The Ariel Helwani Show - Ariel x Ade, episode 25: Conor Benn blasts 'drama queen' Chris Eubank Jr., says rematch is set for September; Plus, weekend review, Inoue saves the day

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

Ariel Helwani and Ade Oladipo are joined by Conor Benn for a conversation about his thrilling bout against Chris Eubank Jr. and his feelings on the rivalry now that the dust has settled. Then, he reacts to the Times Square boxing card and teases the Eubank Jr. rematch for September (03:02).The duo discusses the Times Square show and the disappointing performances from its biggest stars, including Ryan Garcia’s shocking loss to 'Rolly' Romero, before they debate the possibility of Garcia's rematching Devin Haney and 'Boots' Ennis meeting Teofimo Lopez (26:12).Next, move on to Canelo Alvarez’s victory over William Scull and Ade shares his frustration with the champion (44:46), before discussing the official announcement of Canelo taking on Terence Crawford in September (47:34).Finally, they react to Naoya Inoue’s thrilling showing against Ramon Cardenas on Sunday (54:56), preview the long-awaited return of Nottingham’s Leigh Wood (1:00:32), and end with the Parting Shot (1:04:03).

Hello and welcome to a brand new edition of Ariel and not a right here on the zone the undisputed global home of boxing a massive weekend has come and gone. When that started right here in New York City we have a lot to discuss a lot to get into on today's program a lot to discuss as a lot to get into on today's program, a lot to discuss as far as this weekend is concerned as well. And we are also very happy and proud to be sponsored once again by Final Destination Bloodlines in theaters worldwide on the 16th of May.

I know producer extraordinaire, New York Rick, has already bought his tickets. He's the biggest Final final destination fan on the planet He is excited. He is pumped. We are happy to have them on board. Thank you very much to them for their support I was in New York at a Ola Depot was overseas in Riyadh checking out the sights and sounds he's back home in London Hello, my friend. How are you? Good, I'm happy. I'm ready to go. As you say, loads to talk about on today. Loads to talk about on today's show. So I'm just ready to get straight to it.

Can we, can we just get straight to it, please? Let's get straight into it. We're going to talk about Times Square. We're going to talk about RIA. We're going to talk about Las Vegas and the monster. We're going to get into Nottingham this weekend. So much to get into. But as we sit here today on the 6th of May, 2025 IDA, the fight of the year, the story of the year, the scene of the year, God, it might be the fight of the century by the time it's all said and done. Movies will be made, documentaries will be made about what transpired a little over a week ago in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It was the fight that we had been talking

about for about three years. It was the bloodline story that we had been talking about for decades, right? Dating back to their fathers, going toe to toe twice. It all played out even better than we could have all imagined. It was, if you thought this past weekend was maybe not the best of boxing, that was the very best of boxing. And one half of that equation, one half of the reason why we speak so glowingly of boxing, that was the very best of boxing. And one half of that equation, one half of the reason why we speak so glowingly of it, we speak so highly of it, we will remember it so fondly,

is because of our guest at this time. Let's not make him wait any longer. He is the destroyer. He is the one and only Connor Ben, who is so very kind to join us right here at the top of the show. Hello, Connor, how are you? Thank you so much for doing this.

And I know you've been traveling all over the world. I know you're very tired. We appreciate it and we won't keep you very long, but very, very excited to have you on the program. All right, it's my pleasure. A pleasure to be on. So let's get right into it. You know, I had the pleasure of seeing you in Times Square.

You were sitting there, ringside, watching all the activities. And I remember as I walked away thinking, I wonder how, how Connor is handling all of this, because the first thing I said to you was congratulations. And I was offering so much praise, but I do know that, you know, the man that I saw at the post fight press conference was gutted, was heartbroken.

That was your first pro loss. It was a loss that meant a lot to you and your family, your father, of course, it was a huge fight. And so you have everyone like myself coming up to you and showering you with praise and congratulating you, but in the end, you're not in this for moral victories. And so how are you dealing with that sort of juxtaposition of feelings, the praise that you're receiving, but ultimately you came there to win. You wanted that W. Yeah, I mean, of course it's hard. It's heartbreaking. I mean, I don't work hard to lose. I don't sacrifice time in my family to lose, you know, and

it's been really, it has been challenging, of course, I mean, when I think about it. But then what's warming is people going up to me saying, we thought you just need to, we thought you won. And, you know, even being able to give the public that sort of level of entertainment, that makes me proud because at the end of the day, there's so many fighters out there who don't entertain and don't take that responsibility on them to entertain. When ultimately I'd rather win,

I'd rather lose an exciting fight than win a boring fight. Because then I sit there and I go, well, did you actually even win? You know, and that's my sort of mindset is, ultimately it's entertainment business, and you know, jumping up two weights and challenging Chris is a great experience, and you know, no doubt I thought I had won the fight.

I thought I'd just nicked it, but it was my fault for letting it get that close. Perhaps you just alluded to your answer here, but I'm just curious because in the Post Fight Press Conference, you were also asked about what you were proud of and you really offered nothing. You were still so very disappointed. Can you now, some days removed, I know it hasn't been months, look back and say, yeah, I was proud of the way I fought on that night? I haven't watched it back yet fully. Wow. I've got to build up the courage to watch it back because I know there's loads of mistakes that I made and loads of things I didn't do in there, which I know I should

have done. And I know I'll just be kicking myself. So I've got to build up the courage to watch it back. Why I'm happy about is the fact that this will go down as a British classic. This will go down as one of them great fights that's a must watch. Also your stocks go up when you're in fights like that. Ultimately giving people value for money. People don't want to watch fighters who go in there to nick the fight or to just win

a round or just to get by, you know, it was, uh, there was a lot on the line. So, you know, we fought with our hearts in there. Please, Connor, when you can watch it back. It's a, I messaged you straight away saying that's one of the greatest fights I've ever seen. And I've seen hundreds of fights, thousands of fights have been ringside and, and commented and presented in fights. That's one of the best fights I've seen for a long time. What was the moment like? You've not fought in something that big, right? Many fighters don't get the chance to fight in stadiums, especially sold out stadiums. What was that moment like when you're

making that ring walk with your dad, with Eddie, the noise of the crowd? Can you sum that moment up for us? I can't really explain it to you because everyone knows what I've been through for the past two and a half years. I didn't fall in England for three years. So for me to get to that moment was, it was a proud moment as in you made it Connor. you made it through. And, you know, I've been through a lot. I've been through hell and back and I didn't quite know, or you don't know how much life has taken out of you when you go through things like that.

And well, clearly it's taken, not taken a lot, but you know, it is in the back of your head. You know, what have I got left in me? And, you know, I've no doubt got that fire and no doubt still got ambition and that drive to be the best fighter I can possibly be. And yeah, I was excited. I was excited, nervous, of course, not because of Chris, but because of the occasion and just wanting to perform and deliver to the public. You know, they've been waiting for the fight for three years and, uh, I just

wanted it to live up to expectations. It exceeded expectations. And I don't normally say that there were so many great moments on the night Connor, but I feel like one of the best moments was when Chris Eubanks senior sort of exits the car and you and your dad are looking at it on the screen and I remember thinking this is like the WWE this is just extraordinary. What's going for your your mind and your dad's mind when you see Chris Eubanks senior and junior sort of coming out the lift and there's a camera on you guys watching them?

Yeah, I mean it you can't see the facial expression but I was so happy to turn up because it got to the stage where at the first press conference I was like, yeah, your dad don't like you. I still think that's the case. I don't like you, Chris. But then it got to a stage where the second press conference where it was like a lot of personal things were said and you could clearly see there was a problem there where it's a topic that I didn't really want to talk about. It was a topic that I got asked about and I had to constantly say, you know, it's really not my place to talk about it.

Don't be asking me any questions because I'm not getting into that. It's levels you just don't go to. For me, when I saw how personal it was and what was being said, I felt for Chris. So for me, seeing him there, I was over the moon because it wouldn't have been the same about seeing it turning up. My dad's forever in my corner, that goes without saying. My dad's there, he's my shadow.

But to see me, if the fighters mended their relationship, you know, that's, money can't buy that. You know, he did say in the aftermath, senior did, I was always gonna be here, and I'm not sure if any of us believe him. I mean, 10 days prior, he was calling his son a disgrace. If in fact that was always the plan, he worked all of us. Did you have any sort of hint, inclination, heads up that he was showing up on the night? Did you know the whole time as well?

Yeah, I mean, I, there was whispers, but I never actually thought he'd turn up. Whatever it is, there's obviously, the the issues a lot deeper than boxing yeah you know so it's it's not really against something I I feel comfortable talking about I pray that it's genuine up you know and their relationship prospers but you know whether that's because of, you know, our fight, but there was no, I can't, I can't help but think or know that junior had that little boy in him feeling I'm sapping my dad's here to see what I've achieved. Yeah. Yeah. I can't, I can't, I just can't, I just can't not see it because when I've done the ring walk and I looked to my dad I just the

first thing I said to my dad was I love you man you know because I wanted him to do the ring walk with me I didn't even know senior was gonna be there and do the ring walk with Chris but my dad was always gonna do the ring walk with me and I wanted to share that moment with my dad because this is you dad you know this is this is like you know this is you dad. You know, this is, this is like, you know, this is, you know, the foundations you laid and that's my dad was going to do the walk with me regardless whether senior was there, it turned out perfectly. It turned out like a story, a movie, um, we've seen it turning out, but yeah, no doubt that, you

know, that little boy in junior, uh, was proud to have his dad there in that moment. Not to skip over the fight, but just sticking with your father's theme. In the aftermath, what kind of words did he share with you? What did he say in the locker room? I know it was probably very hectic, but do you remember anything that he said to you after the fight?

No, I don't. But I remember what my dad said to me in the, um, my dad had the greatest relationship when we have, uh, um, we have bad now and we were in the sauna in my house and, um, bearing in mind, I'm not upset at that, but you know, my dad's my dad and you know, we, we were sorting each other's wounds and, um, we we got into a little argument over I can't remember what it was in the sauna like just like dad why'd you keep leaving the door open like the cold air comes in and then he's gone and then he's gone shut up you loser oh yeah I looked at him I looked at him I went

but he mumbled out of his breath I went what did you say You heard, and he's gone, you heard me. I just started laughing because I was just like, you know, just, of course you would do that. Cause I've been giving him stick for not winning the, um, the first fight. And then I'm in a draw in the second fight, I'm going to leave his dirty laundry to me. So, you know, it was only, it was only right. Give it to me back. I feel like in fights of that magnitude and fights that play out like that, there are no losers. Obviously you're going to feel different, Connor. But the reception that you've got after the fight, does that kind of heal the wound a little bit, especially the reception in America, like seeing the love out there. And I think us Brits,

we're never quite sure how Americans are going to receive us, right? But the love you got in New York and in Miami, I saw that at the F1, does that kind of make you feel like, okay, I do feel okay even in a defeat? Yeah, I mean, it's a hard one because, oh man, it's hard because losing is not a nice feeling and you know, I do everything I can to not lose. And especially when I think I just nicked the fight, it's like, 160, 112, I just, it was, it was bothering, of course, because even if I had won the last two rounds, I still wouldn't have won the fight.

So it was, it was bothering for me. And I still obviously still don't watch it back, but when you hear people coming up to you, every day going, yeah, we thought you won the fight. No way he won that by far, no way he won the fight. So once I watched it back I'll probably be able to process everything a lot better but the amount of love I've been shown is, I've probably never been shown this amount of love and admiration my whole career. I mean to get mobbed in America,

you're talking Americans, just a casual civilian walking down the street in New York and in Miami. It's just a real feeling. It's something you never really get used to because ultimately I'm just a fighter and I've found my heart in my sleeve and I'm just so fighter and you know I found my heart on my sleeve and you know I'm just so happy I can give the public you know that sort of entertainment because the reality is people only remember how you made them feel when they watch you fight you know I don't want people to be on the edge of their seats I want people to to be like we have to tune in to kind of Ben's fight irrelevant of who I'm fighting, because

you know, they know it's either going to be a fight or someone's getting laid out. You know, I'd rather, as I said, I'd rather lose an exciting fight than win a boring fight. One of the things that I saw from the very beginning, as soon as the fight, as soon as the referee called you both to the center was the size difference. But there's been a lot of talk about you jumping up a couple of weight class and I've like, Oh, actually, you know, Chris isn't that big and Connor is actually now a lot thicker. I couldn't believe how much bigger he was than you. Was you surprised just how much bigger he was than you on the night?

I don't really look at, um, I don't really look at anybody and go, Oh, you know, he looks pretty big. You know, I'm just a fighter. You know, you could put me on a- Did you feel it when he had you on the ropes? Did you feel it at all? Like the extra weight of him? Yeah, of course. I mean, I could feel it in the fight.

Like I could feel it. It's obviously we're in physical sport. I could feel the weight, but it's nothing. No, I've been sparring big guys. So it's a great challenge. I love the challenge. I love the thrill, the excitement of having to perform and use different attributes with a guy that's two words bigger and a lot bigger on the night. He was a lot bigger in there watching the footage back as in the highlights I go

oh well he's that much bigger because I don't I don't feel it I don't see it in there you know he just he's just another man to me but then when you watch the highlights back and you go oh mate he's a he's a lot bigger in size than me but then again I am a world weight. You know, I think I went into the ring on fight night, three pounds over 160. Wow. You know, so yeah, so I'm definitely not a 160 fighter, but ultimately I'll go in there and give it to whoever wants it.

By the way, it's so good. I mean, just watching those highlights in that like 10 second clip, we saw more action than we did in two nights of boxing over the weekend. And you keep alluding to that. And I think that's what you're doing, right? You were sitting there and you watched some great fighters have historically boring fights. And I say this just looking at the stats, the numbers of punches thrown, not landed,

historically bad. So I wonder when you're sitting there watching that after the war that you just had six days prior, what is going through your mind as you're watching those fights in Times Square? I'm watching them and I'm a little bit confused. Like, do you want to be a fighter? Or I'm so confused as to what you're trying to do here.

I think fighters are so careful about protecting their own. Or they just don't take no chances. But the reality is, you know, I think fighters are so careful about protecting their own or They just don't take no chances But the reality is you know you go swimming you get wet take chances because now no one's gonna want to watch a Haney fight Or a Garcia fight, you know It's the entertainment business and I want to entertain I put that pressure on myself to entertain because my dad was the ultimate, uh, you know, entertainer.

Uh, so when I go in there, I do fight with my heart on my sleeve. And it's the only way I know how to fight. I'll never go into a fight. Even as again, jumping up to weight divisions and go, Oh, you know, what if I throw a shot and he catches me, if he catches me, so what I'll catch him again I'll catch him harder that's my that's my sort of mentality and if you watch the replay on some of the highlights of I've thrown a shot he's hit me back and I've still followed through with my own my own shot you know and yeah I guess I have confidence in my durability I have

confidence in my stamina I have confidence in my power you know my resilience you know I'm not I'm not fast yeah he was bigger on the night but you know I'm not over to I'm not concerned in the slightest if you're wanna have a fight, let's have a fight and let's meet in the middle. That 18 foot ring was the only one I requested. The only demand I requested was an 18 foot ring. But everybody's like just scared to have a fight. This is what we do, no?

By the way, day before the fight, he has trouble making weight. At any point, were you afraid that the fight would get canceled? Not at all, he's a driver queen. You think some people are making, having to do that same weight cut for 10 grand. So like, he's made this weight his whole career,

you know, and I'm not concerned. It's all a stunt, it's all a play. That's all it is's all stuck. It's all a play. Um, that's all it is. You got to think people are doing that way cuts for not even a fraction of the money that he's getting. You know, a lot of people have asked me about Connor going back down to one four seven and prior to seeing you at the official way in, I was like, Connor, make him one four seven again. And then when I saw you hit one 56 and you looked really healthy and your skin was glowing. I was like, Connor can make one for seven. I'm desperate to see you get in the mix with those Americans that we saw

on Friday. Cause I think you give them hell. I honestly, I think you give them, I think you give them fits because you'll make them fight and you've got, you've got, you've got options, Connor. You've got Barrios, you've got the U-Bank rematch, Ryan, Devin, Tiofimo. So you've got so many dance partners. Of all those options, which one is it you want next? Is it the U-Bank rematch to kind of get that get back? Or is it still a case of that? Yeah, it's definitely U-Bank because if I don't do U-B that that ship sailed so it has to be you bank next if it's not you bank then you know then that that's that chapter closed then you know

I dropped down to to 147 and I would prefer hanging out a lot of them because but then again as I said you know I don't fancy catching a lawsuit. So I probably, um, I'll probably give that a swerve. I've gone through enough court cases as it is. Haney's a great one. And look, they're all great matchups and that you put yourself in that position. So look, final one for me, congratulations. Look, the last two and a half years have been tough. Um, and although you didn't get the victory you wanted, I think you've come out a champion in that fight. And I think the respect you've got now from the British public, which was always going

to be tough, but the US public as well now, I think it's fully deserved. So enjoy your spoils and I can't wait to see you back in the ring again. I'm itching, especially considering what we saw over the weekend. I'm itching for a Conor Ben fight again. Because what I saw on the weekend disappointed me. I'm ready to go. I mean, I was ready to jump in. If, if there had been someone who pulled out an injury or I would have been ready to fight Friday. So, you know, fingers crossed we're working on a date now. Um, I know September's in talks, but you know, the reality is I'm ready to go August.

I'm ready. You know, I've stayed in the gym while, you know, while Eubanks was in hospital being a drama queen. I was back in the gym on the treadmill training. So I think I've got a relip firing me to just go out and continue to prove. You've got to remember that was 14 months out of the ring. A lot of nerves, a lot of, I can't say ring rust, but there's a lot of things I would have done and should have done that I didn't do. And it's the only thing I could put it down to. So you know, I'm excited to just get straight back out and keep active and get momentum. And just to be clear before we let you go, how far along are we in the rematch talks?

Like if you were to look in your crystal ball, do you think this happened September back at Tottenham? Is he on board, the weight, all that stuff? What could you tell us about how far along we are? As far as I'm aware, the contracts have already been signed. Okay. So is there a date attached? I believe so.

Can you tell us the date? I mean, I'm here in September. Same spot, Tottenham Hotspur? Potentially. Okay. Or Wembley, or Wembley maybe. I think it deserves the bigger stadium. And finally, will you roll up with that, you know, that new roles?

Will you pull up? I saw that thing. Woo! It's good to be the king. Come on. Do you know what? Look at that. Do you know what?

So aside from the fight and the night and the occasion, this was the second, second happiest moment of my year. Was me buying this knowing that's just because he was point zero five over. Oh my God. I got it zero five over. He paid for my private jet and he also paid for my Rolls Royce, full spec daddy. So cheers Chris, I appreciate you mate, you're a diamond. Missed weight again, will ya? Unbelievable. Connor, congratulations on an unbelievable performance.

I'll say it again, inspiring stuff. I just wanna sit back and re-watch those highlights. It was so damn good. Hopefully we get to see it again. Hopefully you are proud and you are being showered with that pride that you deserve, that love, that praise. And thanks for doing this. Most importantly, I know you've been traveling a lot, so I appreciate you staying up. Pleasure. Thank you, guys.

All the best. There he is, the great Connor Bend, the destroyer joining us. What a parting shot that is, by the way. You know, it's funny, in the immediate aftermath, you'll see a lot of respect. But now as time goes on at a cry baby thanks for paying it's like we're revving it back up right in hopes of a rematch dude he's the perfect salesman and he understands it as well um it's the entertainment business and he knows it like he's there he's sitting down in a robe yeah he's just the perfect salesman and we need more guys like this. But, and this is the most important part, he gets in the ring and he delivers.

So you can do all that, you can do all the stuff that Connor does. Will you get in the ring and deliver? And he delivers and then some. So look, I'm happy he's gonna get all the spoils. I'm happy the love that he's getting stateside. I'm happy to see there's a bit of a U-turn over here as well. Which takes more.

I was gonna ask you about that. Have you sensed that? Have you felt the U-turn over here as well. I was going to ask you about that. Have you, have you sensed that? Have you felt the U-turn? I do. Okay. I have, I have sensed that it's coming, you know, certain people you speak to, like little pockets of people, you're on forums over here, you go into small YouTube channels. I'm starting to see comments about him being a lot more positive.

So, um, and I think they like that. And also I think the Brits want to get behind someone that could potentially go to America and fight some of the big boys over there as well. And I think they look at Connor as maybe the guy that can do that. So I think now slowly but surely he's getting the respect back from the British public. And if he gets that back, then Eddie's got a superstar on his hands. By the way, there is prestige attached to Wembley. That is your national stadium, right? Does this one have to, the rematch have to be at Wembley or do you think two fight deal go back to the same spot and and maybe that was already agreed upon but Wembley is bigger right that's like 80 to 90 000 yeah you're right it's 90 000 and with floor

seats you're probably looking at around 95 maybe similar to the same number that was there for aj versus daniel du bois i prefer the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as a stadium. It's a newer, it's a better stadium. Sort of transport links are maybe the same, but just in terms of the overall look of it, I think it's a lot better, but it's an extra 30,000. And if you can sell an extra 30,000 tickets, then you're right. You go to the national stadium. Um, but the idea of another stadium fight in the UK, I mean, British boxing right now is flying. So if he's right about September, I mean, British boxing right now is flying. So if he's right about September,

I mean, two months prior to that, you get Daniel Dubois-Usik. So it's stadium, stadium, stadium. And I still harbor hopes of AJ versus Fury. So who knows? Maybe another stadium fight to end the year. My God, you guys could potentially have four stadium shows in 2025,

if that happens by the end of the year, right? With them being the first and then Dubois-? With them being the first, and then Dubois, Usyk, and then the rematch, and then a potential AJ versus Fury. There's another one as well, let's not forget, Fabio Wardy's fighting at Portman Road, yes, it's a stadium. Oh, that's right, Ipswich, yes. That's a 35,000, yeah, so there's another one as well.

Not against Drell Miller. I think we're taking over, baby, we're taking over. Yeah, and Lee Wood should be fighting at the world famous city ground this weekend. Unfortunately, for some bizarre reason, he continues to be denied. But yeah, I mean, there's so many great options. So you guys are spoiled these days. Let us talk about this weekend.

I'm itching to get into this conversation with you because I had the great pleasure and privilege of attending the Times Square card. And I stress that because I know a lot of people didn't get that pleasure and privilege. It was not, it was not an event where you could go up and buy tickets. You couldn't go online, ticket master. You couldn't go to a will call. You had to be invited or be media.

And it was a very unique experience that day. I'll tell you a little bit about it because if you walk to Times Square, as I did from the upper East side, if you didn't know what was going on, you wouldn't even know if you didn't really pay attention that there was a major boxing event happening. It was tucked away. If you've ever been to Times Square, there's, you know, and this is the shot of me sitting ringside, taking it all in, trying to just show that obviously we are in Times Square. But if you just continue to walk down the street, it was from where I was walking, it was to the right, right next to the NYPD precinct, and it was sort of tucked away in this little nook over there.

And so there were a ton of tourists. It was a very busy, beautiful day in New York City. And obviously you'll see the scoreboard at the top and you'll see the Ring magazine logos, but they had it tucked away. I think some people thought that it would be smack dab in the middle of Times Square, like New Year's even the world would be able to converge upon the ring and witness some of the greatest fighters in the world Go toe-to-toe wasn't quite that I asked around I actually asked some of the cops who were there security Asking why it was like this some were lamenting the fact that there were high walls surrounding You know the enclosed area where some 300 or so people

Were in attendance and they said it was simply part of the deal. Because of the traffic, it's so busy, you can't have these fights happening out in the open because it could lead to distractions and maybe accidents. And so they had it tucked away and so you're in there and there was somewhat of like an eerie feeling because you're in Times Square. I see the signs, I see the billboards, I see everything,

but it was so quiet. It just the occasional like car horn, ambulance, subway from afar, but that was it. You didn't hear anyone talking. And I thought as I'm watching the screen, like it looks cool with the drones and whatnot, but I wondered how the fighters would respond to that atmosphere because it reminded me a little bit of the apex in the UFC which is a very sort of enclosed somewhat

hollow atmosphere and we heard Ryan Garcia afterwards you know talk about it it was a Herculean task to pull it off everyone deserves a lot of credit production wise security wise logistics wise I can't even imagine what went into doing this. A scene, people were talking about, people were coming up to me talking about, oh my god, Times Square, what's going on? Who's fighting? How are they doing this? What's going on? Like everyone was very captivated by it. But in the end, Ade, and then I'll pass the baton to you, my lesson from Friday, the lesson that I learned as we saw Ryan Garcia lose to Rolio Romero in a huge surprise, as we saw Devin Haney kind of fight a ho-hum fight against Jose Ramirez,

and as we saw Tiefima Lopez beat Arnold Barbosa Jr. It's that yes, these moments and these scenes are great and there's a lot of credit that needs to be shared in terms of putting on these events because it's making boxing very relevant and exciting to be a part of and to watch. But when you are setting things up like, hey, you fight this fight and then you got another big fight and potentially a bigger fight

with a bigger payday down the line, there is nothing for the fighters to risk. It's not worth risking because you know, Hey, I just need to get the W and then I'll move on to the bigger payday down the line. That's part of the reason why I wanted to see Garcia versus Haney on Friday of last week. And we, I think we saw the same thing with

Canelo and Skull. Canelo knew that Crawford was there. He knew that there was a deal done for September 12th. Why risk? Why go toe to toe? Why do it? And then you juxtapose that with Ben and Eubank. They knew, hey, win or lose, there's a rematch.

Go for broke. I'm still getting it. And so you see the difference in mentality. And so Connor was 100% right. I think part of the problem wasn't the atmosphere. It wasn't the fact that there weren't a thousand or 10,000 or 20,000 people there. It was the fact that Garcia and Haney knew that there was a bigger fight down the line

and they didn't want to take any risks. And Canelo knew the same on Saturday. And that's why we got those performances. Yeah. I mean, there's quite a few things to take away from what you said. Firstly, in terms of how it looked visually, I was expecting something different. I remember there was an image that was going around as to what it would look like. So I thought there was going to be a ring slap bang in the middle of Times Square. I don't know why I thought this. Maybe this is my own fault for thinking this was how it was going to look.

And yes, you would have sort of a row of VVIPs. And then I thought it would be a case of just fans spinning around. So if you just walked on Times Square and you just like, you were there fortunate enough to see Ryan Garcia, like, Oh my God, there's Ryan. That's why I kind of thought it was going to happen. And then I saw these massive sort of red sort of sides put up so fans couldn't see. I was like, well, one second, that kind of takes away from it. You need the fans. The fans are the most important sort of equation in this because the fighters are going to feed off the fans. If they don't hear the fans, it's almost going to

be like fighting during COVID times. And during COVID times, we actually saw quite a few upsets. Fighters don't like that. Regardless of the amount of money coming into their pocket, fighters feed off the fans. Me and you were fortunate enough to be at the Barclays when Devin and Ryan first fought. And the noise generated in that building for their first fight was incredible. So yeah it didn't quite look how I thought it was gonna look but again this was such a task to pull off so I've got to applaud them just for getting it in Times Square because that in itself is a success. As for the fighters I can't tell you how angry I am with all the fighters. And regardless of the fact that, yes, it's almost semi-finals and they're still going

to get paid to have bigger fights after, I think they all just disappointed. It was so disappointing. I was almost angry at some of their performances. Ryan's performance, I can't explain it. I did say to you last week when we spoke about Ryan, I said, I still need, and I think we were very like, it's good to see Ryan in a happy mood. And I was like, Oh no, I need to see a bit of mad Ryan. I need to see an angry Ryan because I don't know this Ryan can perform like this. And some people took it the wrong way. I don't want him to go crazy, but I still don't think he can go from how he was

against Devin last year to how he is now. It's almost a different person. Devin still looks shook. I don't know if that's the right word. There's something missing with Devin. And I don't think it's just because he knows he's got a rhyme fight. I still think he's got the scars

of what happened to him 12 months ago. And I guess Tio was the only one that came out of any sort of credit. Barbosa seemed to shrink in the occasion as well. So look, none of the fights delivered, which is a big disappointment. So you can put on the greatest event in the world. Ultimately, it's down to the fighters to deliver and all the fighters seem to not care. The hunger didn't seem to be there. The desire didn't seem to be there.

And you know what it is for me? And I said this to someone today. I love skillful fighters. Like I've got a big like Demetri Bivel canvas behind me. So I love skillful, but ultimately I like to see a bit of violence. And I think most people that tune in for boxing like to see a bit of violence. We like to see people go at it toe to toe, which is why we love the Serrano-Taylor fights, which is why we love the Ben Eubank fight,

which is why Fraser Clarke versus Fabio Wardy last year was fight of the year. Not necessarily because of skill, because we just like to see people go at it. And I am not fulfilled because unfortunately with the three fights that we saw, or at least the three main events we saw, there was no violence. And that just left me feeling empty. I mean, look at this. This is from our friend, Dan Canobio. Devin Haney, Jose Ramirez, Ryan Garcia, Rolio Romero ranked third and fifth on the list of least combined punches thrown in a 12 round fight in the 40 plus years of CompuBox. And it happened on the same night.

I mean, when you actually think about that, it's actually absurd. And then when you throw Canelo and skull and how historically bad that was as well. Look at this few is combined punches thrown in a 12 round fight, not landed thrown Canelo skull number one, four 45 Garcia Garcia Romero 490 Haney Ramirez that's a typo 499 that's that's absurd three out of the five fights in a 24-hour span the good folks at most viable promotions they got their licks and they were having a field day with all this I don't know if you saw any of their content. Uh, look at this punches landed over the weekend. Lopez, 127, Garcia, 66, Haney, 70, Canelo, 56.

That's 319 combined. Amanda Serrano in a 10 round with two minute rounds fight back in November against the great Katie Taylor, 324. Obviously everything's there, but like putting that into perspective is crazy when you think of it that way. Especially when you put it into perspective of who Amanda was fighting. Amanda was fighting, no slug,

Amanda was fighting arguably the greatest female fight we've ever seen. And she froze more than them combined. Also two minute rounds versus three minute rounds, 10 rounds versus 12 rounds. And the money they're getting. Yeah. I think it's a point to bring that up. Like these guys are getting paid.

Well, I've always said, look, if you know your worth as a fighter, go and get paid. It's the most dangerous sport in the world as far as I'm concerned. But if you're getting paid, like work for your money. What are we doing? Like it's, it's like, if I'm Turkey, I'm so upset right now. I'm paying you guys. I'm paying you guys. You guys are getting dates.

I'm putting on great shows for you guys. At least give me something for the money I'm paying you. And they gave nothing. Honestly, they gave nothing. There it is. Devin Haney has thrown 438 punches over his last 24 rounds. That's obviously dating back to the Ryan Garcia fight. Amanda Serrano threw 450 punches in the final five rounds

versus Katie Taylor in two minute rounds. I mean, it's a wild thing. We focus on Garcia because obviously he's the one who slipped, at least Haney won, Tefimo won, Canelo won, Garcia kind of messed it all up with his performance. Getting dropped in the second round was was shocking by Rolly Romero they've had a history they've sparred before but I think everyone thought coming off that performance

About a year ago that he would Smoke Rolly Romero and in fact he was a massive favorite going into the fight and now not only does he have to deal With the likes of you and I saying like oh, maybe it's better when he's crazy Unfortunately, he has to deal with this. People are saying, hey, you look different when you're not on PEDs. You fight different when you're not on PEDs. To have that performance and then get accused of PEDs

when you're fighting Devin Haney, and then to come back saying you're all clean and everything's good and then have that performance, the one that he had on Friday, it raises some questions. It reminds me of John Jones, John Jones, you know, had his issues. He comes back and against Ovin St.

Peru, he did not look good. He didn't look good. And so people start questioning like, okay, what's going on here? What's, what's happening? And, and it might be a total coincidence. It might be the fact that when he is, is trained by Derek James, he just isn't at his best I don't know I

was very excited when he went with Eddie Reynoso I thought that that would be great for Ryan Garcia and then I remember the performance against Oscar Duarte the first one with James and it was weird and this one was weird as well maybe they just don't click I don't know and maybe the reason why he wasn't with Reynoso was because he knew that Reynoso would be in Ried with his guy Canelo Alvarez. We'll have to ask him that question. But it was just off. Like he just never got going. And even in the final two rounds, you were like, okay, what's going on? Like, are you going to, are you going to step on the gas pedal here? And there was nothing there.

I think nothing there at all. And look, fight fans have the right to jump to those conclusions and those assumptions. They've got their right. You know, one fight you looked, I thought he looked physically a bit bigger against Devin last time out, certainly faster, more aggressive. And those things weren't there this time. So fight fans are right to, and look, they probably come into the wrong conclusion, but they're right to come to that conclusion. And the scariest thing about that performance was he got put down

in the second round. So you just, that's early. So you've still got so much time to make it up and there was no want to make it up. There was no desire from, again, this is from me watching it, no desire to make it up. And I'm like, okay, dude, what's going on? Like what's happening? Is it because it doesn't matter? Because as you say, there's a fight promise with Devin Haney where he's gonna get paid so much money and that's already there, win or lose, it's there. Is that the reason? I don't know, but the ultimate,

it was just a bad, bad Friday for boxing, really bad. And then you're kind of like, okay, it doesn't matter because we're gonna get some good action on Saturday. And that didn't happen. Okay, before we move along to Saturday, great comments here. We're live. Shout out to the YouTube chat. This is from seven six.

It's like being in a tournament, but the final is guaranteed. Meaning the mentality of like, Hey, I don't really have to do anything great here. Uh, I've got a big final coming up. And so the question now is, and we talked about this last week in anticipation of the fights. Do they still do the rematch? Is there still a desire to put on the rematch? You know, the plan was October beginning of Riyadh season, they'll have the rematch in Riyadh. Do you still want to see the Ryan Garcia versus Devin Haney rematch after those two performances on Friday?

No. Wow. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not so and for a number of reasons a Ryan lost Let's kind of just get out there for a second Ryan's coming off a defeat and Devon didn't look great So you've got you've got like there's there's two problems there And I know I saw Devon get on the apron and I saw him going back and forth with Ryan's barber Sam What happened Devon you didn't look great either? So it's it's not as though both are going into this hot, like, okay, wow, okay.

No. And this is why sometimes you don't play with the boxing gods. I said it on last week's show. One of the favorites is going to lose. Obviously I got it wrong. I thought maybe Tia would lose, but one of the favorites was bound to lose. Yep. The biggest one. The biggest favorite. Yeah. The biggest favorite. Yeah. By the way, I disagree. I disagree. I would like to see it. And in fact, I'm actually kind of like weirdly more interested in it because I feel like both their backs are against the wall.

You can't, it's going to be very hard for both of them to fight like that against each other. It's, it's, it's gotta be killer be killed. They are somewhat magic together. Um, maybe they bring out the best, maybe they bring out the worst. I don't know, but that, that first fight was tremendous.

It was one of my fights of the year. I think Haney, Haney won, but he out the best, maybe they bring out the worst. I don't know, but that, that first fight was tremendous. It was one of my fights of the year. I think Haney, Haney won, but he didn't win in the eyes of the public. Like that, that was like Connor, Connor Ben is more of a winner in the eyes of the public than Devin Haney right now, just

because he fought, he went out on a shield, right? No one loves that style that we saw on Friday from Haney. And so I think, look, there's no, there's no title on the line. Who cares? What does it matter?

Just let them fight. Okay. If you are going to do it, can both of them just get to 140 and do this properly? Yeah. Neither of these guys are 147 guys. It doesn't, like Haney's too physically big up top and his legs don't seem to carry the weight. So he needs to get back down to 140.

And so does Ryan. Ryan's body looks like it could shed a few more pounds to get down to the 140 limit. These both are 140 guys. If we're going to do it, do it at 140. And if we are going to do it, do it in an arena. Do it in an arena with fight fans. Again, you can go to the Barclays, you can go T-Mobile in Las Vegas, you can go MSG. These guys will fill it out because there's animosity there. Their dads don't like each other. The promoters don't really like each other as well.

Eddie would definitely jump on to the Devin Haney team and obviously Oscar De La Hoya with Ryan Garcia. I don't know where they stand by the way. They don't seem to be in the best of standing right now. I'm talking to Eddie. Eddie and Devin? Yeah. By the way, okay, that's my opinion.

You say no, then who does Ryan fight and who does Haney fight? Yeah. Yeah. By the way, okay. That's my opinion. You say no, then who does Ryan fight and who does Haney fight? If I'm Ryan and I've just been knocked down and beat by Rolando Romero, there's only one person I want to fight next. Rematch? It's Rolando Romero. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

I want to show you. Okay, cool. You know, maybe me and Derek are not working out and I was supposed to go to Eddie Reynoso and Eddie Reynoso was with Canelo. Now I get a free run with Eddie Reynoso. That's the excuse that Derek James isn't the guy. Then let me go to Eddie, let me go back to my old team and let's run this back again. Let me get my mind right because he spoke about the fact that still things outside the

ring are causing him issues. Again, a year out is a year out and that's a long time out the ring. So let's run this back quickly. Let's run this back in four or five months and let's do it again. I think that will be a fight that's quite intriguing. What about Haney? I have no idea. Yeah. Honestly, I have absolutely no idea. There's been a lot of talk about him in Tio for a while.

Tio, I don't see a real dance partner for Tio, 140 pounds at the moment. He seems to be clear in sort of a world of his own. Maybe if Hitchens beats Cambos, maybe Tio goes there. But for now, I'd love to see Tio and Devin. I mean, there's a lot of talk about these guys at 135. There's a lot of talk about these guys at 140. Why not do it? Devin is a 140 guy.

So is Tio. That's a big fight to make. Those guys have a lot of history. I think Tio versus Devon could be a good one. I like that one a lot. Tio saying after the fight, quote, I'm Dora the Explorer and I'm looking for boots, referring to Ennis.

That would be, I would imagine, at 147. I think he's too small for boots. Like, looking at him against Arnold Barboza, look, you know, skills pay the bills, right? But Arnaud Barbosa looks so much bigger than him. And if Arnaud Barbosa is a lot bigger than you, then you're going to be dwarfed in the ring by Boots Enes who will have no rehydration caps, so Boots could balloon to whatever he wants to. And skill-wise, they're exactly the same.

Boots, some might say, is more skillful than Tio Fimo. So I just feel like there could be a size problem there. I mean, I like the idea of Tio trying to conquer the world and he's proven us wrong so many times against Loma and against Josh Taylor, but Boots is a whole different ball game at 147. So I don't know, man. Sometimes, I don't know,

you can be risky in calling out these fighters. And when it gets to it, you might have called out a bit too much. I wouldn't mind seeing it, but I think Boots would be a big favorite in that one. All right, let's talk about Saturday now. Who do you blame for the main event? Do we have to?

Do we have to? I'm just wondering who you blame for that performance because look. Canelo. Canelo became undisputed champion and he took that fight to become undisputed so that the Crawford fight would be undisputed. I mean, technically he didn't even have to take this fight.

Crawford certainly hasn't fought since August of last year. Skull's going in there, opportunity of a lifetime. Nothing happens. It sounds like you're blaming Canelo, why? Because Canelo's the all-time great. Canelo's a pound for pounder. Canelo is, universally recognizes the best 168 pounder in the world

and has been for a few years now. And I get it, right? Okay. Yeah. Skoll was running around the ring. Do something about it. Do something about it. Throw more punches, maybe.

Right. We're hearing 74 punches landed or whatever stats you want to take. It's a low number. Do more. Like do more. I was watching that thinking, what would Benavides do to Skoll? I honestly was thinking, what would, what would Biterbi have do to Skoll? David Morrill? What would those, you think Skoll's running around the ring like that? They're cutting that ring off and they're taking his head off and I'm like Canelo

needs to do more but again maybe he's like you don't need to do more because I've got a September 12 fight lined up against Terrence Crawford. I don't want to get injured. I don't want to risk Why should he risk anything? Why should he go for broke? Why put himself in danger? It was literally because you're getting paid to, you're getting paid to, you're getting paid to this fans that traveled. There were fans, I was there inside. I spoke to some fans who had traveled from Mexico, from Mexico to Saudi. I don't even know what, what a note the cost of that is entertain them entertain the fans that have traveled all the way from mexico to watch you in saudi arabia and and it's an ungodly time of seven

in the morning in saudi at least entertain them at least give them something even if it's a case of you know what guys i'm gonna go hell for level for four rounds if i don't get rid of this kid then we're just going to coast. Do that. He did nothing. And that's what's disappointing because you are the, Kenando is the biggest entertainer there is, right? I mean, I've been to Kenando's fights in Vegas

and they're fantastic. And he gave us nothing. His first big fight away from America and that's it? That? I'm super disappointed with Kenenna. His last stoppage was in 2021 against Caleb Plant. Since then you had the Lost to Bivou, the Winnover-Gulofkin decision, Ryder decision, Charlo decision, Mongia decision, Berlanga decision, William Skull decision. And it's not just like decisions, it's not just wars that go the distance. The knock seems to be that he's not going for it. Like he's not trying to

put away his opponent. There's no killer instinct there and maybe that all comes to a head with the Crawford fight. Maybe he's saving himself for that big showdown. I don't know. I'm just trying to convince myself. There's so much money. There's so much attached to this fight. It's going to be on a huge platform. According to this fight. It's going to be on a huge platform according to the rumors It's going to be at Allegiant Stadium. We don't get a lot of stadium fights here in America It's going to be on a massive Mexican Independence Day weekend. It's the first TKO boxing card It's going to be on a huge weekend for that company because they've got UFC Noche the night before Or excuse me the night after in Mexico, but there are some rumors they're gonna move that

to Las Vegas. If you're trying to set the table, it's not exactly the performance that you want. However, maybe the beauty is a lot of people didn't watch that one because it happened somewhat tucked away middle of the night, not a lot of fanfare, no one really knows who William Skull is. In other words, do you think this will hurt

whatever they're trying to do on September 12th, or do you think because it was somewhat of a fight that was put together last minute to try to move away from the Jake Paul thing that everyone knows Canelo, this doesn't really hurt his stock in the end? Yeah, I think it's the latter. I don't think it hurts it as much as maybe some think. I think Canelo has been coasting in his last few fights. He's not been in any danger whatsoever. I

think in front of him, September 12th is danger. And I think that brings out the best in Canelo. I still think he's going to look fantastic unless, yes, he's lost a step and he doesn't throw punches and bunches like he used to. But I think this fight will bring out the best of what's left in Canelo. What we saw against Skoll is just a guy deciding to fight in first gear because he doesn't have to fight in second or third or fourth. When he fights Terrence Crawford, he's going to have to go from first to sixth very quickly. And I expect him to do so. I think it's an incredible fight. I almost feel like it will be forgotten, the Skoll fight. It's already been forgotten.

And I think fight fans have already moved on from it. As soon as we saw the face off between Canelo and Crawford, it was almost like a skull who. And I think that's probably the way that many are looking at it because this here is the biggest fight that can be made in boxing right now. And it's been made and I think it's going to be incredible. I think it's going to sell out. I think it's going to do great numbers. And I expect to see a much, much better Canelo Alvarez than we've seen in recent fights. With all due respect to the opponents that he's been fighting recently, he goes into the ring. Such a big favorite and he knows that as well and they know it. I was at the Mingier fight and I was appointed that Mingier

fight when he knocked Mingier down in the fourth round. I'm telling you now he could have knocked Mingier out in that fight and he's just coasting. Against Crawford he can't do that so it's going to bring out the best in Canelo. Well maybe the silver lining is now just you know a few months ago people are like ah you know Canelo's too big, Crawford 147, Canelo 168. Maybe now people are like you know what he is beatable, he doesn't have it anymore and oh by the way you see them side by side in that face-off he doesn't look that much bigger than Crawford you know what I mean like and obviously Crawford is out of camp he's probably gonna get trimmer but it doesn't seem like the big size description it doesn't seem like Canelo

fighting Demetri Bivel you know and and and that was at 175 it doesn't really even see at least with clothes on and all that like like Ben and Eubank Eubank just seems like a bigger guy than Ben. So I'm looking forward to it. I'm curious from a business standpoint how it's all gonna look. Dana White's gonna be involved. He posted a picture of him standing like, it's gonna be surreal, man.

Here are the two, you know, arguably two of the biggest names in the sport. Certainly the best American boxer, obviously the best Mexican boxer, and pound for pound, you know, two top 10 guys, maybe even top five, if you think that Canelo is top five. And it's going to be Dana White in between them doing the face-offs, and it's going to be TKO and the UFC and WWE promoting it.

It's going to be a surreal scene at a Legion Stadium. You don't get a lot of stadium shows here in America. It's going to be fascinating to watch. So let's see, by the way, speaking of Jaime Mongea, he was able to exact some revenge on Bruno Surras. He got the victory there. So perhaps he can now move on from that shocking defeat back in December.

A nice solid performance for him, but. Yeah, that's what it was. It was just a solid performance. I actually thought Surras boxed really well and all the pressure was on Munguia and yes, it is revenge, but it's kind of tinted with a bit of disappointment because Saras knocked him out last time. Yeah. And you kind of just, you know, maybe scraped a points victory. Um, but look, it's a, it's a win. He moves on. There'll be no trilogy, right? It'll be Sarasu in a couple of days. And Munguio lives to fight another day in the 168 pound division where there are so

many big names. And I wouldn't be surprised if Munguio finds himself on the undercard of this Canelo-Crawford fight against, I'm not quite sure who. I mean, maybe Caleb Plant, maybe someone else. So I think Munguio now will sort of ride the coattails of Canelo, especially now they've got the same trainer for the next couple of fights until Canelo hangs them up. Well that's another interesting component. I'm curious, who's going to be on this card? Are they just going to have TKO boxers? They've been quietly signing some guys, there's the likes of Callum Walsh. Are they just going to fill it with those types of

guys and not fighters who are tied to any promotions? That remains to be seen. What about your boy Martin Bacoli? Majority decision against one Efe Ejagba? Was that the performance that he needed trying to rebound? And I see his head trainer Billy Nelson still campaigning for that Joseph Parker fight. I don't know. I don't know if there's much demand for this. Yeah, no, I was super, super disappointed with Martin Bacoli. You know, what I'm saying now, I said to him, I saw Martin Baccholi you told them you were disappointed you walked up to him and said that yeah. Yeah I saw Martin I saw my end

They had a big smile and I kind of embraced him and if you know the first thing I did I grabbed his belly I went mine like this this has to stop and it's like I know I know I know Like he's gonna go straight into camp after this. I was like, Martin, look, he's got all the talent in the world, but it's difficult to take him serious when he comes in the ring 300 pounds. And that's kind of what it is.

I mean, he was 284 pounds against Jared Anderson. And that was, I guess, maybe his career best performance, at least to an American audience. And he was 310 pounds against Joseph Parker. So he went into camp and lost only 11 pounds. I was like, dude, like, what was you doing in camp? And I spoke to Billy Nelson as well. And Billy was upset and they're saying they're going to get a nutritionist now to look at all his food and his diet, um, because there's talent there. But unfortunately, if you're 300 pounds, it tells me you've not been taken training camp seriously. Maybe you're not taking this seriously.

So I don't know. I know that I think Turkey's spoken about him getting another big fight, another big opportunity. And I think that might be the last one if he doesn't perform because he needs to come in around the 270 mark. And look, I get it. The heavyweight division is the land of the giants. They don't have to be this big.

You don't have to be this big. And he can't perform that big. He'll perform for a minute in a round or maybe sort of burn out in a whole round. But he can't give you 10 rounds of action. And that's the problem. He had all the tools to beat FAA Jaguar. And I think he's lucky to nick a draw. Very lucky. Two defeats back to back would be a problem. A draw and I think he's lucky, he needs to take it serious. Yeah. I said majority decision. I meant majority draw. Um, it wasn't great. It wasn't great.

Um, and, uh, it, it just kind of, I don't know, it was sort of the theme of the, uh, of the weekend, just a lot of fights that just sort of fell short. And then we turned our eyes to Sunday to the man who is maybe the, the, the, the most sure thing. Yes. The palate cleanser, if you will. Look, if there's one guy that you can bet on to deliver, time after time, it doesn't matter if it's happening at five in the morning or on a Sunday evening in Las Vegas, it's Naoya Inouye, the monster.

The guy is unbelievable. And let's be honest, I don't think any of us thought that his fight against Ramon Cardenas would play out this way him getting dropped for just the second Time in his career there you see it. I mean shocking stuff and I think he was like something like a minus 10,000 favorite I mean, it was just absolutely insane and and perhaps to a degree He doesn't seem like the guy who would look past his opponent But there is that fight that everyone has been talking about scheduled for September against MJ Akhmad Aliyev that everyone was hyped about. I don't know if he was looking past him. I don't know if it was not fighting at home. Who knows, but he turned that thing around

and disposed of the man. He is so much fun to watch. All action comes to kill his opponent and move on to dispose of him. And sometimes he's in the pocket, he's in that phone booth and it's kill or be killed. And we saw that, but to see him rebound and almost like Hulk up and get back to 100% and then dispose of Ramon was pretty damn impressive. And so at least we were able to end the weekend on a high note with that great performance

by in my opinion, number one or number two, 1A1B with Usyk, pound for pound in the world. Yeah, difficult to argue that, right? I'm very much what have you done for me lately and this guy has given me six fights in two years. Three fights a year. No one's doing that.

Nobody is doing it, especially not at that level, right? You get journeymen and sort of low level guys coming up that are that busy, but world champions, like elite pound for pounders, they're not doing that. So, um, but I'm a massive fan of the new eight and sometimes look if you are playing in the fire, you're going to get burned. And he loves playing in that kind of crazy pocket where he's going toe to toe with guys where he doesn't need to, but he's entertaining us and he got caught. Yes. He kind of recomposed himself and said, okay, all right, this is, this is a real fight now. Right.

It got up and we knew he does what he knew he does. I thought the referee was a bit early to jump in. I was looking at Roman Cardinals as the referee jumped in and Ramon was like, Oh, one second, what you doing? I'm still there. But the fact is, I knew it was kind of landing and landing a few big shots clean as well. So maybe, maybe I could see why the referee said enough was enough, but I'm on the Inui hype train.

I think he's fantastic. I didn't like the fact that you mentioned it there, that there is a fight planned against Akhmed Aliyev. I don't know why we do this. Yes. Why can't we just wait until after the fight and then announce the fight? Like, why are we doing this? If I'm Cardenas, I'm like, one second, you're that sure that you're going to run through

me that you're planning a fight in five months? Okay, we'll see. And that gives Carder that's another 10%. So yeah, promoters, managers, broadcasters need to stop doing it. Just wait until a fight's over, then announce a fight. But anyway, came through the fire and I think he's gonna go back home

and fight in Asia next time. It's okay in my opinion if you say, hey, look, if he gets by this guy, this fight could be on the horizon. But when it feels like it's laid out too perfectly and there's a date attached and there's a venue attached and it's all signed, sealed and delivered, it sort of takes away some of the magic in my opinion.

And then more often than not, we tend to see guys slip. We tend to see crazy things happen. When he got dropped, I was like, oh my God, this could be an all time disaster weekend. And especially for top rank. You know what I mean? Like it would just be an absolute disaster, but he was able to figure it out.

By the way, what kind of a chance do you give Ahmed Ali of against him? Eddie has been saying forever that Inouye is ducking him, that he's afraid of him, all this craziness. And I get, he was just trying to get the fight and hype up his guy, but like, duck, scared, all these things just do not go with Naoya in a way, in my opinion.

I don't know the guy, just doesn't feel like that type of dude if you ask me. What kind of shot do you give Ahmed Ali, who I do believe is 13 and one as a pro? Yeah, he's a good fighter. He's a very good fighter, but anyway, he's not scared of no man. You don't get nicknamed the monster

and then be scared of another man with two hands and two feet. Um, I give, I give AKMD maybe a 20% chance. The same I gave Stephen Fulton and we saw how that played out. I think a new age just special. I really do. And I think size is the only thing that beats him. I think even he spoke about, maybe I stay in the super band and weight division cause

I can make it comfortably. I feel like there's a lot of pressure for him to go up to featherweight. Like we just want to see more and more from him. Nick Ball maybe there's a lot of talk about him going up. I think that's the only thing that stops him. If he tries to jump through the weight classes then he realizes these guys hit too hard and they can absorb my shots. Akhmad Aliyev is not a big guy. I was Akhmad Aliyev's last fight in Monaco. He's a skillful fighter, but he's not on the same level as Inoue. As you say, Inoue could be, there's an argument to say he's pound for pound number one.

And that's how special he is. So I'd always pick Inoue, but it's an exciting fight. Yeah. Well, looking forward to that. Another big month ahead if he's fighting in September and a potential Ben Uank rematch in September, July 12th, by the way, they did have the faceoff with Hamza Shiraz and Edgar Berlanga. So it sounds like that fight is going to be

on this New York City card rumored for Central Park. Shakur Stevenson against Williams Zepeda as well. That'll be the day after the Taylor Serrano trilogy fight at Madison Square Garden. So obviously a lot to look forward to despite the fact that some of the fights this weekend didn't quite live up to the hype. I'm looking forward to the return of Lee Wood. He has not fought in 19 months, Adi, the pride of Nottingham. It's myself and Lee Wood. That's pretty much it at this point. Certainly not Mr. Flat Earth himself. He's back at the voter point arena and he's

going up against Anthony Kakachi, uh, who has been on some kind of run. And I think a run that a lot of people did not expect to see out of the, uh, the Northern Irishman. He is a guy who, when he fought Joe Cordina about a year ago, everyone thought Cordina would just roll right through him.

That did not happen. He came back, won another fight now, uh, defending his title, his IBO title, against Lee Wood on enemy territory at the Motor Point in Nottingham. It's not the world famous city ground, but it's the next best thing. Lee Wood returning.

That's a big Queensberry card right here on Dazoned this Saturday, May 10th. Your thoughts on the return of Lee Wood, who actually told me earlier today that he probably has around 12 or so months left. One or two more fights. He would love for one of them to be at the home of Nottingham Forest.

He's not holding his breath anymore, but not much left in the career, feeling good, ready to get back in there, looking for a big homecoming. By the way, he's 11 and one in Nottingham. Yeah, look, he's a great fighter. That one, I believe, is Mauricio Lara. I think they beat him. And then he got the revenge, the revenge of Mauricio Lara a few months later.

I like Lee. I like Lee a lot. I think I think I've said this, I've gone on record on saying in terms of sort of the best atmosphere, at least one of the best atmospheres I've ever experienced when Lee would fought Michael Conlon. And he had all the Irish on one side and all the Nottingham Forest fans on the other. or at least one of the best atmospheres I've ever experienced was when Lee would fault Michael Conlon. Oh, what a fight. And you had all the Irish on one side and you had all the Nottingham Forest fans on the other. And it was like I was at a football match.

It was incredible. And I think there's going to be something similar on Saturday as well. My concern for Lee is a few reasons. Number one is 36. Number two, he's been out the ring, as you say, 18, 19 months. The last time he fought was October, 2023. And the biggest one is that he's been out the ring, as you say, 18, 19 months. The last time he was October, 20, 23. And the biggest one is that he's going up and wait. Kikache is massive.

Like I can't like they're going to weigh in the same and I'm fighting out Kikache is just going to go boom. He's going to be so much bigger than than Lee Wood. And that's my concern. Kikache is coming off a couple of good victories. As you say, stop Joe Cordinaina which surprised everyone and then beat up Josh Warrenton and Josh was like Lee coming up from a smaller weight class. So This is a big ask but I don't know what it is

But when the Nottingham Forest fans get behind Lee would they just give him an extra 10% It's a rocky movie. So you never know but I do think you have to make a catchier slight favorite here He's the man on form right now. He's the man that's been active. And as I say, he's the man that on the night is going to be so much bigger. By the way, credit to him as the champ going to Nottingham. Obviously, it's a big deal when Lee would fight. He told me he sold around 4,000 tickets on his own. That's how big a deal he is in Nottingham. So I am looking forward very much to his return. It's always a great scene. He walks out there with the scarf and the fans and the chants.

It's a great time. Honestly, it's so, like, I'm just so happy he's fighting. I've been so upset for him. He's been on the sidelines. I know there was an injury, but the fact is, he gave us free fights in 2023. So he's been active. He's a busy fighter and he wants to stay busy.

And he's been put on the sidelines for whatever reason I don't know the politics behind it But I'm happy that he's fighting again and if he has got 12 months or so left Hopefully we can get free fights in that 12 months win or lose on Saturday I still want to see Lee would in fun fights because he always entertains us All right at a time now for everyone's favorite segment of the week It is time for our parting shot and you know, I have to say there isn't one I have to say it was it was hard. Have you found one? It's impossible. It was hard and

I'm actually Breaking from the routine usually it's literally like the parting shot. Well this time like you said there wasn't really one So we've got to go back to the second round main event Friday time square There wasn't really one. So we've got to go back to the second round, main event, Friday, Times Square, just the knockdown. And it was a beautiful one. Credit to Rolly Romero. This how desperate we've got. Yeah, look at that.

Boom, boom, the double left hook. Not bad. You got to give him credit. It didn't stop the fight. Ryan didn't look, he got hurt with that one. The second one Ryan kind of took on the gloves. Ryan wasn't hurt. The way Ryan bounced back up,

Ryan was, this is what I was surprised that we didn't get to see a more energetic Ryan. Obviously everyone knows, Rody hits like a truck. Like Rody hits hard. I think even Gervonta said this, but I didn't look, look the way Ryan bounced up, he didn't look hurt.

So yeah, I'm super disappointed, man. I'm a big, big Ryan Garcia fan. I love him. I think he could be the face of the sport when Kennello parts in the next year, year and a half. But he just needs to kind of get his stuff together. Find a trainer, stick with a trainer, and just find out about yourself as well.

Are you gonna be crazy, Ryan? Are you gonna be Ryan that looks like a Jehovah's Witness knocking on people's doors trying to sell Bibles? Who are you? I don't know. Yeah, I think this is the crossroads. Like after the tank Davis fight It was like alright

rehydration clause He had to cut a lot of weight all this stuff and he took the chance and he wanted to be in the mix with these Superfights, but now we find out who he is. This was a fight you were supposed to win Everything was in your favor now We find out are you going to be the guy who showed up on Friday, just sort of ho-humming your way through fights, or are you the guy who fought Devin Heaney a year ago? And so sometimes, obviously fighters, you know, love to be on winning streaks, but from our seats,

sometimes this is even more interesting. Like I love seeing if a fighter can bounce back, if he can build himself back up, what adjustments can he make? Does he need to make? Will he make? Does he have it in him? Does he want to do it? Is it hard to wake up when you're in, you know, silk pajamas, all that stuff?

He's got those silk pajamas. He pulled up in a Batmobile for goodness sake. Sorry. On Friday, so. I didn't like that. You didn't like the Batmobile? I didn't like any of that. I didn't like any of the entrances, no. The taxi? The New York City taxi? None of it.

Well, how did you want them to get there? They were in a hotel a few blocks away. Yeah, just, we'll just come. I don't know. Come in a team bus or something. A team bus. Traditionalist. The fights were happening in the middle of Times Square, for goodness sakes. You know what it is?

You know what it is? When you do this, this is my issue. When you, when you do the entrances and I'm fine with it, but can you deliver in the ring? Are you doing all that? All that stuff? Yeah. Can you deliver in the ring? And that's all that, all that stuff? Can you deliver in the ring? And that's all I care about when it's all said and done.

And if you don't deliver in the ring, I'm then gonna go back and I'm gonna say, no, get rid of that, get rid of that, get rid of that, get rid of that, and just do your bread and butter, as they say over here, and just get it all right. Some of these guys, man, it's just, I'm still so annoyed, honestly, by it.

I can feel it. I could see the smoke coming out of your ears. And by the way, ultimately it's going to be up to Turkey, I'll shake to decide like, Hey, if you're not going to, we're going to do all of this for you, but if you're not going to deliver, maybe we won't do all of this for you. You know what I mean? He's the one that's, that's paying essentially for all of this. And so, and, and, and he's a boxing fan.

I mean, and again, some people couldn't be sitting there saying like, yo. He's a boxing fan. He must've been there thinking, what is going on here? Yeah. Like what is happening here? Like are you guys, especially considering he was ringside, as you say, six days prior, Yeah. In the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium watching a war.

I was probably thinking, okay, this is, I've got some boys here that are really gonna deliver for me. And look, he wasn't gonna get Ben Eubank because that came with so much, but he's probably thinking, we're going to get something special and nothing zero from, from Friday and Saturday. No, it's not, it's not good enough. It's not good enough. I mean, he's making a lot of these fighters, a lot of money, right?

He's changed their lives. Hence why a lot of them speak so highly of him. And not that they owe him anything, but there is a, the shorty that has to be a part of the boxers, like, I just want to fight. I want to show you what I can do. You know, but again, a lot of these fighters are multimillionaires

and you do wonder about the hunger sometimes. Not of all fighters, sometimes. Well, if you ask me, the MVP of the weekend had to be 80 year old Michael buffer who was there on Friday Got on the red eye and was looking fresh as a daisy on Saturday in Riyadh. I mean, how does he do it? 80 years old. I know this is unbelievable. I was tired. I was looking at him He's incredible and sometimes I always feel like okay the baton needs to be passed, right? I mean, he's done it for so long and he he, I mean, he's, he's naming a sport as solidified. But then when you hear him scream it out, let's get

ready for like, I need, I need more Michael Buffer. There's nothing like that. So, um, no wonder he's on a red eye because you need it. And a Canelo would need, and let's get ready to rumble. Not that Canelo got rumbled, didn't he? Didn't, didn't do anything. Didn't do anything. There was no rumbling whatsoever, but Michael Buffett is still so important when it comes to the sport of boxing. Well, we had a great time here and I think we always deliver at it. And so thank you very much to the great Connor Ben, the Destroyer for stopping by. Looking forward to seeing what he does next. If in fact that fight happens in September, which is in just four months

time, so they have to get back on that horse relatively quickly. Thank you to everyone who continues to support the show, whether it's watching it on the zone, on the app, on YouTube, on the podcast platforms. If you're listening over there, please give us a thumbs up. Please continue to support. Please continue to love everything that we are doing because we appreciate it. And it's an engine that we've got going here.

And we need that fuel. We need that fuel. And of course, thank you very much to our good friends over at Final Destination Bloodlines. Outmacy. Did we find out if I get tickets? We're working on the tickets. We're working on the tickets.

What do you mean working on the tickets? One second. We're efforting. I asked you last week. Yeah, we say this in the business. Isn't it hard to get me $10 tickets? We're working on it. $10 tickets. Some might say you could afford your own tickets with the money that we're paying you here with Final Destination Bloodlines as a sponsor. Some might say, I don't say that. Some might say. Clearly that's what you're saying because the chat's

not saying that. The chat's saying get out of some tickets. Well, guess what? Chat, get, Jamie Vardy once said it, look it up. I couldn't say it, I don't want to get in trouble. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Adé, much love. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you for stopping by. Thank you for gracing us with your presence again. Thank you to Conor Bend.

Thanks to all of you. Thanks to the team in the back. Enjoy the fights this weekend, my friends. We'll talk to you next week. Good night.