5 Live Boxing with Steve Bunce - Jake Paul v Anthony Joshua: Fight Week Begins

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Does Jake Paul deserve more respect for making the Anthony Joshua fight? Buncey is joined by Chris Billam-Smith to debate that and preview what sort of fight lies ahead. He also hears from AJ’s new cutman Russ Anber and Caroline Dubois, who defends her world title on the undercard.

This is Five Live Boxing. It was a public workouts on Tuesday and AJ Roddy put in a shift, as we like to say. As for Jake Paul, he came, he bought a few jokes, he didn't do very much. But there is a growing sense that there's a big fight in town. Oh and by the way, Terence Crawford, he decided to retire. More on that tomorrow. I'm Steve Bunce in Miami and this is Five Live Boxing. So the way big fights work is you get together at a hotel or a conference centre or somewhere

and you meet and you talk to people and you generally know who you're going to see. And well, I was in the lobby here at the Fontainebleau Hotel, which is a fabulous hotel. Frank Sinatra used to sing here. And then walked a big fella and I thought, I know that fella. I know those reddish gazelles. I know those legs. I know that chin. I know that shirt.

Chris Bill and Smith. So I said, that'll do me. I'll sit down with Chris Bill and Smith, former WBO Cruiserweight champion in the world. who I have no idea when he's fighting next. I have no idea what he's doing in Miami. All I know is that he will go for a run at some point at four in the morning because that's what Chris Bill and Smith does. Chris, first of all, welcome to Miami.

Obviously, you're out here to see your team mate, Caroline Dubois, fight. But what about the main thing? Let's get straight to it. Jake Paul against Anthony Joshua, what was your first reaction when someone called you or you saw a news flash? and you can be brutally honest Yeah firstly Buncie You haven't seen these red gazelles before

Because they're brand news The first time I've worn them But only you could pull them off I like those I'll let you in the secret Don't take them off Because they're a bit of me those shoes No when I saw the news on the fight

It was I was like that's not happening I was like That's not going to happen But here we are on Fight Week And you know It's as really it can get at this stage And yeah

I didn't believe it. That was until this fight week and until I guess Caroline kind of got on the card and you start seeing the card shape up and everything. And you know it's real then? Yeah, you know it's real. So it's going to happen on Friday. With that sort of disbelief, you didn't believe it was going to happen. Was it, did you also have any in you that said,

I don't want it to happen or was it just a disbelief? Or why is it? I mean, because my thing, I'll be honest with you, My thing was, why is it happening? Because I know obviously it's happening because of money, but even that doesn't really explain it to me. That's not enough. No, I'm unsure.

As to why, I mean, it's a strange one. Of course, the money's there. But I guess for me, it was, you look at the experience, you know, as boxing people. Yeah. And as far away from that, Not as far away, but I'm pretty far away from that YouTube world in terms of how I've been brought up

and stuff. Your career. And my career and stuff is the opposite. And I've always said it about Jake and the YouTube fighters. Obviously, Jake's the number one when it comes to bringing in the eyes. And that is that most boxers learn to fight and then they build their fan base. And he's just done it the other way around.

He's built his fan base and now he's learning to fight. And the fan base has gone with him. Yeah, yeah. Which is why he's on Netflix, demanding millions and millions and millions. And fighting Anthony Joshua last time out, Hugo Shavez Jr. Time before that, Mike Tyson, in three of those two are two of the biggest fights in the last 10 years, which is gross-wise, money-wise, which is, again, ridiculous. Yeah, it's a modern world which I'm still trying to get my head around, to be honest of you.

So am I. I think and then I think Wava works a while they're not just play games on YouTube and streamed it

probably because I was terrible at computer games but no it's a strange world but at the end of day it all comes around to what we've always spoke

about and that's the business side of things did you I mean I haven't been close to Jake Paul here but I know from talking to Nikisa

and Jake Paul earlier this year when we're Madison Square Garden for the Serrano Katie Taylor third fight. They really believe they can win, you know. They're not doing this. I mean, he's going to make, he could have fought a shadow, no disrespect,

and still got loads of money. That's the way these Netflix deal seems to work. They believe they can beat Anthony Joshua. When you look at what he's achieved in his life, Jake, and where he's come from, what he continues to do, his brother's become a WWE wrestler. And a good one, by the way. Really good one.

Regardless of what, no laughing in the day. cheap seats. Whatever they put their hand to, they seem to turn around and they seem to do well at it. So I get what we see as delusion. I get it because he must

have so much confidence in his ability to achieve whatever it is. Yes, in a boxing context it seems absurd and surreal to us, but he would just on a life perspective think, well, I can do what I want and I admire him for that. I admire the confidence.

You can't knock the man's confidence and his ability to create views and numbers and sometimes controversy and whatever it is. But he's a businessman through and through. But he controls the controversy, doesn't he? So he'll finish with one fight and then he'll challenge Javontha Davis, five foot nothing, and then he'll challenge Anthony Joshua in the same sentence. And then he'll challenge Sol Canelo Alvarez in the same 10 or 15 minutes. And boxing people and I'll ask you, what you think.

Boxing people think he's insulting our business. Now all he's doing is he's just throwing names out there. He's not really insulting our business. I mean, you know, our business insults itself enough. By the way, it carries on doing enough things to be perfectly honest with you.

It's not, he's, he's filling a void, clearly, right? We, we, there's a need for him in the sport because otherwise, if there wasn't, we wouldn't be having fights like this. You and I wouldn't be sitting here now. If Fury was fighting Joshua, this fight wouldn't be happening. Absolutely.

If we had bigger names in the sport or the sport was in a, it's not in a bad place, I'm not saying it's in a bad place, but obviously there is a void there where he's clearly filling it. And he could go into most industries and feel that void. Yeah, yeah, great a void. Probably not many sports could he go into and feel a void. You're not going to get him playing Premier League football, but right now he's about to fight a two-time heavyweight champion in the world

after having a defeat and never boxed a real cruiserweight. But that's one of our crazy things in boxing is that, you know, it's really hard to become a professional golfer, tennis player, rugby player, cricketer or obviously footballer. But to become a professional boxer, providing your mildly fit and you can stand up and you can convince a commission somewhere in the world that you deserve a license, you can become a professional boxer.

You know, we could literally walk outside here on the street now, go down to the beach where they've got the... those workout gyms where every man's throwing punches. You see, they're all throwing furious punches. There's like 60 guys all throwing shots in between doing press ups and pull-ups. And no word of a lie, they're throwing like 97-punch combinations. I gave up counting off of about 35. So I think you could go and find one of them, pluck him, and six weeks later,

you could be a professional fighter. What an absurd business. It's baffling. But we're still hooked. I mean, how long you've been in the business fancy? Too long. Too long. I'm younger and I look. And you've been through many ups and downs with the sport.

And we're still hooked. We're still here. We're here on Fight Week of one of the most absurd fights in the time I've been involved in it. And definitely since I've been a pro, nothing quite tops this. Just hold on a second there, Chris. There's a man that's been in the game even longer than me. And I called up with him a little bit earlier. Russ Amber just being elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

And he's going to be working because he works with the Usik team, you're on the Usick team. He's going to be working with Anthony Joshua. I called up with Russ just a bit earlier. I told Anthony a funny story yesterday. I'm sure you know, I'm sure you know Freddie Cunningham. Of course, I know, Freddie. Of course.

So Freddie was the first guy to approach me, say, Russ, would you be interested in working with Anthony? I said, well, it would be an honor because I've known Anthony for a while. He used to wear our gloves and stuff. I'd known them for a long time. And I said, of course, I'd be honored to. You know, it would be great.

Okay, Russ, that would be wonderful. I'm glad. He says, what would you, what do you want to charge for something? Easy, Russ. Don't start swearing. I said, I said, Freddie, look, I know you guys are going to be fair. Don't worry about it. Whatever it is, it is.

I'm happy. I know you're not going to rip me off. It's no, it's all good. When the announcement came for Hall of Fame, he sent me a text and he said, congratulations, Russ. I answered back, I said, the price just went up. The price just went up. Even if it's only a cent.

In principle, it's got to go at least the penny. Of course. So have you been, have you seen him? You've been around him? I mean, I know you know him because you've obviously been in the opposite corners. But have you seen him in the build-up to this? Yeah, I saw him. I saw him yesterday.

I saw him here. Oh, he was great. Great spirit. And, you know, I'm serious too. I think he realizes that there's a certain amount of pressure on him. Yeah, I think there's a lot of pressure, Russ. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like more so of the naysayers, what people will say who don't understand boxing.

because this clearly, as you can see, is not necessarily the traditional fight crowd that we're used to, right? This is a different platform. This is a different set of eyes on this. Big platform, but a different platform. That's right. Very different.

And, you know, I think he has, he realizes that he has something that he has to live up to and carry out because, in fairness, every round that passes, even if Jake doesn't lay a glove on Anthony. If he gets to the second, if it gets to the third.

That's right. And that's a victory, you know. And that's the pressure. I agree. with you. Because if he beats him in a round, everyone to say, I knew it,

if he beats him in three rounds, they'll say he's old, he's pasting, what took you so long? I mean, that's the ultimate lose-lose. It's not a win-win. No, it's not a win-win, is it? No, the only win is when you walk in and deposit the check.

That might be the only win. And you may need some people to help you carry it because it's a heavy check. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I've been, not a fan of Jake Paul, that's the wrong word,

but I've admired the way Jake Paul's persevered. I now are Hardy trains. He gives off the image and he still has. me, is YouTube, is YouTube alter ego. But I know that, even though he's only a whether it's 12, 13 fights, I know he's committed. And he's a committed, hardworking notice.

Yeah, and even in the work he's done in the promotional level as well. And that's brilliant. I got to tip my hat to him on that. There's no doubt about that. You know, he's committed to something. He's put the promotion together. You know, I've got to give him that. I'd be stupid to not.

And he certainly has earned my respect for that. I think what I'm more upset about, well, not upset, but I think the thing that, stuns me is how you got all these people believing this myth that they've created and you've got people like you say yeah he can do it it was the same thing when there was people believing you know that Connor McGregor was going to be Floyd I'm saying are you guys serious man I got a bridge in Brooklyn you'd like to sell you if you want we got one in London you can buy as well sorry no quite seriously it's it's something about being in a team it's almost like they become hypnotized by their belief cult like delusion yeah you used the

I'm going to agree. It's cult-like. Because Nikisaradarion, he genuinely believes they're going, and Jake, I'm convinced he believes he's going to win. Yeah, I mean, winning is one thing, but I'm talking about the whole, the whole trajectory to that God has here, that you were able to build this up. You didn't build this up on the belief or on the support, if you will, of the boxing world. No. It wasn't the fight fans. You created it. Hey, you created this. You created people thinking that you're going to win and that you could fight Canello. that you should fight this guy, and that you beat Mike Dyson. I'll fight Enganu, I'll fight Fury. And they believed you.

Okay. So, yeah, it's quite crazy. It's going to change the sport. No, no, but here's the thing. When he started talking about in April and May of this year, when Nikisha and Jake started talking about fighting Anthony Joshua, you dismissed it like I did in April and May and June and July and August. So in some ways, they deserve credit for actually going through of it because, you know,

AJ called their bluff. They called him up. They offered him the money. And basically Eddie Hearn said, absolutely, we'll do the deal. They asked for one stipulation. He needed to lose five or six pounds to get down to 245,

which I don't think is a problem. He's been to, it's only 252, and he's sort of heaviest. But he's going through with it. I mean, I was convinced, Russ, I'll risk with it in the last two or three weeks. I thought we might have wasted our airplane flights. I was convinced it was going to be an injury.

Convinced there was going to put it off. Yeah, it's, you have to also, wonder about, you know, when you look at this, that it's, we've, we've sort of gotten into the realm of entertainment now, and this is all for fun. We cross that fin line? Yeah. And, you know, you have to wonder, like, how does a commission approve this, you know, how does it commission?

So you've kind of like, they become a little bit redundant now in what they do, because now you've let it, you've opened up, you've opened Pandora's box into what can be approved and what can't be approved. And I think that's a, that might be a little danger zone. And finally, boss, I mentioned. there about you doing hands and bandages and I know fighters love you for that you will you be doing you'll be wrapping AJ's hands as far as I know yes sir so have you do you I know last year this so the first will you practice on his hands tomorrow

the next day because I'm assuming the you don't want to be doing his hands for the very first time on the first time so this is this is inside stuff I like this yeah normally yeah I would I would do this normally if especially for the first time like when I worked with Josh Taylor for the first time whenever anybody that I've always done it first see if they like it you know they before or something. Yeah. Chazora, regardless of the fact that I have done his hands,

makes me do it before he fights, like in the hotel room, just to make sure everything's okay. And then we do it again. That's good. It's no problem. So you'll do the same with AJ in theory? I'm presuming I will. I'm presuming I will.

I'm going to see him here tonight. We'll probably speak about when we're going to want to do this. But the only difficulty is that he's not in this hotel. He's not staying here. So now it's a question of getting together. Where it is. And final question. Alexander Ousick, you and him,

you're cuddling each other, you're the best friends in the world, give me some information on what he's doing, Russ? What's the point of talking to if you can't give me inside information? I don't think I can give you any more information than your own buddy, Sergey Lappin gave you.

I want to find Sirga, I want to track down Sergey tonight. But I spoke to him yesterday. He's doing well. He says he's doing a little bit of training, but now it's just a little downtime with the family, you know, letting the dust settle of all the possible options that could be out there.

And there are a few, you know. I'm a little surprised that the wild If it's between me and you talking now and nobody else is listening. No, yeah. Tap, yeah. Yeah, I'm surprised by that one, yeah. I'm a little surprised at that as well. He plucked out of nowhere, it seems.

Yeah, and you know, it's legitimate because he's the last heavyweight champion. He's the remaining heavyweight champion, which is, which is not bad. And then there's all obviously Fabio Wardley, you know, that's a great success story. We love Fabio, don't we. I got to say, you know, that's a great success story. He's a nice kid, you know. I don't know, I don't know what you know him, he's a nice kid. I don't know him.

And John, and John, and. He's your kind of guy. Oh, good. Parker was the same way. Like, I love Parker, you know? Like, I love Parker. So, you know, there's a few options for him. And I think once you've been spoiled by the big money, like, of Joshua and Fury, it's a little bit, you know, you kind of, what?

What do you mean only 10 million? Well, you and I would say that's fantastic. It's only 25 million. Yeah, that's right. What do you mean? That's half of what I normally make. Oh, yeah, I see. I can see that in perspective.

You know, I don't know if that's your first interview since you became a Hall of Fame. But it's your first interview with the BBC. It is. Quality. It is all. Thank you, brother. Russ, it's been an absolute pleasure, as always. I appreciate it, buddy. So Russ Amber there.

I love that line he said there about how he'll have to find some time between now and fight time to do a fake wrap of AJ's hands. Because you think about it, if he's never worked with AJ, the first time he wraps his hands, can't be or shouldn't be two hours before he gets in the ring, irrespective of the opponent. I quite like that. Let's talk about AJ just a little bit. He's been out of the ring, obviously, since the Daniel Dubois lost,

which was quite conclusive, quite nasty, a brutal fight. He's done a lot of thinking, he said, a lot of travelling. And then in the last week or so, there's been a lot of talk about finally us getting to see the fight with Tyson Fury in September or October of next year. I put it to you, Chris, that's quite a lot of stuff to concentrate on. You know, you've got this Tyson Fury carrot over here, 90,000. at Wembley, you've got this guy here who everyone expects you to walk through. It's quite a lot of pressure, isn't it?

Or is it no pressure? Or is it no pressure? Well, yeah, I mean, I love all pressure, but I think he's been in the game long enough, and no one's had more pressure on him in British boxing than anti-Joshua. Absolutely. The amount of pressure he's, and he put a lot of it on himself, you can tell how long meticulous he is with what he does. But I think, yeah,

there's a lot, a lot going on. And I guess for him, he probably sees this fight as first and foremost business, but also maybe an opportunity to sort of, a lot of people in boxing want to see Jake Paul get knocked out. So he might be seeing it as, okay,

well, I can be the man to do it and, you know. Rid boxing, rid boxing of this nuisance. Yeah, I think... That's one of the storyline, yeah, yeah. And I think he might be looking at it like that as well. I get paid well and I win a load of fans.

And he's had plenty of critics in the past. I'm sure plenty since the Daniel Dubois fight. But yeah, here he is. So we're just finally on AJ. If he does it in a round, I'm assuming people would say, well, I knew he would. If it goes four or five rounds, then he finally stops him on his feet maybe in the corner.

That could lead to some... Do you think that would be, I'm not loading up, do you think that would lead to criticism? And do you think that would be harsh? Um, based on what we've seen in the past and where they both stand now, I feel the need to criticize him. If he went five rounds or four rounds, yeah.

But who knows what Jake Paul, you know, the learning curve of Jake Paul is steeper than anyone else is in boxing because he's got, he's got the facility there, he's got everything he needs. Contrain 365,000, days of the year, dietician, strength and condition of 24 hours a day. He's got no boundaries there other than his other commitments, which I'm sure is super busy.

But he's got no boundaries to training, no money training, flying anyone in the world, all the best people in the world he can have at his feet at all times. And so, and I'm sure he's been putting in the work. You know, when you, obviously, he obviously has been sparrow my old foe, Lawrence O'Cohli, Jared Anderson, Frank Sanchez, if they've been proper spars, which out in Dubai last week, last week I heard they've been some good spars and he's been properly sparring. Which is really weird because Carl Frotch, you know,

who's been a critic of Jake Poole's all the way along, which I think that's been Frotty trying to get a fight to be brought on to me. Carl Frotcher said, have we seen any footage of the sparring? If they've been so hard, well, you know, Maybe Jake controls all of his footage, remember? So if there is footage, Jake owns it. There will be NDA signed.

There'll be NDA signed. And yeah, so, but yeah, I'm sure the, he seems to be putting in the work. And then you can't fault that. Maybe he's just so confidently thinks, why not, I'm going to go for it. And it's a huge task. And you heard in Dubai last week,

some of the things I've been hearing, that it was good sparring. It was decent sparring. It wasn't touch sparring or technical sparring. Yeah, that's exactly it. I sort of heard that last week, without details and without who, but yeah, there was...

I would never ask you to divulge your sources. Yeah. Okay, let's move on. So that's the main event. And, you know, whether you love it or hate, we've already discussed this and talked about it. And there'll be more of this conversation

as we go through the week. Caroline Dubois, 10 days ago, two weeks ago, she was taking phone calls from people now she's here fighting on this bill defending her WBC title against the Italian based in

Florida Camilla Panetta who's expected to win but what a ridiculously short period I mean the whole thing's just crazy we're here from Caroline in a minute but I was saying to her that she's going to wake up on Christmas morning in a few days' time and say

wow have I really signed for MVP full on the undercard of this ridiculous fight on Netflix. I mean, it's just ridiculous. Yeah, it's crazy. And Caroline, thankfully, she's a true professional because she didn't have long to think about this fight. And I'm sure in her head she would think,

like, she always wants everything to be perfect. And it hasn't been perfect, but because of the way she is, it's still better than a lot of people's camps, you know? So she's, because she's always in the gym, she's been spying. for months and months and months anyway. And she didn't even think she was gonna be fighting this year.

I know. So she was still, yeah, she was still sparring. I've seen her in the gym, she's been sparring superb. And I just, I think this is a great platform for Caroline. It's always been a great, it was a great platform for anyone, but I saw how good it was for Ellie Scotany and MSG. She came in and lit the place up and put on performance of our career. They didn't give her the $50,000 bonus, which was a liberty.

She stole the show. She was brilliant. We need to have words actually about that. She was, that was earlier best man. I was certain that was in her pocket, that bonus. Me too. But yeah, and I think Caroline's going to be seen. I think Caroline, an MVP, I think they're a match made in heaven.

I think the way Caroline's demeanor is, her class, she likes to talk as well. She's a transformed woman. She is. She does not resemble the Caroline Dubois, who made her debut all those years ago in Cardiff, or not think it was a Lauren Price under Cardiff. or something like that

and she was just a nervous wreck every part of her just she wasn't right she comes okay in the ring she grows she gets their confidence she's totally different anyway I spoke to spoke to Carol I bumped in to Caroline the last couple of days

when I sat down and spoke to her and you know you just you can just sense and hear the confidence in her voice we actually turn every back pee down with their first offer the second offer but then they came with a third offer that was just unresistible and we had no

But it wasn't that we didn't have an opportunity. I think it just showed a lot for me that they wanted me badly and they were willing to put a lot of effort in and that's what any fighter wants to see. And it was a blessing, a privilege and I accepted it. Earlier this year when Katie Taylor and Serrano fought for the third time in New York, all that the MVP, I'm telling you this now, all of the MVP people would do were talking about you.

Caroline DeBois. What about Carolyn DeBrileyn DeBarre? I just said, listen, don't ask me, you know, if you're asking me, that means, you fancy getting us. Yeah, yeah. So it took them a few months, but they got you in the end. No, of course.

I know that they've been scoping it out, and I think they've been looking for the best fighters, you know, and how can you not have a list of the best fighters and not have Karen DeBoer on there? Oh, that would be ridiculous, yeah. It's quite short notice, but I mean, I think that you were in good, you were ready to fight or you're waiting for dates. So it wasn't a problem taking this at whatever, two or three weeks notice or whatever. That was all straightforward.

It was very, very short notice. We found out three weeks ago, and luckily, I stay in the gym. Luckily, I was also preparing for a fight. I thought I was preparing for a fight. And so we accepted the offer and I was ready. I was ready to go, cut the weight, no issue. I'm an ultimate athlete and I was able to do it. You know what's really, really wild about this, okay?

A month ago, you're waiting for a fight date. Then suddenly you get a fight date. You're fighting in Miami and at the top of the bill is a fight that in your wildest dreams. Are you boxing now? You couldn't have created this top of the bill, could you? Not at all. Not at all.

I don't think anyone could have. I don't think anyone could have predicted it. Five years ago, if you said Anthony Joshua was going to fight Jake Paul, I think people would have laughed you out the room. Yeah. Probably kicked you out of the room. Probably kicked you out of the room, yeah. Don't let her back.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it tells you a lot about Jake's ambition, and it tells you a lot about how boxing is unpredictable. And anything can happen? Anything could happen, anything. So nine years ago, Jake's on Disney Channel, and nine years ago, AJ's winning the World of Wrayton. I'm telling you.

You couldn't invent. No, of course. I don't think Jake could have predicted it. I don't think he would have said, oh my God, I'm going to be a professional boxer one day if you had asked him back when he was doing that. But now here he is, one of the best, you know, highest profile athletes in the world. And so that's all kudos to him. That's all 100% credit to him. And you have to give him his respect. And you're joining at a ridiculous, not stable, not team family, likes to call it the MVP family. It's basically, it's just about every single woman, give or take one of the, or two. Maybe Katie Taylor is missing,

even if you only got one fight left, Shrine Nicholson missing. Other than that, they're all in your group. Yeah. It's mad, isn't it? It creates a lot of in-house fights, which is obviously great for the promo. Easy to make. Great for the fire, because it makes it easier to make fights,

and it stops the ability to run and hide so much. You know, obviously Terry Harper is someone I want to fight, and I feel like this is going to make the fight. She's been chasing Terry Harper. Terry Harper? You've been chasing her for so long, haven't you? I've been chasing her for a while now. And I think she signed with MVP thinking she could get away with me,

and I've popped up. And so finally, on Friday night, you've defended your title. I'm not jumping head of myself. You come out, you sit down for Jake and AJ. What happens? Ding, ding, first round, Caroline. What happens? I don't think anyone could tell you.

I think if we all had, you know, magic balls, we would be millionaires by now. And unfortunately, I honestly cannot say. It's such an intriguing fight. That's what I find interesting about it. It's got everyone talking. Everyone is going back and forth. Everybody's saying what's going to happen and nobody truthfully can answer. You're going to wake up Christmas morning and you're going to go,

have I just been in Miami for the last week? Did Jake Paul and AJ fire top of the bill? That's crazy. It's going to be like the most ridiculous week of your life. It's going to be the most bizarre week of my life. And when you say I'll be in cold, depressing England right now. So it's going to be a real change in the atmosphere. So I'm going to really realize that.

Caroline, it's been a pleasure talking to her. It always is. Has always. And you've been, you've developing fantastically, man. As a human and as a fighter. Thank you. I don't mind embarrassing.

You am allowed to? It's true. I've known you a long while. Thank you. I appreciate it. So that was Caroline Dubois. She defends a WBC lightweight title against Camilla Panetta. And it could be,

it's the sort of fight that might be perfect for her. You know, she can end a year in style on a big platform. Chris, before I let you go, and I appreciate there's all sorts of people floating around now,

before I let you go, where are we with you? Have you got any news about what you're doing? Nothing yet, no. There's been lots of rumours flying around about getting offers this year and stuff,

which have been false. So, yeah, I'm looking to start 2026 with a fresh mind, and I feel like I'm in a good place. I've moved flat, London now, just had been enjoying the last 14 weeks with the family

with, you know, in between training. But yeah, and then I think the new year, if we can get a run out in sort of February-March time, I say a run-out, it'll be a meaningful fight, a 10-12 rounder at least. And then in the mix again? Then, yeah, then I won a world title.

So that's it. Obviously, we've got a new WBC world champion again. Yeah. Been in Noel McCallion who won at the weekend. Just be bad of Jack. recently. Yeah, so he's one at the weekend. He's based in Miami actually, so I try and catch him this week. He might be around, yeah. And have a chat with him. And then obviously you got Opitia and Zerdo as well, but Zerdo looks like he's fighting Benavides. So yeah, we'll see. But that's there.

Ideally, I'd like one fight and then chase the champions. Well, I tell you, look really relaxed and fresh and happy. Yeah, that's good. I like fighters with little bit fresh and happy. They're dangerous then. Not bad after a 10-hour flight with three and a half year on the 14-week cold. I'll take that. Oh, three and a half. Oh, that's going some now. Oh, that is really going some. Listen, Chris, it's been an absolute delight and a pleasure. We're moving closer and closer to Friday night.

It's a fight that many people thought would never happen. Certainly eight or nine years ago, wouldn't have happened. Five years ago, two years ago, a year ago, as Caroline DeBras said, started this year who would have believed it? But it is happening. Jake Paul is fighting Anthony Joshua on Friday night here in Miami. There might be 19,000 people there. I've been around a week walking on the beach, looking at the palm trees,

watching none of those giant green lizards which fall from the trees. I saw two fall from a tree today. I heard one hit the ground. These lizards are about a metre long, and they fall from trees. No, no, no, it's not me. I spoke to a guy, a local, and he said, don't worry about that. I said, what happens? He said, they climb up the tree, they reach the top, then they fall down.

So what do they do then? He said, they climb up another tree, they reach the top and fall down. Now, that's not a job I want. Being a lizard that falls out of a tree. But they're giant green lizards. They fall out of trees. Anyway, I've been Steve Bunce. I'm in Miami.

The fights this weekend. And this has been Five Live Boxing. My name's Steve Bradnell, assistant manager of Royal Oak FC. You may have seen me online with Vinyl. Vinyl sensation. And now the BBC have given me the chance to set the footballing world banter eyes.

This could be a great opportunity for us, lads, a podcast for the BBC. Can I just say, What's the podcast? Brilliant. Great start. Well done, Bob. Brilliant.

We can completely show utter transparency to Royal Oak fans. I'll use my charm. Gift it, gab. Games gone. The Steve Bracknell podcast. Watch on YouTube. Listen on BBC Sounds.