The Ariel Helwani Show - Ariel x Ade, episode 17: Boxing broken? NY denies Lamont Roach appeal, Vergil Ortiz Jr. talks Terence Crawford

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

Ariel Helwani and Ade Oladipo kick off the show with their reactions to another press conference for the Times Square card and wonder why Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney aren't fighting (07:00).Next, they listen to comments from Oscar De La Hoya (10:16) and Eddie Hearn (14:00) about Dana White and TKO teaming with Turki Alalshikh and react to the promoters' thoughts.Prompted by comments from Ariel's interview with Lou DiBella (20:30), the duo debates the recently floated idea that boxing is 'broken.'Then, they discuss Chris Eubank Jr. being fined £100,000 for slapping Conor Benn with an egg (27:02) and whether the punishment fits the crime.Vergil Ortiz Jr. joins the show to recap his recent performance, look ahead to what's next — could it be Terence Crawford — and talk about his love of the Harry Potter series (31:46).Finally, the show closes with reactions to NYSAC denying Lamont Roach's appeal for the Gervonta Davis fight (51:31), Dmitry Bivol vs. David Benavidez talks heating up (55:32), Tyson Fury's tease (1:00:22), and Johnny Fisher vs. Dave Allen 2 being announced (1:03:37). Plus, the Parting Shot (1:14:33).

Hello and welcome to a brand new edition of Ariel and Addy right here on the undisputed global home of boxing, DAZN. That is D-A-Z-N. I'm Ariel Hawani inside. Excuse me, our New York City studio. It's been a long day here, but as you can see it's nice and bright outside Yes, daylight savings has hit these parts haven't hit the UK just yet I'm not quite sure why that is I think they turn their clocks forward on the 31st of March

Let's get more insight into this phenomenon as we head across the pond to say hello to my Co-host my co-pilot the great ad a oladipo. Why is this ad a why do you guys turn the clocks forward? four weeks after us any idea What do you mean after you what do you set the standard in clock turning? No, we don't set the standard just copy what the US do no But we do it first of March and we've always done the standard. What the US do? No, but we do it. 31st of March and we've always done the 31st of March and that is our day. I should throw the question back to you and say why does the US turn the clocks

back four weeks before us? Why do you guys do this? Okay, well first of all, do you always do it on the 31st of March? For example, if the 31st of March is a Tuesday, do you do it on a Tuesday? No, you don't. You always do it on the, I think the last Sunday of March. No? Isn't that it? Yeah, that is true. I think you're wrong about this. I think you're talking... B-O-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L I don't know when it happens. I even tell my mom, mom, what's the time? She said, have you changed your clock back? I'm like, oh, forgot.

And then I do it. So I have no idea why it happens. I have no idea when it happens. I just can't wait for it to happen because it's far too dark out here. So early, it's weird. It's like 4 p.m. and it's dark. I'm like, this makes no sense.

It's strange. So hopefully- Well, that's why I'm happy that we're doing it here because as you recall, when we started this program back in November, it was pitch black outside, but as you can see right now, it's nice and sunny. And this puts me in a very good mood, Adi,

but we don't have a lot of time to waste because we have a super stacked show. It was nice to have you in New York last week, back to back to back. It was good, right? On Tuesday together, we did it on Wednesday together, we did it on Thursday, special primetime episode, and the fans were starting to think,

wait a second, is this the norm? For now it's not, but guess what? Despite the fact that we did three shows, a collective three hours, three plus hours together last week on a crazy week in this sport, excuse me, we still have a lot to talk about on this Tuesday afternoon. And oh, by the way, in about 28 minutes time, we're going to be joined by one of the brightest,

best young stars in the sport, Virgil Ortiz Jr. is gonna join us. There's a lot going on in his weight class around him with some big names. We'll get his thoughts on what's to come. Coming off his big win over Israel, Madrimov just a couple of weeks ago in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. You know what's interesting, Adé?

Let's start with this. Last week we were talking about the New York city press conference in, um, in Times Square for the big May 2nd card. And we were saying like, it was, it was, it was missing something. I feel like these six individuals hurt us because I feel like they up their ante yesterday.

Did you see this press conference? All of a sudden there's slaps. There's back and forth between Garcia and Haney, night and day between last week, no? Complete night and day. And maybe they were given a bit of a telling off, like, okay guys, look, I mean, we need to sell this thing. Yes, granted, people are interested, people are invested because it's unique, it's different, but ultimately you guys were put on the stage to kind of go at each other, right? As you say, six characters, six polarizing figures. Let's do something. And I will give credit to Todd Grisham as well.

Obviously the first one was supposed to by Dougie Fisher, who I think did a fantastic job. It's not easy being up there. Me and you have both done that role, but I think Todd Grisham just stirred the pot enough. Almost like he dropped a little grenade and ran all the time. And I thought he did a good job at just making sure it flowed well rather than interrupt the guys when they were going at it.

So I think Todd deserves a lot of applaudings. I know Bill Haney wouldn't agree with me because he went at Todd after. But I think Todd did a good job. Well, let's take a look at the face-offs because last week we broke them down. And we'll start with the best one of them all Arnold Barbosa going going at it I mean actually was more Tiafima Lopez who started it but there was some back and forth here they

are here's Barbosa here's a shove from Tiafima Lopez or both on the right Lopez on the left another shove a shove back from Barbosa oh And. I love the attire. Oh, now did he connect with that? He connected, he connected. It was very subtle. It wasn't KSI, Dillion, Dennis, or Chris Eubank Jr., Connor, Ben, but there was a connection.

And so because of that small connection, Tiofimo won that one. 10-9, Tiofimo. You think so? Yeah, yeah, I love what they're wearing. It's like a homage to the Warriors. Remember that movie in the 70s? Oh yeah, it's a classic, yeah.

I feel like that's what they're kind of, that's their fit, I like their fit. Okay, so that was the tri-main event. Now we go to the co-main event, Devin Heaney. Devin Heaney brought it yesterday. I thought Devin Heaney was in great form. He was intense. A bit of a Daniel Dubois esque look with the with the workout shirt

These guys are so big for the weight like honestly to think that Devin Haney was a 135er I mean again, I don't know if he's got boots on but he looks taller Then how's the Ramirez and look Devin Haney struggling here because Ramirez doesn't really do the trash talk thing So that's why Devin had to kind of focus on Ryan Garcia and others because Ramirez doesn't really do the trash talk thing So that's why Devon had to kind of focus on Ryan Garcia and others because Ramirez doesn't do that So it's kind of tough for Devon to get under Ramirez's skin So I felt like that was almost a draw. I'm gonna give those two a draw for that face-off Yeah, I would agree with that last but not least Ryan Garcia, really Romero and this is what we were expecting out of them last week. Again, everyone was very subdued.

Maybe they had to, I don't know, get a little warmed up. And it's interesting to do two press conferences for a card where no tickets are being sold. Because typically you do the press conferences to sell tickets, but there it is, the Fatal Fury belt. And the drawing back and forth. I don't mind the kind of cross city tour, if you like.

Yes, it's to sell, obviously, look, as you say, presses are normally there to sell tickets, but they're also there to sell pay-per-views, get interest. And I think they've done that, especially this one. The first one, maybe not so, but this one definitely got a bit more heated, as you said. And I feel like fans that were kind of like, hmm, that was a bit boring. Now they're like,, okay now we saw it. We saw the Ryan versus Devon

We saw Tio and Arnold Barboza go each other. We saw Tia Fimo and Devon go at each other That's what we want to see Let's take a quick listen to a back and forth here, which I thought was very interesting between Ryan Garcia and Devon Haney again Last week they're on the stage together. We thought that there would be more of an interaction but they kept it very civil. They didn't really interact with each other. They kind of focused on their opponents and there wasn't much there. On Monday evening in Los Angeles, things changed. You know I'm really focused on just whipping Devin Haney's ass again. That's all I'm really worried about. So just to not even redeem myself, but just to cement that bullshit, fucking, off-stream bullshit.

You know what you probably did set up, we know you did that. Where's your little brother? Is your brother in the house? Because your brother knew before everybody else, and you don't answer that question. My little brother right there. Okay, so how do you know before everybody else? You know. Corruption at his finest.

Corruption at his finest. They couldn't take the loss, what's up man? You know, corruption at its finest. Corruption at its finest. They couldn't take the loss, what's up man? I know you'll see you. I don't wanna touch that. I don't know what you're doing with your hands, buddy. But at the end of the day, I'm not gonna look past Broly. Hey, the Austrian don't help you block a left hook, bro.

You got hit like a thousand times. You got dribbled off the canvas. You know nothing was taken. You know damn well. You got dribbled off the canvas. You got, you know, nothing was taken. You know damn well. You know damn well. Do not do drugs kids. Do not do drugs? Do not do drugs. Okay, hey, he had that in his back pocket the whole time. That was what we were expecting, right? Yeah.

That's the stuff. And that's kind of what, and look, me and you spoke about this on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, like why are they not going directly to Ryan versus Devin? And this is no disrespect to Rowley, no disrespect to Ramirez, which I think is a tough fight for Devin Haney, but the heat is right there. It's there. And yes, it could get bigger and it probably will get bigger come September or October, but the risk that we are running by not putting these guys straight in with each other is

a big one because if someone loses It's just not the same fight again. And I know people said oh, yeah, if Devon loses you can still do it No, you can't maybe in a year's time, but you can't do it straight away So I'm almost that almost got me upset to think why aren't we just running straight to it rather than kind of this semi-final thing? But it is what it is. Hopefully fingers crossed we do get it But I do think both of them and and I include Rolio Romero as a tough fighter, Florian as well. I think both of them are in tough fights.

I do want to say hello very briefly here to everyone who's joining us on YouTube. We had a bit of a false start there with the dreaded black screen, but I do believe we are up and running. So hello, how are you? It's a nice Tuesday afternoon. You didn't miss much.

You didn't miss much. You didn't miss much. Well, we were just recapping yesterday's press conference, which you probably already saw the highlights, but, uh, in any event, uh, we apologize for the, the inconvenience and for the, the clunky start, but we're up and running now. And we are all good. Um, I wanted to ask you about a few things and

want to talk about, uh, obviously the biggest story in boxing continues to be this, this TKO Turkey merger and, and the changing of the times and all this stuff yesterday. Uh, you know, we're starting to, we're starting to see the players involved speak about it, right? When we were talking about it, uh, no one had

really said anything. They were, I don't know, taking some time digesting, who knows. And, and yesterday Oscar De La Hoya spoke to the media now this was a couple of days after Eddie Hearn spoke to the media and we'll get to that in a moment Mauricio Sula man of the WBC spoke about it other promoters figures as well in the sport but I thought Oscars comments were very telling and very interesting in case you missed it here's what Oscar had to say. That comment to me I felt a little offended.

Dana White has stated that he'd rather not work with the established promoters now if he doesn't have to but it looks like he will be open to it. Just overall what have you heard and how do you think things are going to unfold and what do you feel about their group? No look I mean I did hear that he passed over the reigns of boxing to Dana White. Well that comment to me, I felt a little offended because I've been in boxing all my life and I've been promoting for 20 some odd years. So what I'm going to do is stay in my lane and do what I do for Golden Boy and with The Zone

and give the fight fans the best fights that can possibly be made just the way we've been doing for years. And working with Turkey Al-Ashiq and Riyadh Season and sprinkling these championship big events, yeah, it's an honor for me to do that. But I have my business that I'm going to take care of as well. And nobody's going to touch me there because we are the best developers in the fight game. And we take our fighters to championship levels to superstardom like the way we did with Canelo and Ryan Garcia. So I'm going to stick in my lane and I'm going to work with Turkey Lusik because it has been very positive. So this is an interesting one, Adé, because not that long ago, Oscar was one of the promoters that was critical of Turkey's involvement in the sport. And then all of a sudden they become friends, come to terms, all is good. And now you're starting to see,

hey, I'm a little offended. I thought we were working together. I thought this was all well and good. And I think some of these individuals are starting to realize that that might be coming to an end. What did you make of what he had to say and his demeanor and tone when he was saying it? Yeah, look, he's clearly upset.

And they all, all of them seem like they're in a difficult position in terms of what to say. And they all, all of them seem like they're in a difficult position in terms of what to say. And I mean, all of them are put Eddie in that, in that bracket as well. Ben Shalom, I think said something on Friday night. Now Oscar, we only awake now. Frank Warren, who's had the relationship from the beginning with Turkey. I can't wait to hear what he has to say.

But I think it's the words that's been used from Turkey and Dana White, which has maybe offended some, like crushing. And I think he made a joke in it. I think it was a joke, obviously, about leaving the promoters in the jail. There's an event at Alcatraz. So I think all of them seem to be a bit confused as to what has happened. But I also feel that there's a realization that this venture with Turkey was a good one, is a good one, but is a bonus to what they do day to day. But don't forget your day to day running.

Don't forget putting on events that you did prior to Saudi and prior to Turkey. And think of what Turkey has given you as a bonus, as a kickstart to maybe do more events. And I think all of them are coming to the realization that that probably was what it was. And now we just have to get back to work. I think Eddie mentioned that he'll get back to doing 35 shows a year. I think Oscar's singing from that same hymn sheet and it is what it is. I mean, these guys, as Oscar said, Oscar's been in boxing since he was six.

And not just as obviously as a fighter, but as a very, very good promoter, he's promoted some of the biggest fights in the world. Some of the biggest fighters in the world. He was doing that prior to Turkey. And if this comes to an end, this relationship, which I don't think it will, I'm sure Oscar will continue to put on good events. Okay. So here's Eddie Hearn on Friday speaking to the stomping ground. And I actually thought he did a great job. I thought he did a great job of balancing the emotions, right? He didn't

come out and say, I'm offended. He said, I think this is great. I, he said, you know, this is a sign that boxing is on fire. And I disagree with them that boxing is great. He said, you know, this is a sign that boxing is on fire and I disagree with them that boxing is broken. Boxing isn't broken. I love boxing. I love working with the WBC and the IBF, etc. And so he, I thought, poked back a little bit, but also wasn't disrespectful and didn't show his cards. He didn't show his emotions on his sleeve. In case you missed it, here's what he had to say. Moving on to Turkey and Dana White's partnership, when were you guys made aware of this? About a year ago, probably, when the conversation started and particularly the last six months, three months, it wasn't really a surprise to us. I mean, look, when Turkey does his interviews and announcements, he's very bullish. And I think some of the things, whether you take him seriously or whether that's his plan,

probably ruffled a few feathers. My phone's been red hot with people saying, well, we need to get together. We need to start. I'm pretty chilled here. I think it's amazing news, to be honest with you. I mean, I think if you're comfortable with your business and you believe in your ability, I think it's brilliant.

Like, I think what it shows is, anytime someone like Dana White and TKO and Nick Khan wanna make a play in boxing that goes to show you where boxing's at. The one thing that I disagree with His Excellency and Dana White, boxing's not broken. Boxing's in the best place it's ever been and boxing's been hot for a long long time. Riyadh season, His Excellency, he's injected that new lease at life and of course a huge amount of money as well to make these big fights happen. So I don't think anyone's gonna fix boxing.

But can we improve it? Can we put better structures together? Can we come up with leagues that are gonna work and find one champion and all this kind of stuff? Yeah, I think we should always look to evolve. I don't agree with the necessarily with, you know, the kind of, what was it Dana said, you know, we don't need three letters before a belt. You have to remember those governing bodies and those belts carry a huge amount of history and legacy and fighters want to fight for those belts. Now you've got the ring belt which is in my opinion I've said before even before his excellency took it over that is kind of like the ring magazine champion is

kind of like the established number one in the division but you know I've spoke this whole thing about one champion one this is not a new thing but trust me when I know when when I say, those belts have a big value to the fighters. And they're heroes. Previous greats have held those belts as well. So I don't really know too much about the format, if I'm honest, I didn't, you know,

I read the press release. But we'll see, and I think it's tremendous for boxing, I really do. Eddie sounds like you there, talking about the history of the belts And so you guys you the old guard are holding on to this concept the new kids who are coming in are gonna say Oh, yeah, there's opportunities here with these guys on this side of the fence to hell with those old belts I'm going with them. That's what's gonna happen and I don't understand how anyone can see otherwise

No, no, I completely disagree. And look, I understand what you're getting at and a new shiny new toy, which sort of promises loads of money and fortunes. I can understand why that is appealing, but again, history means something in this sport. Boxing has been going since 17th century, where it was once bare knuckle, even though that has come back again.

I think people care about that. I think people care about that. I think people care about the WBC because of the belt holders. I think people care about the WBA being over a hundred years old, I think people care about the idea. You think they care about that more than money? No, I think it not is. No, you are correct.

But the prize was always a belt meant money. And that's not always been the case, but sometimes winning a world title meant the fortune and the riches were coming and there wasn't they were kind of intertwined those two things so I think trying to separate the two is wrong I think if you do become champion most times you are promised a big check and I think one goes hand in hand so when fighters that were young said they want to become world champions they didn't just mean they wanted to become world champions. They meant they wanted to settle or secure their future by becoming a world champion and thus getting money. So

I don't think we should try and separate the two, be a world champion and get money. And I think that's what boxing has been about for years. If the guy who is paying the biggest purses says to hell with those belts, come here and I'll, I'll pay you double, triple. They're going to laugh in the faces of those belts, those belts don't stand a chance. This idea, maybe history to kids who are, what does that mean? Like it's like, it's like saying to someone,

Oh yeah, uh, you, you should, you should dream of being on linear television. You should dream of being on, you know You should dream of being on regular cable TV and not on YouTube because there's history. No, the times change. Things evolve. Every single sport, times do change, but the dream of every sports person,

or I like to think the dream, and look, you speak to sports people every day, is to become a world champion or at least a champion in your field. It isn't necessarily about the money. That's not always the grab and look ultimately for these guys, no, ultimately you have to get paid. Don't get me wrong. Look, it's the most dangerous sport in the world. Get paid. But there's still,

I think fight is still hard with the dream of becoming a world champion. I still think that means something to fighters and in today's age, maybe not as much as it once did. Because when you hear people like Mike Tyson say those belts were only there collecting dust, I can kind of understand how some people have changed their thinking. But I still think people want to become a world champion.

I still believe it exists. And look, could it fade off eventually? Yes, but I speak to fighters nearly every day. Obviously I'm at boxing events every single weekend. And I asked that question, every single weekend and I ask that question. Every fighter dreams of becoming a world champion. It's still something there. It still means a lot.

And I think that's not gonna fade away anytime soon. We had the very outspoken, Lou DiBella on the program today, on my program earlier in the day. He had, I mean, it was one hour of fire, but want to play you this clip and get your reaction. Lou, very much in agreement with Dana and Turkey that boxing is broken. And he is quite bullish on what is going to become of the promoters who once called him a middleman. He now believes they are in the same spot.

Take a listen. This was inevitable, right? And frankly, Turkey and Turkey making a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision to make a decision and he now believes they are in the same spot. Take a listen. This was inevitable, right? And frankly, Turkey and Turkey making the four major guys,

all his little peons, it made this much more doable. And now you have a company capitalized on the stock exchange to 26, 27 million, depending on how you measure it. With UFC alone, capitalized 11 billion, 26, 27 billion, 11 billion, and economically supported by the deepest pockets in the world.

I mean, they're pretty much well set up for this. Yeah, he was spitting fire, and I have to say, once again, it's prize fighting. The public doesn't care who the IBF champion is. Uh, the boxers, the ones coming up don't care. They're going to go where the, uh, the biggest purses are. And I think everyone who is singing this tune

about the history of the belts are going to find out very quickly that it wasn't about the belts. It was just about the purses. And if it happens to, if a WBC belt happens to bring you the biggest purse, great. But if these guys are now doing it, give me the ring championship, the TKO belt, I'll be happy with that.

That's what they're all gonna say. I have no doubt of that. Just look at what Canelo Alvarez, he doesn't care. He honestly doesn't care. He's a businessman, payday, payday. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, he doesn't care now. And look, this is, I think, the point I'm trying to get at.

I think fighters, I think we mentioned Shukur Stevenson a few times just because he almost seems to be like the perfect person for them, right? The age just makes sense, the kind of the eyeballs they're trying to attract make sense. And I do wonder if you've already become a world champion and Shakur, for example, is a free weight world champion, then do you care necessarily about the belts? Maybe not. But I do think the fighters that are coming up that have never become world champions,

I think they care about the belts. So you're right, Canelo doesn't care about the belt anymore. Not at all. Bivul, Usyk, Fury, AJ, they've won belts. But it's the ones coming up that haven't won, I think they still care. But yeah, the other ones, I mean, people are throwing belts away in the past. People have vacated belts. I mean, Canelo basically threw away his IBF. He's only doing it now just because obviously that's the fight

that's been put in front of him. So I think the experienced pros don't, but I do think the younger ones do. I want to quickly just focus on sort of the boxing's broken narrative that's kind of been spun in the last week or so. I will say that boxing certainly isn't broken now. I mean, it's fractured still, still but isn't broken. I think a year and a half before Turkey entered the scene. It was certainly broken I do think it's more broken in America than maybe across Europe I mean once HBO decided to kind of not play a part in it and Showtime decided to kind of say okay enough's enough I mean wait to see what ESPN are gonna do with top rank You can under and you can kind of understand why people say boxing

is broken in America. I think across Europe, it's thriving. I mean, there are stadium shows, arenas are packed. As you know, boxing's spoken about here on radio stations every single day, it's still doing the back pages and the front pages. I think in America, it seems to have dropped down from where it once was.

I think boxing's broken in America, but not necessarily around the world. Couldn't agree more, and I actually said that to Lou earlier today. He was focused very much on America. And in his defense, Dana White last week was speaking about America, saying that we need to build it here and then expand.

But yes, 100%. It's a totally different story. You talk about the most popular fighters in the world. They're way more popular overseas than they are here. And so there are issues. I don't even agree, by the way, I would be a massive hypocrite if I sit here and say that boxing is quote unquote broken,

because just a few weeks ago I was saying, it's never been more fun to cover boxing. And so part of the fun of covering boxing is how crazy and wacky it all is, but boxing isn't broken. Boxing is boxing. You know what I mean? It's, it's, it's the same sort of structure as

the last 20, 30, even 40 years. It was a little bit more consolidated in the seventies and eighties and there were less champions. And when, when someone like Lou says, we did this to ourselves, he's right. Uh, we've got an interim super welterweight champion coming up and, and, and, and we've

got, you know, the, the gold super lightweight champion and all these different intercontinental and all this stuff. It makes it very hard to follow the sports. So the idea of, of streamlining things, less belts, less weight classes, less divisions, I think is going to prove to be very successful for them.

So yes, there are things that need to evolve and change. Yeah, no, you are things that need to evolve and change. Yeah, no, you don't, you don't think that that's a good move. I mean, obviously you might be, you might be limiting yourself if you do that. And you have to be very strategic. You might be, you know, leaving some weight classes behind, but it sounds to me like they're going to try and recreate the model of when they sort of relaunched the UFC. They whittled things down, they got rid of weight classes,

they built up the main ones that they believed were the main ones, and then they started to reintroduce the newer ones, the lighter ones. You know, this new weight class, obviously, look, boxing started, if you like, with eight weight classes, and then now I think there's 18,

if you count bridge of weight, which a lot of the governing bodies don't, but it's there, it's a weight class. My issue with that is, okay, let's just throw, for example, TKO's potential first event, right? Kenella versus Crawford, 168 pound fight. That wasn't a weight class that existed. That's one of the new weight classes. Are we going to get rid of that? Are we going to get rid of the cruiserweight division, which I think has proved to be one of the best divisions in boxing in recent years? I mean, one example, Usyk came from that. Jaya Patai, I think is proved to be one of the best divisions in boxing in recent years. I mean, Alexander Usyk came from that, Jaya Patel I think is going to be a pound for pounder.

So I think we've got to be careful with which weight classes we get rid of. Are we going to look to cut the smaller guys, kind of like what the UFC did, yet the smaller guys in recent years have provided some fantastic boxing for us. In new ways come from that weight class. Jesse Bam Rodriguez has come from the lower weight classes. Chocolatito, Estrada, I can go on and on and on. So I think we've got to be careful in which weight classes we remove. If we keep to the standard eight that we started with,

not all the best stars are there at the moment. So it's interesting, it's intriguing. Again, we're only getting little snippets from Dana and other people. So this is all still a puzzle we're trying to put together. But I'm not sure about the weight classes thing. I think that we've got to be careful what we do there because some fighters are just literally struck, sorry, stuck and strict in a weight. And it's a weight that's been there for the past 40, 50 years. So I don't know. Let's move on to some other news, some breaking news, if you will.

Have we got the noise? Okay. Oh, Frankie, what happened? Wrong music. Oh, Frankie. Shocking. You had one job, Frankie. You had one job.

Yeah, you had one job. There it is. Okay. I mean, mulligan, mulligan. It's all good. Sky Sports reporting that Chris Eubank Jr. fined $100,000 by the British boxing board of control for the egg slap or the egg. Oh, you're kidding me. Yeah. That's what they're saying.

Now I've reached out to his team. I've reached out to Eubanks team, no response just yet, but this is what they are reporting. Your thoughts on the $100,000 slap seems a little excessive, does it not? A little? That's ridiculous. Honestly, that's ridiculous not a little ridiculous I'm gonna say that's ridiculous I mean I pounds by the way I'm American I should have said pound yeah which is even more than it's like a hundred and thirty thousand

dollars but no that's um that's beyond excessive some of the things that I've seen growing up as a kid watching press conferences I mean that was almost timid compared to I've seen I mean I've seen David Hay and Derek Chazora go at it. I've seen Chazora do everything at press conferences and I mean, he must be broke then because he must have been fined millions. But I just think it's excessive. It's not like this is in Chris Eubanks nature. So it's almost a slap on the wrist because okay, Chris, you've been fantastic at every other single press conference before you've been, you've been hurled at abuse and you've always controlled yourself and dealt with everything magnificently.

The one time you let slip, we're going to find you a hundred thousand pounds. I mean, I, I'm embarrassed for the British boxing board of control. And hopefully Chris sort of counters that and tries to get his money back or doesn't pay. I don't know, but that's excessive. I don't know if he cannot pay. I mean, they are sanctioning the event. My first thought was, remember he said that he was going to pay all the undercard fighters who didn't

fight three years ago when they were supposed to fight. I hope he doesn't say, oh yeah, well now that you're finding me, I'm not doing that anymore because now it's starting to get a little price. Where did they get that number from? The hundred thousand. This is what annoys me. Where did they, like it's not, like where's this, where's, they just made it up. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? like say Chris was an undercard fighter fighting

for an area title a very minimal title is that person gonna get fined a hundred thousand it's almost like they know that what he's gonna get paid for the fight and they've decided you know we're gonna take a chunk of that because you just a hundred thousands a joke honestly I'm so disappointed to hear that and yeah I can't wait for Chris and his team to release a statement because knowing Chris, the way I know Chris, he's not willingly giving up a hundred grand.

No. It's just not happening. I can't wait to hear a statement. I also thought, and I know the British boxing board of control doesn't oversee the misfits events, but then, you know, what happens to KSI who slapped Dylan Danis with a pancake? Does he get fined now too? Or do they get to play by a different set of rules?

Different set of rules. I want to say a different set of rules. And I bet you, I bet you when someone speaks to them, maybe it's Robert Smith, right? He's one of the top guys over there. I bet you he'll say, oh, the shell could have gotten in his eye. It could have postponed the fight.

This was, you know, postponed the fight. This was, you know, a dangerous object. I bet you they'll come out with something, but the promoters will tell you behind the scenes, this only made the fight bigger, right? It got it on the back page. It got, it got the boxing world to speak about a press conference, not a fight, not a fight on fight week, but a press conference. I'm not saying it was, it was

the right thing to do. I'm not condoning this sort of thing, but everyone is standing to gain, including the British boxing board of control as a result of what happened, as a result of this maneuver from Chris Eubanks. So it seems a little hefty, if you ask me, a hundred thousand pounds is a lot of money. Is a lot of money. And again, I go back to, I mean, you kind of find someone that amount of money that they have previous if they have priors, you're like, OK, look, you've done this so many times before. We have to kind of we have to smash a peanut with an axe, so to speak. We have to really kind of set an example.

Chris isn't like that. It was that a character for Chris. So I don't know why you'd go so heavy with that number yeah again I think I'd be shocked if that isn't a little down to like 50 or even 25 and it's a case of okay just pay it and move on I'll be shocked if Chris pays a hundred thousand in case you're wondering what that is in US dollars that's about a hundred thirty thousand US dollars so yeah that is I, that's what Draymond Green gets fined for doing for like elbows and knees. Everyone made those jokes about how expensive eggs are these days.

Those are officially the most expensive eggs of all time. Let us say hello to our guest. He is one of the best and brightest young boxers in the game. He is the interim super welterweight champion representing the WBC. We just saw him a couple weeks ago in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A very impressive win over Israel Madrimov. He is Virgil Ortiz Jr. kind enough to join us. Hello Virgil, how are you? Doing great. How about yourself? How are you guys doing? Doing great. Thank you so much for the time. Could I ask you off the bat, you know,

we were debating all the stuff going on with with Turkey and TKO and and perhaps moving away from WBC and IBF and the traditional Model of these sanctioning body belts as an interim WBC champion. How do you feel about this potential? I Just learned about this Like through one tweet so I have like kind of no context to go on like through one tweet so I have like kind of no context to go on as far as I can tell I think they're trying to make into some kind of like UFC thing right which is kind of like one belt yeah okay you know it can be a good thing you know I don't know you know I feel like this is like changing the

whole sport of boxing and I don't know if I know, I feel like this is like changing the whole sport of boxing. And I don't know if I'm qualified enough to like have an opinion on that. You know, I just fight people, you know, but I mean, we'll see. We'll see how it goes. I understand the logic behind it. I really do. It's just a huge change. So I just don't know how that would impact the sport.

Sure. And obviously it's not going to happen overnight. And it'll probably take three, four, five years for it to really come into place. But I was curious as someone who's now been in the game for quite some time and is rising up the ranks and many more belts to come your way. Can I ask about your last fight? In retrospect now, just a few weeks removed, happy with your performance against Madriamov? Yeah, very happy. Yes. You know, I've looked the fight over one time,

maybe like the day after or so, and I felt pretty good about it. I think comfortably I want to give up like three rounds, four at the max. A lot of people said that I gave up the rounds in the beginning that I was just following them around. Man, there was a lot of times when I was up the rounds in the beginning that I was just following him around. Man, there was a lot of times when I was watching the video back and I was like,

you know, there were so many times where they didn't see the little Jabs re-popping his head back, or him throwing punches and I was just catching them with my gloves. He wasn't, not only was he moving a lot, but he didn't throw a whole lot. He definitely didn't throw as much as I did. And while the rounds were fairly slow in the beginning, moving a lot but he didn't throw a whole lot. He definitely didn't throw as much as I did and while

the rounds were fairly slow in the beginning, I thought um I didn't think he really did and I didn't think the fight was as close as the score some of the scorecards at it. You know I thought you were fantastic. I reached out to your team I think the day after and I said look Virgil or Tees in terms of value for money I mean I would pay anything to go and watch a Virgilord T's fight. I thought you were great. I thought Madrimov maybe came out very fast and he's kind of got that tricky style, but then once you kind of sort of kind of knuckle down and his style, I felt like he was fighting your style and you just don't do that. You don't do that at all. If you were to grade your performance, what would you give it? You know, sticking to the game plan, not getting hit with many big shots. I would give myself like a solid A, like not an A plus or A minus, just a solid A.

Yeah. What was it like kind of being sandwiched in that car? Because anywhere else, I mean, that fight happens in America anyway, you're the main event, right? And you're coming out kind of middle of the ground. What was it like fighting at that kind of time? Number one, fighting in Saudi Arabia. Obviously you were there for Latino night, but what was the whole experience like for you? The whole experience, you know, it was, it was a very unique experience. I would say, um, just, just being around everyone around, everyone fighting on that card was you know the top tier caliber fighter you know and just being around that kind of skill.

It humbles you a little bit like I'm probably not the best one here you know you have Bivoni, I better leave and you know and it's's, it's, it's just something that is honestly a really cool feeling. Like, you know, that's, it's a weird thing to say, but that's just how it was. I'm just like, man, I just, you know, it's sometimes when I hear people say, oh, I'm just happy to be here. You know, it's not really a good thing because, you know, they're just satisfied with that, but I was happy to be there. And, my thing I did my thing and that was it I was I honestly was very excited to have to be there be very happy and honored to take part of the whole thing and I would love to go back I appreciate that candor and

humility a lot of people wouldn't say that so thank you very much for that in the immediate aftermath both you and your promoter the great Oscar De La Hoya the Hall of Famer talked about trying to potentially get a Terrence Crawford fight but it seems like he's going to wait for this potential super fight against Canelo Alvarez in September. We see Canelo though agreeing to fight in May against William Skull. Can you tell us more about this? Was this ever a real thing and are you disappointed that he is choosing to sit out as opposed to fighting someone like you in the interim?

Well, you know, I try to think about it from everyone's point of view. If I was Crawford and they offer me to canelal fight, I'm going to take the canelal fight, you know. It's kind of like the whole thing where, where certain people are saying that I duck them to fight a harder fight. You know what I mean? It just doesn't make sense. If I were to say that, then I'd be a hypocrite and I'm not a hypocrite. So I got to put respect where it's due.

I would fight Canelo too if I had the opportunity. And that's a once in a lifetime thing. He's an all time great. I don't think the fight happens. I've spoken to certain people that I don't wanna name, but it's like 99% not happening. Okay. Very unfortunate, cause I would have loved to test my skills against him.

I admire Crawford, he's a very intelligent, skillful fighter. But it's just, it's not on the table, but that's okay. Well, maybe down the line, that would be an incredible fight and even bigger if he pulls off the upset against Canelo Alvarez. And what about these comments regarding the Alcatraz fight or potentially fighting in late June?

I've seen your father weigh in on this as well on social media, Kathy Duva weighing in on this as well on social media. Kathy Duva weighing in on it as well. Are there talks of you fighting? Because now I'm hearing that maybe the Alcatraz card is going to be pushed down. So what could you tell us about this? Was this ever a real thing? So I learned about it with everyone else on Twitter.

And I'm just like, that's why I didn't say anything about it. Because I don't speak on anything unless I know 100% what's going on And I learned about it on twitter like everybody else. I'm just like, okay, what's going on now? you know, I'll talk to my manager and I talked to you know, my dad and uh, just trying to get into the loop of things and As far as right now because I heard it's supposed to happen in june or something, right? Well, my hands are not ready Before I have a cut on my cut that I got in the fight because of the headbutts that it's not ready. So the chances of that happening is slim to none. So I'm not ready to fight on that card if it happens. That's just the logic of it. I remember when we spoke at Latino night, right?

I mean, that was a few months back, but we spoke and I asked you for your 3-2-1 back then and at the time I think number three was Sebastian Fendora, number two was Jared Ennis, number one was Terence Gawth and in the end you got Madjumov, which I thought to be fair would have been number four on that list. I think you said that as well. If I asked you to do your, your three to one or your one to three now, what three names are you sort of hunting for come the summer or the winter of 2025? Fondor for sure. He has the WBC. Um, he got a see I Believe Charles a good fight, you know, there's a lot of people saying that

he's done and then he got people saying that I Can't beat him. So there's there's a good Kind of I don't know. I feel like people would love to see that fight I think that he's a good fighter and I would love to know the opportunity to fight him, you know As for three Probably murders Aliaf I think that he's a good fighters. Well, that's a fight that everyone wants to see I was reading all the tweets everyone was excited about you know, and I'm not I'm not one to shy away from a fight So I think that's a very good fight as well So interesting because much as all has been talking about potentially fighting you and I think Oscar

has been saying, okay, maybe not that yet because there are other plans. I always say Virgil always seems to go to the fire where other fighters are like, yeah, I'll take that one. Virgil's like, no, no, no, give me the toughest one. One name you didn't mention was Boots. And obviously there was some talk about you potentially fighting Boots Obviously boots has got standing on this coming up. I think boots goes to one 54. If you beat standing on this, is that, is that gone that fight now? Is that a fight that could be revisited at one 54? Would you feel like boots wouldn't fight you?

What's the situation there? It's just not on my, like my near, my near future plan. You know what I mean? I think the more realistic fights, he's at 147. I can't, we thought he was coming up. That's why I brought the name up before. I thought he was coming up 154 and we were gonna fight. Well, if he's at 147, then you know,

I don't call out other people at 147 and I don't call out people that are 160. I'm just focusing on people that are at my weight. That's all it is. As far as potential fight, you know, of course, I'm down for any fight. I have a confession to make Virgil, and I'm curious how you're going to perceive me

after I say this to you. I have never read a single word, a single chapter of a Harry Potter book. I've never seen a single second of a Harry Potter film. Your thoughts on me. You haven't seen the movies? I have not seen a second, a a Harry Potter film. Your thoughts on me. You haven't seen the movies? I have not seen a second, a millisecond. Me neither, me neither.

Okay, but the both of us, I didn't wanna speak on his behalf. What are your thoughts on this now? Hey guys, I think I gotta go. I have something to do. For real, you're that big of, you read these books during fight week, right? To let yourself calm down and you read them

over and over again? So I had the third book, I was on the third book because I was over there. And I was doing these hyperbaric chambers and they didn't let us bring our phones in there. So the second time I went, I brought my book that I was reading anyways, just to pass the time and man, I was enjoying it right now. I'm on the fourth book and it's a it's like 700 pages, man. I'm like, at 600 right now. It's long, but I can't get enough of

it. I just passed a very crucial part that I was dreading to read because I know what happens. I've seen the book. I mean, I've seen the movies like a hundred times and I had to like take a moment to like, this is about to happen. I just had to like sit for like five minutes like down and I read it and yeah, it hit worse than the actual movies. But you know, the fans know what I'm talking about is the fourth movie. Um, but yeah, I love the movies. Uh, the books are great. And, um, yeah, I'm just a big Harry Potter fan.

Which, which, which are better, which do you enjoy more, the movies or the books? Uh, I would say. Well, you know, it's kind of, you of got to have both for me as a fan because I've seen the movies and the movies are You know appealing to my eyes, you know just seeing all the magic and you know, just just you know, all the fights are badass and the books just have the extra bit of information that That answers a lot of questions in the movies that got left out. So you need both, but if I were to have to choose one for us, my life, I'd say movies for sure.

But going back to the magic performance, I mean, I could hear you talk Harry Potter all day, but I mean, you're a boxer first and foremost, going back to that magic performance. I mean, I was there all week and you know, I spoke to so many media members and everyone was like, it's a 50-50 fight. Magimo is very, very tough. Considering all the talk, considering that it was the greatest fight card ever, was that your best performance by far or was there something in the past that you think beats that? I think that it's top three. I would say I would say it's right up there with the Marissa Herrera fight because that fight I was I think I had the same kind of calm uh, I stayed calm the whole time. I was able to execute everything that we wanted to do. Okay. A quick word on Robert Garcia. I think the best trainer in boxing, rightly so trainer of the year last year. I listened to him in your corner and obviously you guys have had that relationship for years now alongside your father. Just give me a quick word

on Robert Garcia and just the man, cause we don't really get to speak to Robert that much. He doesn't really talk the most times I do see him is on any setback videos and that's about it. He doesn't really say anything to media. What's Robert like as a trainer? Robert is a very, first of all, above everything else, he's a good man that he is one of the best men that I know. And he's just a really good guy. And he takes that into the sport of boxing. He takes care of his fighters. And I don't mean just like the cuts or the boxing advice.

He says you need to look forward to the future and take care of yourself financially, like buy some houses and all that stuff. I hear him telling this to other fighters all the time. So he really takes care of us. Um, and as far as, you know, being a trainer, uh, you know, he's, I mean, I don't have to even say he's a 2024, you know, room magazine trainer of the year, but not only that he, he doesn't have an ego, you know, he asks us for input from my dad, from, from Hector, from other coaches as well.

for input from my dad, from Hector, from other coaches as well. And he also, before the fight, they all kind of get together and they discuss like, one who's going to talk when or what or everyone's on the same game plan. We have a game plan and we work as a team. You have to have that chemistry, you know? And Robert is, he doesn't have an ego to where, oh, I'm the head coach, I'm gonna be the only one talking. You know, Robert, he's just, he's a, that's why I say he brings that good person into the whole trainer aspect

because he knows it's for the best for the fighter. You mentioned Sebastian Fondora, he returns to action, not this weekend, next weekend against Chordell Booker. I'm curious, do you think he wins? Are you hoping that he wins so that could potentially line up for a fight against you? You know, respectfully, I haven't seen Booker fight, or at least I don't think I have.

I'll have to probably look at his box right to see if I caught one of his sights before. I mean, you know, I'm a back to champion for sure on this one but we just we just have to wait and see I can't really give you a I'm gonna have to give you a boring answer on this one because I haven't seen them fight. Okay so but it's safe to say that you probably want Fandora to win because that's the big fight now if if if in fact he does win and maybe they're able to figure it out realistically when do you want to return to action? As soon as my hands get better and I can start training.

Okay, so what are they saying? Fall, winter? So I saw a doctor already and I'm actually gonna go see one this coming week just to kind of confirm my things. So yeah, we'll see around there. All right, cool. By the way, one last thing.

I saw this incredible mural we're gonna show to you now. You probably know the one I'm talking about that was posted on social media just a couple of days ago. Oh, wow. This is amazing stuff. Who did this? Where is this? And how does that make you feel

seeing someone do this in honor of you? Yes, first of all, so they painted this at the gym that I train at. So I used to train at a gym called Irving Powell Irving Police Athletic Academy they they put it in the actual gym and to me that's crazy because look they they have pictures of me when I was a kid and other fighters as a kid and The city didn't allow them to put those pictures on the wall

But yet they allowed them to put this huge mural onto the wall of me. And I'm just like, you know, that it meant something like it meant a lot. It really did. I'm just like, wow, you know, and it really does mean a lot. The person who painted it was Juan Velasquez. He had some help from other artists, I'm sure. I don't know their names, but respect to them.

Thank you to them. But it's just, it's very humbling, man. There's a lot of kids that train there. I was one of those kids that trained at Irving Powell as well growing up. And I hope it motivates them that they can do it too. It's not impossible. What an incredible honor.

And well earned and deserved. Most importantly, before we let you go, Virgil, a very happy birthday to your grandmother. I think yesterday was her birthday, so wishing her the very best. And great to see all the success. Congrats on the recent win. Looking forward to your return later this year, my man.

Thank you, man. Appreciate it so much. All right, there he is. Virgil Ortiz Jr., you were at his fight in February. You were at the Latino Night fight just a few months prior. Your thoughts on his ceiling. Can he be one of those top dogs in the next year or two? Yeah, all that a doubt.

If he's not, something's gone wrong somewhere. I think for me, he's one of the most exciting fighters to watch. I'd have him in my top five sort of fighters that I would pay to watch. I think he's incredible. I think he's incredible. I think he's all action. And I think this test against magic was a test. I mean, I know a lot of people that would pick imagine more to win that one. Bear in mind what magic I've done against Crawford.

Everyone's like, okay, look, magic, I'm gonna push Crawford. He might cause Virgil problems and Virgil, you know, I think by his own admission wasn't his best against boy shock. So you kind of people kind of put two and two together. But Virgil came out and I think the first three or four rounds I thought Majomov was sort of having his way and then Virgil just kind of went up a gear that Majomov simply didn't have and dominated. And he's very aggressive.

He's brutal. He stalks you. I think he's got everything. I really do. I only hope that he gets a super fight at 154 pound division. I don't know if Andorra is a super fight. I can kind of see why he's calling that Jamel Charlo because that might be that.

Remember Jamel Charlo only lost to Canelo at 154 pounds. Jamel Charlo was undisputed. So I can see what he's trying to do, but I think he's got a start and I think eventually he will land at 160 as well. I think Oscar's got something special there. Well, if it's not Terrence Crawford next and it's probably not going to be because let's be honest Taking a fight against Virgil Ortiz isn't exactly like taking a fight against William Skull with all due respect

It's it's a massive risk for a guy who has a gigantic fight waiting in the wings come September Would love to see him fight Fandora if in fact Fandora gets by Booker on the 22nd of March interim champ WBC champ, unify those belts and then move on and fight some. I want to see Boots. I want to see Boots. Yeah if Boots finally moves up right? I think yeah I think if Boots beats Danny Onis I think Boots ain't hanging around. I mean I don't know if Boots wants to become undisputed. Eddie's tried to make fights with the other champions and they haven't kind of worked out for every reason Boots has always spoken about it being tight at 147 pounds boots boots a big guy as well. He's as big as Virgil

I've been around both of them. I think that is your your super fight It's not can I know Crawford don't get me wrong, but it's a super fight and I would love to see that one two guys Remember Virgil T's was a 147 guys were not too long ago So he's not like he's a 160 guy coming down to the 154 division. He's gone up to it. So I think it makes sense. I like that fight. Uh, let's move along. The big controversy of last week happened right here in New York and Brooklyn to be exact. Fight between Tank Davis and Lamont Roach. We all know what happens. We don't need to revisit all of it. But we were wondering if the New York State athletic commission was going to in fact, reverse the majority draw decision and their decision was not to do that.

The ring has learned via the New York state athletic commission that quote, since the bout continued for more than three full rounds after the referees, no knockdown call. And because the boxers necessarily adjusted to the referees ruling, the referee's call knockdown call. And because the boxers necessarily adjusted to the referee's ruling, the referee's call was not outcome determinative. So they are keeping it a draw.

I say hogwash. That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. If that's a knockdown, it's a 10, eight and Roach wins the fight. What the hell? But let's be honest. Are we surprised? No.

No, no, no. Look, I said this, I said that, and you agreed as well. I said the newest athletic commissioner are not gonna do anything. Why would they wanna rule against Gervonta Davis in any way, shape or form? I mean, we all know the gate.

The gate was the second biggest gate ever at the Barclays. You wanna be in the Gervonta Davis business. You don't wanna get that man upset and then he decides to kind of fight in Vegas or anywhere else. So why would you rule against him? If I'm Lamon Roach, you kind of expected that. You're only hoping now that the WBA can see sense and do something about it. But I think it's very unlikely if I'm honest with you. I think Lamont-Roach just missed his moment. Unless he forces it with his promoter and no one else seems to be doing anything, Javante Davis moves on and fights someone else.

I just can't, it's even gone quiet between Rose 2 and social media. No, no, no, no, no. I think you couldn't be more wrong. It's gone quiet. Remember, they were going at each other two days. I think it went quiet because there's a deal in place for them to fight in the next few months. His promoter Lamont Roach came out and said it. Tank seems to think like I need to rectify this.

No, I could not disagree more. This is the fight that's going to happen and it's the fight that should happen. And yes, he got screwed and yes, if he won the fight, the immediate rematch would have brought him even more money. But let's be honest, if the fight went the way in which we all thought it was going to go, he would not be fighting tank Davis again. And that brings a certain amount of money as well. So there is a consolation prize there and he has had to defend himself, which I think is crazy. People thinking that he is suing tank, that he is suing New York. He's not doing that. His team had to appeal this.

They would be doing, it would be, it would be managerial malpractice if they didn't at least do their due diligence and try to appeal this. Cause it was so blatant and there were multiple, there were, there were multiple issues at play in that ninth round, the knockdown, the, the, you know, the Calvin Ford situation where he goes on the apron and wipes tanks face and then the no replay.

So they had to do it. But in the end, we all expected it not to be reversed in the end they're gonna run it back I suspect they run it back in the next few months and hopefully we get a decisive winner but no I can't imagine they move on from this that would be a true travesty for Lamont Roach he does not deserve that rematch everyone wins tank gets a decisive win or not and we get a decisive winner I don't know Ariel Look, I mean, I know the amount that you want Lamont Roach to get his deserved rematch and I think

There's a there's a million people behind you that also want to see Lamont Roach get it But I almost feel like if one of the big boys steps up and when I say one of the big boys I mean Keith Shawn Shakur or Vasily Lomachenko. Unfortunately, Lamon Roach goes peddling backwards. It's just, it is what it is. And I don't think there'll be any uproar from anyone in one of those three that I just mentioned fight Gervonta instead of Lamon Roach. If not, then you're right. I'm all swinging for Lamon Roach to get his opportunity, but I'm hearing whispers of Vasily Lomachenko and those whispers are becoming louder and louder and louder.

All right. Well, we'll see who is right on this one. I maintain that they run it back and that is the right thing to do now. We were wondering whether they would run it back with the Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. It sounds now like we are moving closer and closer to Benavides versus Bivol. Some interesting stuff going on here. What do you make of how this has all played out? The last time we spoke when you were here on Thursday, we talked about the WBC ordering this fight.

And since then, Turkey has said that he is not going to bid on it. And since then, it seems like it is becoming more and more of a real thing. Your feelings, your thoughts. This is so interesting, because on the one hand, I've seen 24 rounds of Paterby of Bival and I think that me and you've agreed it could be 11-13, it could be 12-12.

Do I want to see another 12 rounds or do I want to see someone else? I almost want to see someone else. I want to see the Bival-Benevedis fight, but I think it's right to give Paterby of the trilogy. It's one of peace. We need to know who is the best out of these two. We need to know who is the best light heavyweight of this generation. It's one all.

There should be a trilogy. And I remember when you had Jim Lampley in and he was saying you don't have to do a trilogy back to back to back and he's correct. But in this case you do because of Biterbius age. I don't think you can wait this out. We can't wait to Biterbius 42 for him to get in the ring with Bivel. You almost need to see Biterbia fight now, or I think we miss it.

And I think Bivel's got a bit of an issue here as well. Do you potentially fight Benavides, which would be a PBC event, or do you almost continue to fight for the person to open the doors for you, Turkey, and fight Biterbia as a Riyadh season event? I think he sticks with Turkey. No one was bidding for the Bival Biterbia fight.

No one was willing to pay for that. Both fires wanted to get paid. Both fires knew in their camps knew that if this fight went on pay-per-view, it wouldn't do good numbers. Someone needed to pay for it and Turkey was the one that kind of stumped up the cash. If you're Bival, you're loyal to that man. And I think you go to the Biterbia rematch and give him what he wants or trilogy and give him what he wants. So I don't think we're gonna get the Benavides fight

anytime soon. I think we go straight to the trilogy, which I would prefer to see Benavides. I can understand why Bivel would go the trilogy route. No, I understand it as well. As a fan, like you said, we saw 24 rounds. Would love to see something fresh. This fight, Benavides-Bivel, way bigger here in America.

We just saw Benavides carry a promotion with David Morrell, and Morrell did his part as well, but they sold out T-Mobile. A lot of people thought they wouldn't be able to do that. And now you bring in Demetri Bivel, who a lot of American fans remember was the guy to beat Canelo Alvarez just a few years back. I think it would be a gigantic fight.

Really? Do you really though? It would be a big fight. I mean, the numbers came back and I mean, who do you believe when we talk about numbers, right? But I think the pay-per-view numbers came back and I was surprised that they weren't a lot bigger because I think you did a fantastic job with the faceoff between those two. I think both of them, Morel and Benavidez sold that event so well.

What were the numbers? I didn't see the numbers. What were they? Hopefully someone in the back can get us for them. But I think, just shy of a hundred thousand, I think someone might bring them back. That doesn't surprise me. Let's be honest. The PBC move to Amazon hasn't quite worked out the way in which they want. I mean, Keith Thurman is fighting tomorrow morning on YouTube. I mean, like, it doesn't, with all due respect, we're on YouTube right now, as well as the Zone app.

But it hasn't quite worked out the way we all thought it was gonna work out. And so the promotion isn't quite there. You know, like it's not the same. It's not the same as when it was on Showtime. Do you not agree? It doesn't have the same muscle behind it. I agree. So my argument, and the reason I brought up the numbers is because how much are you gonna pay Bivel then? I mean, regardless of if it does a great gate and, but ultimately the big numbers come from pay-per-view. How much can you guarantee Bivel compared to how much can Turkey guarantee him if he fights Piterbiyev?

And I can tell you now, Turkey's guarantee will be colossal compared to Bivel-Benevidas. And Bivel-Benevidas is a risk for Bivel. So you weigh up the risk reward, you're thinking, okay, no, we'll stick with Turkey. I kind of like that money over there, opposed to what PPC you're gonna give me I actually think Benavidez wins that fight and no, yes, I do

I think Benavidez wins that fight and I'll say this Dimitri Bivul has just been through the ringer 24 rounds in the span of five months four and a half months with Artur Betabeev that takes a toll that takes a toll on you. I think David Morel, I mean that takes a toll on you I think David Morrell I mean that takes a toll on the body as well sure I think it's a great fight honestly I think it's a great I will edge to Bivel I just think Bivel and Biterbiere were a level above anything else at 175 but it could be a big three as opposed to a big two and Benavidez could be the guy that causes problems for both of them younger fresher as big um but I will to Mr. Undisputed. I mean,

come on. I ain't doing it again. I went against him once. I'm not going against him again. Bivou has the skills to pay the bills. I think he's a bit too skillful for our friend Benevides. That's what I think. Well, let's see if they make the fight. It might be a moot point after all. A fight that we all would love to see is Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury. I still am holding out hope that it is going to happen. And yesterday, Tyson Fury playing with our emotions as he posts on

social media, did you miss me? And it's him walking out at that, you know, that decrepit stadium, old traffic. Whoa, you don't believe me? They're getting rid of it. Did they not announce today that they're getting rid of it? It's leaking. The roof is're getting rid of it? Leaking. The roof is leaking. Yeah, it's decrepit. And we come to find that he's just gonna be a, what, a coach at soccer aid or something like that. Some charity soccer match. It's massive. It's a massive charity football match. It's not as big as Sidemen. Let's be honest.

It's not a big Sidemen. No, no, no, I agree. It's certainly not as big as that. What is this from Tyson? Why play with our emotions? I don't know. I don't know what he's doing. It kind of annoyed me because I was like, oh, that was quick. Did you believe it? Did you believe it?

I did. I posted it on my Instagram story, then I deleted it about 20 seconds later. Adam Catchell said, Addy, it's soccer rain. I was like, what? I couldn't delete it as quick as that. I was so annoyed. But I'm like, what? I couldn't believe it as quick as like, you know, I was so annoyed. But I'm like, what's, what's he doing? I mean, look, I mean, who am I to tell Tyson Fury that you shouldn't spend time with your wife and kids and you know, you've given us a great career. And again,

we always talk about how dangerous the sport is, but come on Tyson, like we're, this is the only fight we've been speaking about for a decade, a decade. And for some reason, people still want to see it. I mean, both are not what they once were, but it still has so much intrigue. And he, AJ wants it, AJ continually speaks about it. It's fury now. And I just can't believe that fury's holding this up. It shocks me that if anyone,

I thought it might be AJ like, no, you know, this and that negotiation. It's Fury. And it just annoys me. It really does. But I'm like you, I still think it will happen. I feel like there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that we're not privy to. And I wouldn't be shocked if some form of a conversation has already started. And I mean, like Fury, are you even interested?

Like a little bit. I wouldn't even be shocked that they started that it's a fight for the summer Stadium fight could happen at Old Trafford unlikely but could happen there. It has to happen. It has to happen I think the summer might be a little bit too soon I want to be surprised if only because I wouldn't be surprised They do Canelo Crawford September 12th and then they end the year with this This could be the second big fight that they're talking about with this new group.

You know what the problem is with that? I mean, again, if you're saying end the year, you're potentially talking about December. Yeah, too cold. And that can't, far too cold. Yeah. I mean, too cold, far too cold. Which again, well, far too cold for the UK.

Not far too cold for Riyadh. It's not too far too cold for that. That fight has to be in the UK. I mean for the UK. Not far too cold for Riyadh. It's not too far too cold for that. That fight has to be in the UK. I mean, it's a travesty, right? Dude, they would go to the government. People would march on 10 Downing Street if this fight wasn't happening in the UK. It's just too big.

Both of them have had stadium fights here, sold out stadium fights. I mean, the tickets would just, I mean, they fought Conor Benn and U-Bank tickets went quick. These ones would, I can't imagine the people in the queue, the number in the queue waiting for tickets for this one. But as it stands right now, it happened. Well, we are not getting that fight anytime soon, but I tell you which fight we are getting in the heavyweight division. Johnny Fisher,

BOSH! Against Dave Allen to May 17th at the copper Bosch, by the way, not to be confused with the copper box that was officially announced last week. A big fight for Johnny Fisher. If you ask me, Johnny Fisher has to prove that he can beat Dave Allen and he has to prove that he is better than Dave Allen, that he's a level above him so he can advance with his career.

I know there was some talk of maybe not taking this fight. Again, when you win by the skin of your teeth, when it's controversial, when you're a guy who has all this, you know, buzz surrounding him, you win a fight like that, you gotta go back, you gotta take a step back, right the wrong in order to take two steps forward. I'm happy the team made the right call and ran this one back. Yeah, he had to.

Again, Johnny Fish has got a massive following. He'll fill out the copper box. I think it holds at 8,000. It will be sold out, which for someone that's not had that many fights, I mean, that's an achievement. But ultimately, following's one thing. Can you deliver in the ring? And I think they have high hopes for Johnny,

but you're right, it isn't just a case of beating Dave Allen. You can't go life and death with Dave Allen because then we know where you are. You almost need to beat him convincingly to move on to that next step. A British title, maybe even something a bit more. So there's a lot of pressure on Johnny Fisher. I've been around him. He's lost weight. He looks like he's trying to lean up a little bit.

Obviously, he's a big, big boy. And I think maybe he's going to work on the gas tank. He looked a bit tired, didn't he? Towards the latter end of that fight. So maybe that's something they can improve. And I think you'll realize, and I think his team realize as well that as you go further higher in this boxing game,

people can take a punch. Like Johnny Fischer is known for knocking people out. What can you do when people start eating those punches? Or what else have you got? So I think it's a case of working on those things. But let's not forget as well, not much of an amateur record, he's a rugby player in school. That's kind of where the size comes from.

So he's learning on the game. But the problem is, we're almost fast paced in the learning now because he is a big star. So a lot of pressure on him. But I think he'll get the job done this time. By the way, who'd you score that fight for? Dave Allen. Yeah. Dave Allen. Yeah, it was close. It was close, but I think Dave Allen did enough. I mean, everyone's got this kind of

retrospective scoring. I mean, on the day, a lot of people scored it for Dave Allen. All of a sudden people kind of switch and like, oh, no, I think Johnny maybe one rounds, one six. I'm like, no, no, no, no. You all thought Dave Allen won it. Let's not change our opinion because we like him. I like Dave Allen. I like his dad. I think everyone's fantastic in their team. But I thought Dave Allen did enough to get the job done.

Would have loved to see this fight on the Ben Eubank card on a big platform in the UK. But I am happy that it's happening in the UK. The first fight, of course, happened in Riyadh. But this is a nice main event, and it's a nice opportunity for him to, like I said, right the wrong, win the fight. I agree with you by the way. I thought Dave Allen won the fight.

I thought the scorecards were not good at all. And some people are crying foul and saying that this is the guy that they wanted to win. Who knows with these situations, but let's get a clean winner. Let's run run it back and I'm looking forward to seeing that scene out there may 17th they're asking me to come out you know they're asking me to be sort of like the honorary captain of the the Rumford Bowl Army I don't know I I don't know if it's you know if it's I think you should I think

you should I think it'd be fantastic to have you in Romford in Essex not too far away from me we can go for a Chinese have you been to the in Essex? I love Romford. Not too far away from me, we can go for a Chinese. Have you been to the Blue Orchid by the way? I haven't, no. You haven't been to the Blue Orchid? I haven't. Wow. I will tell you this now though. Yeah.

I'll tell you this, now business-wise, I mean he must have shares in the company because people always say now, you try and phone up and get, like you have to be on the phone on hold for ages trying to get a meal. That's what Johnny Fisher and his dad have done to that place. So I mean, well done in terms of building up local businesses, but no, I've not

been, I'm not really a Chinese eater myself. I try and, you know, I'm trying, you know, looking lean and trim. I'm more of a salmon or a steak man. So I've not been there. No. All right. Well, it sounds fantastic. The way in which he speaks about it, it sounds like, I don't know, God's gift to food. So I would love to go. Essex and Rumford in the same spot, by the way. I didn't know this. Yeah, yeah. Rumford is in Essex. Oh, but isn't Rumford, isn't Essex posh and Rumford's not posh or did I- No, no, no. Essex is not, well, there's certain places in Essex which are considered quite posh,

but Essex is a big place. Obviously, like Eddie Brentwood is part of Essex so it's it's very very it spans quite a large area and Romford is considered let's just say let me be nice and polite here the not posh part of Essex. Okay all right all right. Yeah that's as kind as I can get yeah. Okay well that's coming up on the 17th of May. Uh, it's another big weekend of action right here on Dazone. There's a big card coming up on a Saturday in Orlando, headlined by Amo Williams. But before that there's a, actually other

cards that you need to know about. There is a one in particular. We have the poster right over here. There it is. Uh, Yuri Sidenio against Ulysses Tovar Rivera. Yes, that is March 14th. I know you're looking forward to that one. I am really looking forward to the one at the

Karib Royale, the Ammo Williams card, uh, because I think Ammo is great, but I'm also looking forward to the return of Edgar Berlanga. Edgar Berlanga just kind of like sneaking onto this card And what about Omari Jones the Olympian? Everyone's talking about him. Yeah, everyone's talking about him. Like looks I saw something today I don't know if it was him referencing it like or someone saying he's like these guys It was like I'm Roy Jones Floyd Mayweather and someone rolled into one of like steady

Let's calm down a little bit now. I like the plus. That's what Chris Eubanks senior said about Chris Eubanks junior. Let's all breathe a little bit, right? Roy Jones, Floyd, just be yourself. Just be yourself and be the best version that you can be. And then we'll judge you in about 10 fights because I'm expecting it to be a very cakewalk affair

for the first 10. But look, good luck to him. I like it. And you're good to point out Ammo Williams as well. Obviously, this is still part of the rebuild since the Hamza Shiraz defeat and hopefully Ammo can get the job done because I think he's... Ammo's been through a lot and he's been open about his mental health and where he was and where he is now and he's in such a good place now.

And I just want him to continue to be in that good place and aside from that, I think he's still a very good fixture in 160 pound weight class. Rolanga trying to rebuild himself after the Canelo loss going from that fight to Jonathan Gonzalez Ortiz it's you know it's a step back no doubt but honestly I was looking at the card and I was like oh man. Do it it's about 20 steps back. Yeah okay fine I was trying to be. You were trying to be nice stop it yeah yeah I was trying to be you're trying to be nice. Stop it. Yeah. Yeah I want I want he'll wharney to come out. I mean he went from sold out t-mobile to

carib royale Again, yeah, and it doesn't need to I mean what's the step back here? I mean, it's not like you got absolutely obliterated by canelo I get it if you get knocked out in a in a couple of rounds you went you went all the way With the the undisputed champ at the time like why are we taking this many steps back? I don't understand the rebuild. I don't get it. And this is not a matchmaker issue.

This would have been Belanga's team saying, this is the kind of level of opponent we want. And I'll be honest, it doesn't make sense to me. There are too many very good 160 pounds. Are you trying to build him back up, get his mojo back, get his confidence back? He's got his mojo. I've never seen anyone more confident. I've never seen anyone more, what? Confidence?

I've never seen a more human being than Belanger. This happens, right? Delahoye told us about this. You build the guy back up. No, yeah, yeah. If he gets splattered around the ring, like Devin maybe did against Ryan, but this wasn't the case.

Belanger even tried to go out and shield in the last couple of rounds. I mean, he was friend. Haymakers. So, nah, not for me. There are too many, as I said, too many good 168 pounds. Do we have to mention your friend, Imbili again on the show?

We do it every week. Should we do it again? Yeah. Should we do it again? You know what I mean? That would be a fantastic one. Pacheco's there, Caleb Plants there. Like, what are we doing?

What are we doing? He has been talking about those guys next, but I don't know, maybe they're trying to build them back up. And oh, by the way, 11 days from now, uh, matchroom returns to Australia. I do believe their first show in Sydney and it is headlined by the ferocious one, George Cambosis. Yes, there it is. There's the promo.

I was going to, I was going to lay out for the promo, but we're just going to watch it. Uh, there you, there you go. Chanika Johnson, Sky Nicholson. Yeah. Yeah. Against Jarrah Brown. You know what? The buildup for that has been great. They did a great virtual face to face with those two. I actually enjoyed that. That was a good, that was good one. And this kind of goes back to my point about the sport not

being broken. I mean, how many events now we have in, in Australia? Yeah. I mean, it's a worldwide sport now, right? I mean, it's not, so the talks of Dana White saying boxing is broken and it needs to be fixed. You're upset too. You and Oscar got your feelings heard from that comment.

Yeah, because I'm like, one second, there are events in Australia, there are events all over the world. It's not really an indication of whether it's broken or not, just that there's events in Australia. No, no, look, I do agree. It's talking about the structure, the foundation. Yeah, I think, yeah, but as you know and I know, this is boxing.

It has been boxing like this for a hundred years. So I mean, I don't know if it's broken. I think this is just the sport, unfortunately. Fractured, yes, completely broken, no. They're going to get rid of the Aliak. They're going to focus on America and then they're going to build it up. You laugh, but it is coming. Time now for everyone's favorite segment of the week.

It is time for- Are we not talking about Keith Herman quickly I mean what do you what do you want to say? You know The reason why is because in 12 hours that fight is gonna happen and I don't really want to date us But go ahead tell us about Keith Thurman who's now saying he wants to fight Tim Zou if he gets is it This is it. Obviously that they've lined that fight. Okay. All right, and you know the thing about Keith I like Keith a lot. obviously he's 36 now.

I almost feel like because he's been, I was gonna say inactive, he's not even been inactive. One fight in five and a half years isn't inactive, but I almost feel like we've forgotten how good he once was. So I wish Keith all the luck, because everyone says I'm harsh with Keith Herman. I wish him all the luck. Keith, if you're watching this show, which I'm sure you are,

I wish you all the luck against Brock Jarvis, and he's probably sleeping. And I hope that you're watching this show, which I'm sure you are, I wish you all luck against Brock Jarvis, and he's probably sleeping. And I hope that you get the job done, you fight Tim Tzu, and there's one last hurrah, because you did entertain me many moons ago when you were fighting. Obviously you don't really fight anymore, but- What do you mean don't really fight anymore?

He's gonna be fighting in 12 hours from now. What are you talking about? I went through a whole can. He's the best self-employed, he's not even part-time. What's below part-time? What's below best self-employed. He's not even part-time. What's below part-time? What's below a part-time worker? Partial time? I don't know. One fight in five and a half years. I like how he's focusing on Australia. Get by Jarvis, then focus on Tim Zude, do that fight in Australia. He'll get past Jarvis as well, I think I mean I hope what's he been out three four years

Yeah, the Barry us fight was 22. Yeah, so It's crazy. So we're sorry. Sorry. Let me not interrupt you. Oh, yeah. I was very excited parting shot presented by No one but but I am so excited about this one because as you know as you know, I'd was building her up and boy did she deliver. Let's go back to Toronto Friday night. Most valuable promotions. There's my girl Tamara Thibault with the first round TKO, the Canadian Olympian who was supposed to win gold last summer. But she didn't get by the first round, but it was OK because look at her now. 2-0 and on her way to that big July 11th card

At Madison Square Garden. I should know this. I'm embarrassed to ask this question, but I don't care. What weight is she? She's a big gal. She's a big gal. I'll tell you 160 I was gonna say 168 it was 160 pounds. Okay 160. Okay, that's an interesting addition. Yeah, that's an interesting Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I remember I've been saying that where's all the girls at the Olympics that are in Clarissa's weight class? Who's Clarissa gonna fight? Obviously not yet. Yeah we'll see. There you go. What do you think? Impressed? Yeah I mean she looks razor sharp doesn't she? But I mean who is she fighting? Yeah.

Big opportunity coming up. It sounds like they want her on that July 11th card, which is going to be all female card. And we haven't heard some of the other names, but they're teasing some big names being attached to this one. That's the one at Madison Square Garden on Netflix, headlined by Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano three. So looking forward to that very much and looking forward to the action this weekend that card in Orlando. I'm looking forward to Omari Jones speaking of Olympians. He had a bit of a better showing than tomorrow T-Bo this past summer in Paris. So a lot to like a lot to look forward to not only this weekend but next weekend as well.

March 22nd is going to be a big night with the Australian card and then the return of the great Sebastian Fandaro who I think is seven foot six. Okay enough of that. Are you coming to the Misf Fandaro who I think is seven foot six. Okay, enough of that. Are you coming to the Misfits card? March 29th? March 29th we had old Dylan in studio yesterday. Yeah, I saw. I saw. No, no, it was, I guess it was one and done for me. Are you going to that one? Are you working that one?

Well, I've been asked and I'm like, I'll do it if Ariel's doing it. Oh no, please don't say that. Please don't say that. Oh, no, that's kind of the, that's my line. I'm sorry. That's kind of what I no, please don't say that. Please don't say that. Oh, I know that's kind of the like That's my line. I'm sorry. That's kind of why I said please don't say that. Please don't say that Obviously, I'm not doing it then. I'm looking forward to the big day. I can take your money out of my kids my future kids Yeah, because if you're not doing it, okay Are you looking forward to the Darren till Darren Stewart fight the battle actually am you know because Darren Stewart? We know it's quite aggressive the dentist, we know is quite aggressive. The dentist. Yeah, exactly.

So I think that's the most intriguing fight on the card. I still don't know how serious to take Dylan Darnes to be honest with you. I don't know. Did you see when we did the face to face and he tried to get... Yeah, yeah. And you didn't flinch. I was like, well done Ariel. Mamba mentality, baby.

I like the bit where you were trying to talk about Gordon Ryan in a little grappling session, and he started speaking about your background. I'm like, what's he doing? Classic. Why are we doing this? Yeah. And you know what? I actually fell for it because then I forgot to circle back to it.

So I guess it worked. He's so smart. He's so smart. What a guy. Yes, that's March 29th. So a lot to like, but for now it is time to go. My friend Adi, did your Liverpool squad win? Yes, that's March 29. So a lot to like but for now it is time to go my friend added Did your did your Liverpool squad win?

it's Extra time one all Wow You get the watch can't depend. It's going to penalties. You know, it's watch. What's it like, you know, what's it like? rooting for a team that can't get by the likes of PSG because you know the team I support we get by man City with ease So I'm just curious like what's it like? No no no, your Forest team is incredible. Normally I like try to do a slight comment but no no your Forest team is incredible. Thank you that's very kind of you. Much love Adé.

But this is Champions League football, your team will know about that. Yeah, we'll be there next year. Don't worry, we'll be there next year. We'll see you there. For now though it is time to go. Thank you so much for watching, whether it's on YouTube or the Dzone app. We appreciate you all so very much. Enjoy the fights this weekend. We'll talk to you next week. Bye!