I've got to make one more post.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: We got people in the chat.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Bob Trager, thank you for joining in.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: I probably said your name horribly.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: I want to...
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: I want to give a huge shout out to anybody coming in.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about first question numero uno,
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: which is to me the most interesting of the questions.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Is Isak Cruz an elite junior welterweight in chat?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'll get to any questions if it gets there.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: But this is something I struggle with.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: And let me look through this like a box wreck hooligan that I am.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: And think through this.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Let me also make sure my audio kind of came in old turkey, assuming I did get the right audio.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes I have like a bad microphone hooked up and I'm in this studio setup
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: that I lease and rent.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't look good.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: But so let's talk about Pitbull Cruz and like kind of the story of Pitbull Cruz,
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: kind of a showbox fighter.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: We fell in love with him with a brilliant fight with Thomas Matisse.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then he wins our hearts over by knocking out Diego Magdaleno.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: And he really looks like a top guy.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: He beats Francisco Vargas, a former champion.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: And we're like, dude, this guy is awesome.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then it happens.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: He fights Gervonta Davis.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: I believe the circumstances.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: He took the fight on late notice.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a meteor.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: He rose to prominence and fame from that point on.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: So...
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: After that point,
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: traditionally a 135-pound fighter,
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: kind of a catchweight fighter,
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: kind of an in-between lightweight and 130-pound fighter,
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: fights Giovanni Cabrera, split decision, wins the fight.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Some people were like, man, that fight was closer than it should be.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's look at his 140 resume.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: When he fought Rolando Romero,
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: 138 pounds weighing in,
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: so under the limit,
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: his best performance arguably of his career stops Roli Romero in that fight.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Then he has the Jose Valenzuela fight, comes in right at the number at 140.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Very, very weird fight, strange fight, split decision.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's probably one of the biggest mega cards of that era.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a co-feature spot.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a star making performance for Jose Valenzuela.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Follows that up with a real lackluster fight with Angel Fierro.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: It was a good action fight in terms of competitiveness.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: But in terms of what you expect from a superstar boxer who's going on this journey,
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: it was a little too competitive.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: And Fierro, I know what beat Alberto Marchado.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: In the past,
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: kind of got to that level, but he really didn't gain momentum after such a big win.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: He had a draw that was very uneventful on his own telecast.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: I believe he had gone through a few trainers.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And this almost on paper looked like a good,
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: exciting fight,
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: but also a very winnable fight for Isak Pitbull Cruz to put himself in position.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: They were supposed to rematch.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Fierro gets pulled from the fight.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Omar Salcido steps in.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: You can't really gain a lot from that.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Cruz came in.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: At 138 pounds.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then for Lamont Roach, he comes in at 138 pounds.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's a draw.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: It was a pretty close fight.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: I thought Roach won.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: So doing some basic math here, he's won three fights.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: He's lost one fight and he's had a draw.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: The question is, is a 5'4 pressure fighter who only has one stoppage win at the division...
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Considered an elite fighter.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: And as someone brought up in the chat,
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: listeners very smart of this program said,
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: you know, he's ranked number 15 and they were kind of surprised.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: And when we look at the 15 ranked fighters in this division,
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: you know, the guys listed above him, of course, Stevenson.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: Keyshawn Davis, totally fine.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Dalton Smith, fine.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Adam Azim, fine.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Antoine Russell, fine.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Arthur Burslinoff, You can make an argument, but I mean, I'm okay with that.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Ernesto Mercado, fine.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Zaire Abdulyev.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: I actually am not that high on him being ranked above Isak Pitbull Crew.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Sabril Matias.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Don't love that either.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Mark Chamberlain.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Don't love that.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Then some guy I've never heard of.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Kreaton Argaba, a Russian fighter, 17-1.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Miliano Vargas, John Fernandez, and John Arobio, and then Isak Pitbull-Cruz.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: Albert Puello is actually ranked 16, 17, Lindolfo Delgado.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: I don't love those rankings at all.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think they're a little all over the place.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: But what I'm saying is...
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Pitbull Cruz has a large name in the sport.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: He's arguably and possibly the most famous Mexican fighter in
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: the world right now that's not named Canelo Alvarez.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: That being said...
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Is he truly a 140-pound fighter?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: What made him a great fighter, at least to me, and what do I know?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you don't answer that in the chat just yet.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: He was known for guts, determination, and a lot of power that would overwhelm people.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: He literally fought like a pit bull,
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: aggressive, relentless, and pushing a pace that his opponent couldn't keep.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: That being said,
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: we haven't fully seen that style translate outside of the Rolando Romero fight.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now he's added elements to this fight.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: I believe he trained with Eddie Reynoso,
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: though Reynoso,
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: at the press conference at least,
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: it alluded to that he's not going to be in his corner, whatever the case will be.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like he changed up his training situation for this fight.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now Nestor Bravo to me, He's not by any means, he's an untested fighter, right?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's very easy to look at his resume and go, okay, this guy hasn't fought guys.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: But he's fought a certain class of guy that's a really, really good gatekeeper.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: I look at a guy like Will Madero.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Will Madero spent a lot of his career,
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: if not all of his career, training with Ty Goldston in upstate New York.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's a really, really elite trainer.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: He knocked down Brandon Lee.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: So when you fight a guy like Will Madero,
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: you have to know certain things and certain capabilities to be competitive or win
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: that fight.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: In Dijani,
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: the Wasp,
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: who he dropped in round two,
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: and then I've talked about this famously,
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Bravo seems to have a mentality where he thinks he's doing better than he is
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: when he knocks guys down and he looks for a punch and he ends up getting outworked
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: in that fight where he falls in love in his power.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's clear he struggles to cut off the ring.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: He has major limitations.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: He's a guy who I think some people can doubt how hard he punches,
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: but But with his limitations and the guys he's beaten,
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: there has to be some level of power that's authentic.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the thing that I'm wondering about this fight is the majority of his career is 135.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then he's been at 140 for a pretty good period of time since essentially 2021.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: He's been...
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: A 140-pounder.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: And all of his elite fights are gatekeeper-type fights against Indijani.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then against Pedro Campo, albeit Campo also had a competitive fight with Brandon Lee.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: You see a trend here.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe Bravo's step-up fight should have been Brandon Lee because both Campo
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: and Will Madero had competitive fights with Brandon Lee.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: But Pedro Campo, that was terrifying.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody just shot a gun really close to the podcast studio.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: But we're going to just keep it moving and not show my...
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to check the comments if there's any comments.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: But Pedro Campo had like a rock-em-sock-em fight with Brandon Lee probably
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: about three years ago.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Bravo just sits on the ropes, catches him left hook.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: The thing with Bravo that scares me about this fight is he is most dangerous punching with you.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: We have no clue about two things.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: His punch resistance, how strong he is, and how hard he hits.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: And also, the X-Factor...
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: How does Cruz take the punch?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: We know Cruz has shown a great chin.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: We know he's shown an ability to take punches.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: But that can be a double-edged sword, right?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes you can absorb punishment.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: You can take punishment.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then it wears on you.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's like erosion.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes great chins are kind of like the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: and they eat away at those beautiful hard rocks that are next to me.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: And before we know it,
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: those mansions now need to be evacuated because even though
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: the foundation it was built on was so strong, it's decaying because of time.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not just about does Cruz have a good chin in this fight?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's, you know,
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: this is five or six years of taking on world class fighters in a very physical style
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: where Cruz A lot of what he brings to the fight is pressure, volume.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: He has solid defense.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't say it's great defense at a world-class level, but he initiates.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: Is that taking a toll on him?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Is that starting to wear him out?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: And furthermore, when they exchange punches, does Bravo get punches?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Cruz's respect does he get his attention.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: That is an early storyline of this fight because quite simply,
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: if Bravo does not get Pitbull Cruz's respect and attention,
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: this could be a short fight.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: What makes this fight fascinating, and I keep saying it, is any outcome is at play.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: We could have...
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: We could have a very easy fight, right?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Where Cruz steamrolls him and it's a level fight and the physicality takes over.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: I could see it a fight of the year where both guys go down.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: I could see a shocker where Bravo drops Pitbull Cruz, but Pitbull Cruz comes back.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of like Robert Guerrero versus Aaron Martinez and the whole world says,
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: just because you hit the canvas,
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: you should have lost the fight,
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: even though in most cases,
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: the guy that hits the canvas is the A-side probably goes,
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: oh God, I got to win the fight, gets back to business and wins.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think that any scenario is possible in this fight.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a truly fascinating fight because these are the fights we need more
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: of is Nestor Bravo is kind of an untested contender.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, he has a loss on his record.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: But guys in his position,
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: we need to figure out can they make the leap and can they exist
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: in main event boxing?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: He's getting his opportunity.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: He's getting his chance.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: That is a huge thing.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: And now it's in his hands.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's in his hands and Pitbull Crew.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think the thing I'm looking at tomorrow is Cruz tends to weigh in at 138,
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: arguably maybe his most unexciting performance was when he came in at 140.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: I would watch the weight Cruz comes in and look at Other look at that as a factor.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Also a social observation about Isak Pitbull Cruz.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Is he the king of the stare down?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like he stares way too long at weigh-ins and press conferences.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: It just seems like he's going to stare at you for a He's the king of the staring contest.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Just an observation I have noted.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that is that for that.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go into my second thing.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: And this is the thing that a lot of people have been wanting me to touch on
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: because I am me and that is what it is.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Let me just try to throw this in my YouTube community chat because people in
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: the YouTube streets really wanted me to speak on this issue.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: And this issue is...
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: The OLLI Act.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: And today, I have to use my words appropriately, but Ted Cruz, was it today?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was today or yesterday.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: I have notes here.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it was yesterday, the Senate committee, the revised OLLI Act was brought in by Ted Cruz.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's not yet a law,
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: but let me talk through some of my thoughts, issues,
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: and things that I want to think about when looking at this version of
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: the OLLI Act right now.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: The big thing is the concept of the UBO.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of people don't understand what a UBO is.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's a problem, right?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that also with the OLLI Act,
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: if we're going to be transparent,
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's almost intentional that you're not seeing coverage on this,
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: that you're not hearing stories about this,
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: because it's about a legal framework that will impact every single boxer.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: And often these type of issues do not go to the light.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because this is something that will have long term effects.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I think a lot of people don't understand it.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think boxing in terms of content and coverage and even the sport
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: as itself has been a bit dumbed down.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it's now also there's so few paying jobs in boxing.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: This type of coverage does not get you the same monetization as finding two boxers
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: who say negative stuff about each other and then just capturing people's emotions
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: and saying negative stuff.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: That will boost your profile and get you going more.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just having to send this out.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so let's get through like the legal framework, Lukie's legal framework.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: So the UBO would essentially create a league style boxing organization.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: The big thing that you need to know under the house version is Is that
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: the promoter would then be able to establish rankings,
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: award titles, and it would all be more of an in-house model.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: So therefore, this is where it gets strange, right?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: There used to be or there could be a time where we had the separation of church and state.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's the way I choose to look at this.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Where you had...
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: A promoter and a sanctioning body.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then you had a manager essentially trying to work in the best interest of
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: the fighter, although you could make an argument.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then in many cases,
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: the managers were politicians who, you know, only worked with certain promoters.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then it became kind of whatever.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: People can have various opinions, but that is the traditional.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Under the UBO, the way I see it, and who knows what it is,
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: It gets a little cloudy for me around
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: the concept of who the UBO is.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I still can't wrap my head around it.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I understand that.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: That the UBO would be any promotional entity.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: But I want to talk through,
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: and then I'm going to get through this with kind of my broad things and end
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: with unions.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because I just listened to Steven,
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Fredman Edwards,
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: and my buddy Jason Langendorf do a brilliant live on The Good Fight.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just incredible.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I really enjoyed it.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to touch on that.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: But my struggle with the UBO is, is the UBO just essentially...
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Is the UBO the company promotion in that company or whatever is the ownership along with that?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Would an investment fund be associated with the UBO or is that just a funding,
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: a financial property involved or is that part of the UBO decision processing?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Is there a committee or is it like a CEO who runs the UBO?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Those are things I'm trying to understand with the UBO.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have the answers.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just throwing that out.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: The thing that I want answers on that no one's answering for me is I want
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: to understand the financial disclosure of Well,
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: really, I want to understand the concept of the UBO and the ownership process.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's a disclosure I'd like to learn.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then I would like to know if the fighters could still audit the promoter
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: and verify the numbers that they are being given are to be truthful,
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: that transparency exists in boxing.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the problem with the original All The Act, people felt like it was spineless.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was It was teethless.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't have enough weight.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: If this were,
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: and I'm not saying it is,
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: but if this allows for any of the financial transparency to not exist,
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: that is not good.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Just quite simply because you always want in business the transparency and
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: when you're dealing with Large companies,
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: I just feel like especially for fighters,
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: especially if you were the issue I see
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: and what I would why I think this is very important about
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: the financial transparency is you need the ability.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: If the promoter can control your rankings and control your ability to get to a title
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: and also if the title the title indicates how much you get paid.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Then you need to be able to look at the books and verify
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: that whatever your contract is or whatever your agreement is, is the same.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: If you feel as though you are owed money based upon what you're seeing
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: and you don't get the revenue from that.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Those are my thoughts.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that there are positives.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: The one positive I see, right, is boxing has a lot of shady, shady figures.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying this would entirely get rid of them,
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: but there are a lot of people who exist that sell someone a dream and say,
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to take you here and fighters may not have a relationship with
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: the promotional entities who really want to know the fighter and they want to build
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: a relationship.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: They want to build a bond with the fighter,
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: but they are kept at bay because people are Kind of looking to make money
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: and also don't want to be cut out of the rope.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it could allow fighters to have a direct communication with the entity they work for.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think in theory, it could make negotiations simpler, right?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because there's less process.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: The question...
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: I start to wonder is like, where does a manager fit into this?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: If it's a one-stop shop, how do you negotiate anything?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: And let me...
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Check in just to make sure that I'm not just going on a lukie heater here.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: But how do you negotiate deals if you don't have any leverage to go anywhere else?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: So what does the role of the manager look in a world where
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: the promoter is essentially the sanctioning body and sets the rankings?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: I also think it sets up the stage for...
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever has the most money to then control the sport.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that we've seen when any one thing can monopolize,
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: not to say that this would do it,
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: but when you take over any industry and It doesn't tend to be good.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the counter argument is, well, the NBA is the monopoly of the basketball in the US.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: And you sure love that in the NFL.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: So there could be a world where that works.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: The big thing is,
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: if it were to follow the structure of the NBA or the NFL,
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: the pay structures need to follow suit as those type of rules.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that leads to my final thought that comes from Breadman
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: and Jason Langendorf's chat,
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: which is about unionization and unions and how difficult it will be because
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: the reason the NBA,
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: the reason the NFL gets the The players association fights for their rights
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: on certain issues and they meet in the middle.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: So there's the owners and there's the players and they come to different things
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: and they find out where they can meet in the middle and that's
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: where you get what we call equity.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's not necessarily equal, but it's equitable.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's what we call fair amongst them.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: Why is it difficult to create a union in boxing?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because boxing is built to inherently exploit the boxers.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what sucks sometimes.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why you get burnt out is boxers are leveraged.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: To have a dream of being a million dollar fighter and you come up in sheer poverty
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: and you basically get nothing and it's just really hard.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: And if you've come up in this sport for a long period of time, you get hardened.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then what gets really,
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: really frustrating is if you become a million dollar fighter and
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: then you It would take a whole group or top fighters to say,
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: we dream of being civil rights activists,
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: not unlike Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi, as goofy as this sounds.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: And we're going to look at the bigger picture for what fighters want and need
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: And do protests on behalf of all boxers to get equitable treatment,
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: to get unions, to get for various issues.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: We can go through whatever, but that's for a different day.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: There's various issues boxers could speak to to get in their favor.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: But it would take a year, two,
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: three years of fighters not fighting and saying, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna fight.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to forego making money for the betterment of the sport to give people a better way.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Boxers and the way boxing has been set up is very selfish.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's very much about get what you can while you can.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's not altruistic and it's not thinking about others.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: So inherently,
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: the people that are going to go front line for these movements are probably going
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: to be past prime fighters who are not going to directly impact the economy of
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: the fight game.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the harshest part.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: So what do I think about the OLLI Act bill?
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's inevitable that this version of it's going to pass.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure at some point it's not going to be the greatest.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: But I also think it's a reflection of about 14 to 15 years of really...
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then essentially...
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: What you get at a certain point is when the industry starts losing options
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: because networks keep leaving because they find the product uninteresting because
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: if you look at golf,
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: you have big tournaments and that gets you the winner of that tournament is
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: in theory the best golfers and you get the best out of it.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: Tennis, you have the same thing.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: The NFL, you got the playoffs.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: The NBA, you have the playoffs.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: NHL, you have the playoffs.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: College football has that.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: College basketball has one of the greatest.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: With boxing, you struggle to get the best versus the best.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of that I feel was greed and prolonging matchups and all types of crap.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: And now we're at a point where a corporate juggernaut has seen a weakness in
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: the market and is coming in.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a very boxing induced problem.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: If the good fights were made, this wouldn't nearly be as much of a problem.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: But the problem is when networks were willing to invest,
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: people wanted to kind of string things along and make as much money as possible.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: And it weakened the sport.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: And now there's a sheer distrust in the consumer with boxing.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: You're either a boxing addict or not.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's also an age demo,
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: I feel as though with boxing that we don't get with other sports as well.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: So those are my thoughts on the OLLI Act.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Probably didn't quite finish that as well as I wanted to.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now we enter into what is PBC 2.0, which I'm calling it.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: What is the second era that PBC looked like?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: I remember the first era.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: I remember being super excited for it.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was Keith Thurman versus Robert Guerrero was the first card.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Adrian Broner versus I was thrilled.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: I actually got invited to a media workout for that fight.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: That was back in the days where I was nervous that I wouldn't get invited to media workouts.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: It was a big deal to be invited to a media workout.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's something also I think that's important for media to keep perspective on.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: I get...
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm jaded and just expect I will get fighter interviews at times.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now I get it less because I'm arguably not as relevant as I was for the past couple of years.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: But that's regardless is sometimes you can take for granted your standing or your hard work.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, there's not many people that we deem experts in boxing.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: So they you'll be like, OK, I will I will do this.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: I will.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: I will be.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: At this media workout or of course I'll go there.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: And at that time,
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: like it was like I was really irrelevant and it wasn't guaranteed that I was going
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: to get to go to any media workout.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I remember being invited to that and it was really exciting
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: to have been like able to go to a media workout.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I try not to lose sight of that.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: But I also feel like kind of like when I started getting able to when I was able
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: to cover bigger cards was when PBC started.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'd say since COVID, PBC has moved away from a prospect model.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: And this is the first card.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: And we've got, obviously, Bob in the chat.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: We've got my guy Marco Romero on the card.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: We've got Marco Verde is going to be fighting on this card.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: They have a lot of kind of up-and-comers.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that, honestly, is exciting for me because what PBC...
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: Where PBC let me down a little bit after the COVID pandemic was you really need
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: to build from the bottom up a company.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: And they started getting obsessed with big fights,
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: big events,
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: and kind of a really big fighter facing another guy who was in-house who was deemed
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: a star.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: And it just kind of went on and on.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: And now all those guys are gone.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: Danny Garcia's retired.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Deontay Wilder's basically retired.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: He might fight one or two more times, but we're not really focused on him.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Spence is retired.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thurman might fight one or two more times, but he's basically at the end.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: Groner is no longer there.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: The guys at PBC right now,
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: you have Tim Zhu, who's no limit, but I feel like he does cross promotion with PBC.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: You got Fundora.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: And now there's like a void that needs to be filled and young,
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: exciting talent can fit into this thing.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm kind of excited about To see what this vision of PBC was.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because for a certain point, it was a disruptor.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: It was shaking up the status quo.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: It was big money fights.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: It was the tail end of Floyd Mayweather's career.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's like this is the next vision of the sport.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it had some highs and lows.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: But where...
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I believe this is the first technically
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: Fight you get without having to pay a higher tier subscription or
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: go to the next
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: or like this is just the first DAZN number.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'm also interested to see how they adjust and try to create a developmental series.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting times.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: I am going to be following it.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious to see how PBC 2.0 goes.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's go to my final topic, which is Jesus Ramos Jr.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: I reached out to Julia Goldsticker yesterday.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: I want the mono era t-shirt, knockout mentality.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: But I have to tell you that knockout mentality kind of scares me
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: when you face Miriam Nurslandtoloff.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: Probably said that absolutely wrong.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Look, in the chat, and I have a very, very well-educated...
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: Boxing aficionados who tune into this newsletter every week.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: If I didn't have this hardcore group of guys that keep me sharp,
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: that give me the best fights possible,
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: that show me their deep love and passion for the sport, I wouldn't do it.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't do it.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'd get out of this place that I rent every week.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: Just to do this show.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'd get out of this place.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'd tear all the posters off the wall and I'd leave.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: But there's too many passionate people in this chat that care too much.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: So...
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: I can't do it.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: But those passionate people,
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: at least three of them,
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: the ones that I deeply respect,
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: they're saying that this is going to be a hard fight for Jesus Ramos.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then they're saying, you know what, Lukie?
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you get blinded by your own arrogance.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not above that.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think sometimes I do.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I think I'm a pretty smart guy and sometimes I get a C.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: And they're equating this to when I looked at Rabisi Ramirez
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: and I was very dismissive of this guy named Rafael Espinoza.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: Espinoza now has become a three-year world champion.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: He's closing in on his fourth year.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: Before we know it,
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: he's kind of mirroring this guy named Emmanuel Navarrete who fights next month.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've heard of him.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: Really good fight.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: But
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: I just can't fully see it because Nurse Lintolov has a three-year layoff.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: More than likely, he's been out of the ring because of political whatever, right?
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: He has ambitions.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: He has dreams.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: He's got good coaches.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: I believe Julian Chua, who's someone I deeply respect, is his coach.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a really, really good trainer.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: He's got a style that Jesus Ramos probably hasn't seen, an Eastern European style.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: He's a point-based fighter, but then he sneaks in shots.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: I call him a dink and daughter.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: He's got a little bit of that connive in you,
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: where he'll carry you some rounds,
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: carry you, and then all of a sudden a big shot knocks you down.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: The big thing with him is he tends to put himself on the ropes and there's kind of
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: an assumption that he can get off the ropes.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: This can go one of two ways.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: I could view the tape and say he assumes he gets off the ropes or we can watch this fight.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: And he's got some abilities that I'm not picking up on.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: And Ramos tries to cut the ring off and he's able to turn him.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the thing about Ramos, Southpaw, really good.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: I see a guy who has a really, really, really strong resume.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think...
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think that he fought a lot of guys early on, especially Brian Mendoza.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: He beat Brian Mendoza on a Fox main event when no one cared.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: And Mendoza then went on to go and do what he did to Fundora afterwards.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: So that win should have been a bigger win,
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_01: but no one really cared because he kind of did it when it was a much riskier fight.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: Stops Vladimir Hernandez.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: Hernandez, he's kind of the opposite.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like he beats guys and then the guys kind of build up their fame after his wins
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: and he kind of stays inactive.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: So people don't know how good he is.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: He beats Hernandez.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: Hernandez then on ProBox TV goes on like this magnificent run
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: of just exciting action fights until he lost last summer to Francisco Daniel Varon.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: I was there live.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, wow, awesome, awesome fight.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: With Ramos, I think there is a little bit of bias with me.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_01: He's a guy that I named.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: I want to say I named him the 2021.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: I wish I had the archive.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's my 2021 prospect of the year.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: And he's a guy that I watched early on and was deeply impressed.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: I've probably done as many interviews as anyone with Ramos.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: I've...
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: I watched his career very closely evolve.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I also watched his uncle, Uncle Abel Ramos, his career a lot.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I think also it's kind of a tricky one for me because it's like I've always seen
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: a lot of talent.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: I've always seen a lot of skill.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think the thing that scares me is I hear this thing recited about Jesus Ramos
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: and people talk about, oh, well, he's not that experienced.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: Sighting and this and that.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: And what I love is his intelligence, his ability to fight in different ranges.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like he can fight in the mid-range, in close and on the outside.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: He has good movement.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: He's a good body puncher.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: He's just capable of doing everything.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: And the knockout mentality on his shirt kind of worries me
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: because it almost feels like he's listening to the criticism and he's coming in
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: to prove a point.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: When you come into a guy who's an awkward,
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: like, Nurslyn Talov is more than likely going to make this fight awkward and ugly.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: And you don't really want to prove anything when you're fighting an awkward and ugly fighter.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: So that worries me.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: And the closer we get, I think this is going to be a competitive fight.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: But top heavy card, you know, top heavy card.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what to read of it.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what to read of it because initially I looked at this fight
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: and was like, Jesus Ramos, long layoff.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: Normally guys that have long layoffs have been in this position.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: There's a reason they're not getting that fight.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: But now I'm starting to wonder, and I'm like, am I missing something?
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: Is there a blind spot here?
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're, you know, I don't know.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_01: I still favor Ramos in the fight, but it is something that's giving me the heebie-jeebies.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's giving me some reservations.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: So that is your paywall podcast.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: I hope I really, really hope.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, you know, I should say this.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: I should say this too about Ramos is Ramos is a career 154 pounder.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like Ramos had to move up to middleweight almost for opportunities.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like he was competing at 154 pounds when like he lost to Erickson Lube and
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: then he knocks out Johan Gonzalez, knocks out, well, he knocks out Jason Rezard.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: Then he knocks out Guido Schramm.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: So he's got three knockouts out of his four last fights.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I get where he's saying he's like, dude, I'm getting a ton of knockouts.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: By the way, Johan Gonzalez, who went 12 rounds with Lara, he stops.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Jason Rosario, former world champion.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, he's not the same guy, but he had a really close competitive fight with Jared Hurd.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then Guido Schramm was a guy that I remember I saw him fight Jahir Browne.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: In Cash Creek on a Paco card.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I was pretty darn impressed with him.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: And he ran through him.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: I remember being like, man, that guy has potential.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then the only guy he doesn't stop is Shane Mosley Jr., who's extremely tough.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: He has the chin of his dad, maybe not...
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: But I think Shane Mosley Jr. is just a really underrated veteran of this era.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, that's a really good run.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: The thing about Ramos is he fought at Rosario at 160,
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: went down to 155 for Scrum, and then moved back up to middleweight.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, it almost feels like...
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: I know he's told me he's a middleweight, but it feels like he can make either weight class.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: But with the confusion at 154...
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: With Ines having the belts,
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: Josh Kelly,
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: Fundora,
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: it feels like there's no opportunity for Jesus Ramos because there's kind of like,
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: Ramos is impacted by this thing I keep talking about,
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: the one percenters of boxing,
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: where there's like a millionaire class and then there's not that many opportunities
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: for the other guys.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: And Ramos, like,
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: maybe he could get a fight with Sebastian Fundora,
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: but it's like,
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: But realistically,
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: Fendora has a title defense,
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: and then he's probably going to look at like, can I get a boots in this fight?
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: Or can I get a unification with a really big name?
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: And year after year,
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: a guy like Ramos goes from like a 19-year-old to a 26-year-old real quick,
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: waiting on one of the big names to give him an opportunity.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: Middleweight is a more open division, but I also think...
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's something to monitor.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: He's 5'10".
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: He's a big framed guy.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's not small.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: But I do think you could do the does he fit in this weight class properly test.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because this is just his third fight.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: Arguably,
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: this is the most dangerous and accomplished fighter depending
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: on how you view Shane Mosley.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: So...
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: There's some elements of fascination.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's a fight that no matter the result,
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: it should give us answers more than it gives us questions.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that is your paywall podcast.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you to those that tuned in live.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're listening on the live stream, well, thank you.