The Ariel Helwani Show - Ariel x Ade, episode 26: Manny Pacquiao is coming back?! MVP signs more big names; Plus, Viddal Riley & Anthony Cacace join the show

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

Ariel Helwani and Ade Oladipo get things started by reacting to the announcement of 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao’s risky return against Mario Barrios and debate how he got the title shot (02:41).Then, Viddal Riley joins the show after his breakout win over Cheavon Clarke to win the British Cruiserweight title and talks being KSI’s trainer, nerves leading into the fight, earning the sport’s respect, difficult fight conditions, distancing himself from influencer boxing, and calls for a big spot next (16:01).Anthony Cacace calls in fresh off stopping Leigh Wood in enemy territory and breaks down his big win, reflects on his success late in his career, calls for a superstar fight, and teases the possibility of O'Shaquie Foster in Belfast (38:22).Next, the two talk over women’s boxing P4P powerhouses Chantelle Cameron and Savannah Marshall signing with Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (55:24), and get into what should be next for Claressa Shields. They move into Johnny Fisher vs. Dave Allen 2 (1:00:49), Darren Till’s return (1:06:39), and the fall of influencer boxing. Finally, they end things on a high note with the Parting Shot (1:09:28).

Hello and welcome to a brand new edition of Ariel and Ade right here on the undisputed global home of boxing, D-A-Z-N. That spells D-Zone. I'm Ariel Hawani. Inside our beautiful, uncrowned New York City studio, a lot to discuss. Another busy time in the world of boxing, coming off a busy weekend, and another big one coming up right here on Dzone. So much to get to, so much to digest and discuss. As always, we are presented once again

by our good friends over at Final Destination, Bloodlines in theaters worldwide this Friday. In fact, producer extraordinaire, New York Rick, already waiting in line, bought his ticket, I told you that last week, already waiting in line. He is that excited for another installment in the great Final Destination series. So it's Final Destination Bloodlines.

Thank you very much to them, and thank you very much to my co-host my co-pilot joining me from all the way over in London for carving out some time in his very busy schedule. There he is the inimitable, the often imitated, the never duplicated, the white t-shirt wearing Adele La Depo. This is a bit of a different look. You're always wearing black I feel. Well you? Well, you know what? The weather's so good. Yeah.

It's wonderful out here in London at the moment. And this is just a nice, thin, casual t-shirt. Okay. No, I like it, but usually you're wearing a black hoodie, a black t-shirt, something black. It's nice to see the pop. You know what it is? You know what it is?

Normally I'm angry. I feel like black just makes me angry. I come in here and I'm just spitting venom. I just want to be nice and chill today chill before you know what a white t-shirt let me not get too upset we've got a couple of really good guests let me breathe so that's why the white t-shirt is on okay well you look fantastic as always and yes we do have two very good guests back into the show Anthony Kakache who had the huge win over Lee Wood on Lee Wood's home turf

Nottingham my D Nottingham, my D, Nottingham. It was not a great weekend for Nottingham Sports. Saturday night, Lee Wood losing, Sunday the draw against Leicester. It was a tough night. Kakachi will join us to talk about that brilliant win. And he's been on a brilliant streak. You were there.

We'll get your thoughts on everything that transpired. Also prior to that, Vidal Riley will join us. He had a massive win over Shev Clark at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He has been looking very good as of late, and you have been very high on him. So we'll get into all of that and more. In addition to that, the news and notes of the week, we have a lot to get into, but you know,

I have to be honest, Ade, off the bat, I was perusing one of my favorite YouTube channels and it's the one simply entitled as Ade Oladipo. That's it. It's just a one, you know, just Ade Oladipo. That's it. No, no, no fancy name attached to it. And you were going on an epic rant regarding the news, multiple reports and now stating that the great Manny Pacquiao, one of the greatest fighters, certainly pound for pound of all time, multiple division champion, I mean a guy who really needs no sort of preamble or introduction, the great Manny Pacquiao is returning at 46 years young, some four years after his last fight, a loss to

your Dennis Ugas in a title fight, not like an exhibition fun fight, influencer fight, a WBC Welchway title fight in July against Mario Barrios. You were fired up over this. I'm wondering if you're still fired up. I'd love to get some further thoughts from you. When you first heard about Manny Pacquiao coming back, and not just again coming back in an exhibition, or an influencer fight, or a crossover fight, or even a fight against a top 15 guy in a title fight for the WBC belt, not on one of these fugazi belts, the WBC, the crown jewel of them all. What did you think? Dude, it's actually got worse. It's got worse since I heard the news because today I saw the WBC World's Weight Rankings. All of a sudden Manny Pacquiao appears there.

Isn't that funny? He's there like, whoa, just like, just like magic. He's there at number five. Um, look, I think the WBC, they're not the oldest, um, organization, but they're probably the most prestigious, right? I think what Mauricio Sula and his dad, uh, prior to him have done has been fantastic and establishing it as. I regarded it as the best belt in boxing.

A lot of people look at that belt as the one to get But what they do in terms of some of their decisions outside of boxing it just has to be Laughed that this is embarrassing, but it's also a bit disgraceful Many packers you just said 46 years of age hasn't won a fight in six years and You're correct. You got beat quite handily by your Dinas you guess four years ago He had an exhibition fight a year ago And he was awful in that it was a draw because there were no judges and both men got the hand raised But he got beat up in that so it was clear to see that this guy can no longer do it at any level

Let alone world championship level Manny Pacquiao is a volume fighter I mean you look at So the fight cards in the last couple of weeks and we've been moaning the fact that these guys have no output Manny Pacquiao is a volume fighter. I mean you look at sort of the fight cards in the last couple of weeks and we've been moaning the fact that these guys have no output. Manny Pacquiao has been known over the years for output. You can't do that type of output of 46. It's just not gonna be there. I find it quite just it's almost comical what they're doing. Look fighters will always want to fight. I mean boxers are littered with fighters that want to come back and have a fight. It's up to the sanctioning body, it's up to athletic commission to say, no, you can't,

your time's up. And of course it's up with Manny Pacquiao. I mean, it's bordering on disgraceful. And I think Marissa Sulaiman and the WBC need to kind of strongly look inwards. Again, they do great stuff for fighters, especially fighters that have retired. I know that for a fact, but it's these type of decisions lead people like Dana White to say things like boxing is broken. These type of decisions. So to your point, I couldn't agree more. I don't necessarily blame Pacquiao for wanting to come back. These are fighters. They always want to fight. Earlier today I spoke to Vitor Belfort, he's 48,

he wants to fight. You know, the fighters need someone to protect them from themselves. We've said this time and again about fighters, right? Regardless of combat sport. I don't even necessarily blame Mario Barrios. It's the biggest fight of his career, and yes he fought on that Netflix card, AT&T Stadium.

That was a big stage. But this is Manny freaking Pacquiao, I get it. The blame falls on two people's laps. Number one, WBC. I mean, that's their belt, they're putting them in the rankings. They're saying, yeah, we're okay with this. They can say no, and they're saying no, we're okay with this. And then ultimately, like, I'm not necessarily surprised,

because let's be honest, most of these sanctioning bodies, you know, they do what's best for their pockets. The ones that really surprises me, if this fight, if this fight's land in Las Vegas, Las Vegas to me, that commission, the Nevada State Athletic Commission is number two as far as like the best in America. Number one is California. Andy Foster to me is the best executive director slash commissioner in the sport, regardless of entity, country, state, et cetera. Nevada is number two and they have long been

the gold standard. You know, you almost expect a fight like this to happen in Florida or Texas. You know, those commissions that they're a little bit loosey goosey when it comes to rules and regulations. For Nevada to be okay with this is a bit of a black eye because what's, you know, what's the worst case scenario? Someone gets seriously hurt.

Someone has like life altering injuries and that can happen in boxing. We've seen this. Manny Pacquiao isn't immune to this. He's been knocked out. He's been hit. He's not Floyd who has been hardly hit. Like he's been knocked out cold.

I thought when he got knocked out by Marquez, I thought he died. It was that scary. Remember that one? Yeah. So was that scary. Remember that one? So I do very ultimately, I'm most surprised that if, if it hasn't been officially announced, if it lands in Nevada or California, I'll be very surprised and dare I say disappointed. Yeah.

This fight is definitely landing in Vegas a hundred percent. I'd be shocked if it doesn't. I mean, they're already talking about an undercard, Sebastian Fandora versus Tim Zuda talking about Pitbull Cruz. Those two guys do good numbers over there in Vegas. So they're going to Vegas. There's no doubt about it. I think the bigger question here as well is what's Manny Packer coming back for? We know the answer, the answer's money. And that's quite a sad story as well. A fighter that would have made in excess of 500 million pounds or 500 million dollars in East Korea. He's had the biggest fight of all time and that

was against Floyd Mayweather. I always find it sad when a fighter that reaches that mountain top, as you mentioned at the top, one of the greats of all time, eight weight world champion, five of those lineal. So he beat the man that was the man in the division. For a fighter to come back now, chasing another payday. And look, I get it. He tried to run for presidency in the Philippines. He would have squandered a lot of money trying to win that campaign. For Manny Pacquiao to come back now at 46, not in an exhibition like Jake, Paul,

Mike Tice or anything like that, a real fight and for it to be sanctioned and for it to be given the green tick by the WBC, as if to say, okay, yeah, we'll do it. We'll do it again. I mean, I like Mauricio. I see Mauricio quite a lot of events and we always have a nice little joke and a good word, but I would say this to Mauricio's face. This is embarrassing. And again, everyone looks at the WBC is the gold standard. Again, it's not the oldest. The oldest is the WBA, but everyone looks at the WBC as the belt. So for the belt to be doing this, to the great Manny Pacquiao, no, not for me. I actually wish it could be stopped.

I wish I could put some sort of petition in for this to not go ahead. That's how angry it makes me. Couple things. One aside, I do want to say hello and we are live to everyone on YouTube right now. Unfortunately for the past nine or so minutes we did not have any audio. If you're watching us on the Dzone app, the audio was working just fine, but I understand a lot of people are upset. You couldn't hear what we were saying, so I was trying to like send you smoke signals,

but the point is all you missed was us going on an epic rant regarding the return of Manny Pacquiao. You'll be able to watch it in the VOD format. We'll re-upload it. The Dazon app was working just fine. Not sure what it is. We're working through the kinks. Thumbs up to the chat. But that's all you missed.

Don't worry. Vidal Riley and Anthony Kakachi are going to join us. We're all good in the hood. Now, back to Manny Pacquiao. Look, do you think there's any chance that the, I don't know, the blowback, because a lot of people have been talking about this. A lot of people have been upset. Do you think there's any chance WB says WBC

says like maybe this isn't the right move or any chance a state commission says maybe this isn't the right move or do you think that we're gonna we're gonna see this fight happening in a couple months I know this fight happens this what happens there's too much money invested and people wanting to see many Pacquiao come back which which surprises me as well. I think everyone, or at least I thought everyone was over the Manny Pacquiao Floyd Mayweather wanting to see them fight again, but clearly there's an audience for it. So yeah, look, once there's money in the sport, everyone will try and eat off the money.

So this will happen. The WBC will take their sanction and fees and the V, state of the state, athletic commission will take their money as well. And, and money pack your, hopefully we'll make some money from it as well. Um, but yeah, this is happening. And like I said, I think it's sad to see that one of the greats, someone that I'm only guessing about again, made, I think over half a billion dollars. If you go through some of the fights that he's had and how big they were, right. This guy was a pay-per-view king for so many years alongside Floyd Mayweather half a billion dollars if you go through some of the fights that he's had and how big they were, right?

This guy was a pay-per-view king for so many years alongside Floyd Mayweather. For him to want to do this or need to do this, that's probably the better phrase, need to do this at 46, is a sad day in boxing. How highly do you rate Mario Barrios coming off that draw against Abel Ramos on Netflix? Only two losses in his pro career to the likes of Tank Davis and Keith Thurman. Do you think there's a chance, do you rate him so high as WBC champion that you think that he can seriously hurt Manny?

Do you not think he's as good as some people might think and think that Manny can actually hang if he turns back the clock? How much of this falls on Barrios and how good he is in your opinion? Um look I don't think Barrios, of all the champions Barrios is the weakest um and that's not being disrespectful to him but he's not as good as Brian Norman he certainly isn't good as Boots Ennis um so he's the weakest champion but he's still young I know he took a bit of a beating in that fight last time out on the undercard of Jake Paul Mike Tyson, but he's still relatively fresh.

He's much bigger physically than Manny Pacquiao. Manny Pacquiao hasn't done this for four years. I mean, we're going to speak to Kakatchee a bit later. He fought a guy, Lee Wood, who hadn't done it for 18 months. And I could see the rust in Lee Wood. He was only 36, let alone someone that's not done it for four years. So there is no turning the clock back with Manny Pacquiao. I went back and watched his exhibition fight, like I said, last year, and he was 10% of

the great Manny Pacquiao. That was last year. I mean, he's going to be a shell of himself. He's only Manny Pacquiao in name. Anyone watching it hoping to see somewhat of the Manny Pacquiao that kind of entertained us for nearly two decades, you're not going that guy again he fights with speed if this was Floyd who's more as I say in terms of a volume punch a lot less than Manny Pacquiao okay you know what because Floyd doesn't really have to throw that many punches

Pacquiao has always been about speed and volume speed won't be there at 46 normal volume Barrios is gonna beat Pacquiao up and it's gonna come down to a case of whether Barrios takes it easy on volume. Barrios is going to beat Pacquiao up. And it's going to come down to a case of whether Barrios takes it easy on him or if Barrios wants to go for the kill. And Barrios, in his fights, likes to go for the kill. So again, I think this is dangerous. I think it's silly. I love the sport of boxing, but I also know how dangerous it is.

Why do we need to make it more dangerous? Why are we doing this? He's almost damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. If he takes it easy on him, he'll be accused of, you know, not putting his foot on the gas. And if he knocks him out and comes for his head, he'll be accused of beating up an older guy who shouldn't be in there with him.

To your point, I actually would prefer, even though Floyd is two years older, I'd be more into a Floyd fight as crazy as that sounds against Barrios considering the lack of damage he's absorbed over his career than this particular fight. That's how. 100%.

I hate to say uninterested because it is Manny Pacquiao and I don't want to be disrespectful towards him. He is a legend. He's an absolute legend. Hall of Famer, one of the greatest of all time. But it's like, how do you talk about this and not feel weird about it? You know what I mean?

Like there's enough. I need, I need, I need the WBC. Honestly. Um, look, Marissa sort of might be watching this. I need someone to explain to me how Manny Pacquiao has jumped to number five in the WBC World's Weight Rankings. It's a sham. Because these are the things where people say we need a world governing body.

Because things like this make absolutely no sense whatsoever We know you're gonna let him fight Why you need to put him number five and somehow give me a reason as to why is it number five makes no sense again? He hasn't fought for four years and when he did he didn't look great against your Dinas Ugas I don't know if Pacquiao is gonna link up with Freddie Roach again I guess it would kind of be historical for them to do so, right? That's the picture everyone wants to see. But Freddie's got to make sure he's got that towel ready.

He's got to make sure he's got the towel ready so we don't see a beating. Don't like think, okay, maybe Pacquiao has got one more round in him. As soon as this gets too tough for Pacquiao and I expect it to get too tough early, you've got to pull him out. You've got to pull him out. You've got to throw a towel in because Pacquiao is going to have to fight. And again, me having waited up till half five in the morning over here to watch Pacquiao fights in Vegas, the last thing I want to see is Pacquiao take a beating because that man entertained me

for so many years and I don't want to see him go out like this. I really don't. All right. Well, let's let's transition over to some more positive news. As I said, I know you're very high on the guest who will be joining us in a matter of seconds. He's the new British Cruiserweight champion. He won that title just a couple of weeks ago at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Same card where we had Chris Eubank Jr. and Connor Ben put on, at least as of right now, the fight of the year. And I know that was a big deal for him to win that title and also to compete in the same stadium as his beloved Tottenham Hotspur FC who are going to be competing for the Europa League title in just a couple of weeks time against Band United.

You see that knowledge, Adé? Do you see what I'm talking about? Come on. I was like, you might trip up there. I was like, stop Ariel, don't make mistakes. And you've got it all spot on. Correct. Look, winner gets a Champions League spot

I'll be another one for the I mean, there's a lot. There's a lot. There's a lot going on Let us say hello right now to the one and only Vidal Riley who's kind enough to join us on this Tuesday evening Hello, sir. How are you? Thank you for joining us Yo, we say man. What we saying? Yeah, all good. All good. Thank you so much And you know, I don't know if you know this but as the kids like to say Adé loves you In fact, he glazes you on this show all the time. He's a big-time fan of yours This was Adé just days after your win over Shev Clark on this here program. Take a look at what he had to say I think that I read it's gone all the way to the top

I'm calling it now that I write it will be fighting for world title Wow in 12 to 18 months Wow So when you say top, you don't mean top of British boxing you mean like the top. I'm calling it now, Vida Rhydy will be fighting for world title in 12 to 18 months. Wow. So when you say top, you don't mean top of British boxing, you mean like the top? No, I think he's fighting the best of the best in 12 to 18 months. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. 100%. All right. Well, bookmark that. We shall revisit in 12 to 18 months. How about that? When Rocky won, he said, yo Adrian, you have to say yo Adé. Yeah, no, no, no. Big up Adé man. Because you know what it is, you know what it is. Because I saw him in the week of the fight and I said to him how it's going to go and I delivered

on what I said I was going to do. You have to believe in me. You have to believe me. You know, Ariel, that's probably where it comes from. We go to the same gym sometimes, and I watch Vidal from afar. I don't really disturb him, but on the week of the fight, I saw him on the bike, and he kind of walked past me, and I kind of pulled him to the side a little bit. And he said, look, I make this as tough as I want, or I make it as easy as I want. And I know Shev quite well as well. And I was like, yeah, it's steady, Vidal. You know, Shev can fight. And he made it look as easy as he wants so when someone delivers on their promise I kind

of have to say well okay you told me so and that's kind of why I gave him that praise after because he delivered on everything he said he was going to do. A lot of fighters talk the talk he walked the walk as well and it was a big stage so for me it was almost a flawless performance considering the magnitude of the event as well. Respect, respect and I feel, I feel Vidal and I wonder if you feel the same way. This was the one that got you the respect from the community like okay no more internet personality, no more rapper, no more you know KSI's guy. Now you're legit, now you're a champion, now you're you know, KSI's guy. Now you're legit. Now you're a champion. Now you're on route to becoming a world champion. Do you feel like this is

the fight that kind of helped, you know, take you to that next level? Definitely. Definitely. For sure. I think just seeing the energy of the people and how it's been received, me winning against such a credible opponent. I never like to talk down on Sheva, I never will. He's a great person, firstly, and he's also a very accomplished fighter. And I think that, yeah, after how I managed to get the win against him, yeah, it's definitely a sign of we have to respect this guy. Now, you know, we have to look at him for what he's doing, not what he was doing. Um, I don't mind people calling me, like stopping me in the street and saying, Oh, I want you to train up. Cause at the end of the day, it's a big part of my history.

It's a big part of my story. But if you call me, it means that you haven't kept up to date with what I'm doing currently. Because if you did, you would say, Oh, didn't you just buy it on the corner bin and the you bank card. So it's not, it's not offensive, but it's just a matter of there's up to date news. There's something else now that is prominent. So yeah, I'm, I'm happy that I chose the path that I chose. I always told everyone, don't need to fight Jake Poole. I don't need to fight Logan and go into that market, even though it seems so easy for me to go into it. I know my talent, I know my ability.

And I always knew that the path that I'm picking now is right for me and I can succeed on my chosen path. So it's definitely fulfilling personally more than anything because people are gonna say what they want, who cares? Considering what this victory has meant to you and what's become of you since, and also like, you know, I was talking about Spurs

and what that stadium probably means to you and what this card meant to the country. Were you feeling more nervous going into this one? You didn't fight like a guy who was nervous, but I'm wondering if you felt any of that pressure. Nah, I didn't feel any pressure. I knew, I guess I knew the magnitude of the event, but I didn't fully know the magnitude

until the fight was done. And that was intentional, because it's not, I'm not a spectator I'm not a fan it's not my job to feel what spectators and fans feel like you're you know everyone that comes to the venue on the night supposed to say I'm in the stadium tonight let me put my best outfit on like it's a big deal I'm there to scrap I'm there to fight so all I need to think about is fighting and even when I the whole week I Just thought there's one job here. You've got to do interviews. You've got to make way You got to do all those things around it. But why are we actually here? Why does this event exist?

because people are fighting so I just focus on fighting and As soon as the fight was done that's when I took in what the spectators and the fans take in which is like wow like the arena was kind of packed like this was a big show this is historic this is the Anuragur ring magazine event that is going to go down in history forever like wow you was a part of that. But beforehand it's just a scrap man I'm just focusing on the fact what's it like the reaction after now if you don't like now now we are what two and a half weeks removed from it what's the reaction been from like friends family people in the street recognizing you

because of how big it was right everyone says the you bank Ben fight is one of the best British fights of all time you You were part of that, right? What's it been like for you? It's been, you know, it's been the same in the way of, well, no, I like, it's not been the same. I've definitely got more attention. I've definitely got to stop more. I've definitely felt an increase in my popularity. But at the same time, I've been getting stopped on the street. So it's not the fame side of things, isn't the change. It's more so the respect as a fighter. And people just saying like, wow, you actually are one of those guys like you can fight. I was blessed enough to be a part of the whole KSI process. So fame isn't new to me at this stage. This is not something I have to get used to. I believe if I didn't

go through that process. British champion is where as a normal person, no social media following, etc. That's when people start noticing you. All my days on Famous, people know me, but I've felt that for the last seven years. So now it's just like getting noticed in the way how I want to be. It feels good. It feels good. And it feels like the whole KSI trainer thing is just so far in the past now that no one's really going to approach me on that. And people even ask me when you're going to go back to coaching. So, you know, when I retire, I'm not to pop out again as a coach, as a trainer. We need you to stay with us for a few more years because I think that the future is really

bright. That's true. We need you to stay with us for a few more years because I think that the future is for you. No, no, I've got a few years. Don't worry, don't worry. Yeah, please, please. Yeah, yeah, please. Remember, I've got my 12 to 18 month vision for you. So let's get that done first. Yeah, for sure. For sure. You can do everything in the ring, right? I mean, we know you can punch, but I still think of you as a boxer mover. Considering that, how difficult was it with the canvas? Cause I saw a lot of people slipping on that canvas and I was like, someone's going to trip here

and really hurt themselves. How difficult was that for you mentally? Cause you slipped a couple of times on it. That canvas was another thing to think about. Um, there's a lot to think about, especially when you're fighting someone of that level, someone that you've trained weeks for who requires dedication to defeat. You don't think throughout the whole camp, I'm going to fight this difficult opponent and the canvas is going to be slippery. So when I had to tackle that on the night, it did affect my game plan.

There was a couple of mistakes that I made just because I'm human and people make mistakes, but there was a lot of things I could have capitalized on that I deliberately didn't because I was afraid to slip and I didn't want him to hit me in one of those periods. And then all of a sudden I'm getting a count. And it doesn't matter if you're hurt or you're not hurt or you complain to the ref, you start counting 10 eight rounds, two points down. I don't want to slip them poor hamstring. I don't want to that. There's so many things you're thinking how slippery it was. It was many outcomes from that canvas that could happen. So I'm kind of fighting him thinking, okay, I'm winning, but I'm avoiding parts of the ring. I'm choosing not to do certain things here because if this

happens here, that might happen. So it was an extra thing to think about, which was annoying. But I think my special ability is being able to adapt on the night to the situation. So we fought on the same canvas and I won. Do you agree by the way, do you agree with that is prediction 12 to 18 months? He's putting that on you. Do you feel the same way? I've learned to not put a timeframe on things.

I do understand why Ade says that because based on everything being equal, all things being normal, 12 to 18 months I should be there. But I am not going to set my mind on that because life, I ain't going to swear on him, but yeah, life can be a pagan. So you just have to be better every day So you just have to be better every day. You just have to be better every day, stay on the path. And then things will materialize when it does. But I've been that person talking about, yeah, in two years time, I'm going to do this by the time I'm this age, I'm going to do that.

And then life says, yeah, you thought so, but it ain't happening. So how about that? So I just don't even like to fully indulge in the future. It sounds crazy, but it's true. Like this is not guaranteed. And even though our future can continue because we're alive, it still might not go how you want it to go. But with what they said, without being philosophical, if everything does continue on the path that it is now, 12 to 18 months, he's right, I should be fine on top of the game.

I like philosophical Vidal, by the way. I like when you get deep. I do believe also, if you wanna make God laugh, tell him your plans for the future. So that kind of goes in line with what you're saying. At any point were you frustrated and thought, cause it seemed like you might be just going down that influencer path, you were like,

to hell with all this other stuff. Did you ever think that you would just be an influencer fighter, if you will, and not, you know, a pro fighter, you know, the path that you're on now? I never thought that I would be an influencer fighter because I'm not a bully. I always say this, I'm not a bully. So for me to be influenced by I mean that you signed up to be a bully. You've been boxing since

she was three, four years old. And then because a couple big events happened, everyone jumped on his wave and said they want to be boxes, you know, they're not boxes. So if you decide to go and fight them, then you're a bully. I'm not in fighting for bullying. I don't compete for it to feel one-sided. We're playing a computer game and you're not any good at it. I'm not going to play you anymore. It's a waste. Let's put down a controller. I'm trying to be challenged. I would have have been a crossover boxer, but I was strongly considering at one time just being a coach because I had a real good reputation in the industry. I could see that industry was growing and I did picture myself having JJ in the gym, KSI in the gym and Eson

giving the gym people that are new coming through to my gym and me just being like the Emmanuel Stewart or crossover boxing. Like I did have that vision at one point, but then I saw how things were going. And I also believe I have a destiny to fulfill. that have a destiny to fulfill. And when I fully dived into that destiny, which is major credit to my dad, I said, all right, we know what we're here for, man. We got to throw the hands. You can't be the greatest coach ever at 22 years old. Like it just sounds weird. You should be fighting yourself. Do you look at your life, even at this young age and things, kind of a movie already, right?

I mean, Tottenham, like my brother was in North London, Tottenham, I know tough Tottenham and rough Tottenham can be. Then you go to America, you, you with the Floyd Mayweather team, COVID hits, you're kind of locked out over there. Then KSI and now this run, but there's, there's already like four Bidao lives there already. I listen, you better get 20th century Fox up in here. Because now there's definitely a movie there. There's definitely a movie there.

Sometimes when I sit down myself and I reflect on the things that I've been through, which I do belittle because I think we it's easy for us to get in the mode of reflection. And you can kind of become in awe or too disappointed on your past and where you've come from. So I tried to just really continue moving forward. But when I have interviews or I watch old videos, I'm like, wow, like you're literally from Tottenham, where you're supposed to be, you know, you're subject to a certain life, people expect a certain amount from you. You move to a, you end up getting a following overnight. You move to America, you're signed to one of the

best boxers ever. You move back, you end up getting Santa's sky. You have all these little fights where no one's expecting much of you everyone's telling you, you should fight to me fury, you should fight to me fury that you should do this, you should do that. And then now you're British champion. You got a podcast, you've done all these things. And I'm just like, wow, it really has been a journey. But the best part about it is I'm not done yet. I'm not done yet. So it's just interesting to see how this story is going to end, man. You know what it's like Vidal, and I always feel bad every time someone puts on a great

performance. I'm always thinking, okay, what next? I don't let you enjoy the performance. I don't let you like, you know, revel in such a good victory. What is next? Like what's the ideal? You and Ben must have sat down, right? You're now, you should be right up there in terms of top of his thinking. Is it going to be a Jack Massey? Is it an Isaac Chamberlain? Do you go for the European champion, Mascara? Like, what's the ideal next for Vidal? Well, you know what me and Ben are gonna sit down I think later this week and actually wrap it up on what we should do next. I know what I want, I know I don't think I should

be in any position where I'm not the core main or main event on a normal card. We're not talking about the great amazing new cards that we've been seeing from Ring magazine and Turkey Alicci great, amazing new cars that we've been seeing from Ring magazine and Turkey Alicci. But just on a normal car, on a normal day, and I don't think that should be anything lower than the call main event. Like it's time to push into that phase where the star building happened. You know, I know I had to prove myself more than some of my peers because my journey into the game wasn't traditional. Um, which means you got to prove a bit more. That's

fine. That's cool with me. I knew I could always do that, but now I have proven it. I'm expecting to see, um, some of the, some of the treatment that my peers have got and I just feel like yes that time. Let's let's let's show let's push without to the world and say oh this guy's next up Like the theme needs to be he's next up. I've proven. I've proven I'm next up whether you do it or not promo wise the facts show I'm next up and I'm not stopping. So I, I would like the energy from, you know, my network, from my promoter to match what I've proven in the ring. Um, two-parter to end, um, if, if Spurs lose to United, should Ange get sacked.

And why is Brendan Johnson the greatest first player of all time? Come on Vidal, come on! You know I got this stuff. Come on! Should Ange get sacked? 16th in the league. I think it's 17th, yeah 17th. 17th in the league is despicable. I think it's 17th. Yeah. 17th in the league is despicable. I can't lie. Preach. If he wins the Europa League, maybe you give him until January. If we don't win the Europa League, as much as I'm not the board of directors, I think we've got to say, yo, peace, bro. Come on on man. Like look at the stadium we have. Look at the events. Look at the size of the club. It's not acceptable to be to lose 20 times in a 38 game

season. It's not acceptable. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's like a journeyman's record. I know. I wouldn't know anything about that as a Forrest fan. I know nothing about being 17th. I know you're a lyricist. Spit some bars for us before we go. Tell us about the state of your career. Where are you going to be in 12 months? Where am I going to be in 12 months?

Where am I going to be in 12 months? I don't know, man. you're asking me these futuristic questions. No, I want you to say it in a freestyle form. I want you to like- In a freestyle form. About who Vidal Riley is. Tell the world. Wow, Aeros putting pressure on you right now.

Yeah, hell yeah. You just fought in front of 60,000 people. You're asking me to say some bars that I've actually, I actually have. You're asking me to freestyle about the future, bro. Okay, I was giving you a topic, but you can say whatever you want she don't listen to UK rap okay so what can I say let me think let me think let me do let me do this okay here we go here we go all right here it is today was a mad day 10

p.m. on zoom with everyone, a day. Thinking, I like to look at this girl, she's a bad day. Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! But then, if I don't get paid, it's a bad day. Yeah! Yeah!

Hey! Hey! Go on, Vidal, go on, come on, come on! All right, all right, all right, I can't give you too much, but I have to make sure you go to Spotify and listen to the actual music. You can see from there that I'm going to play with the words. I'm always going to play with the words.

I love it. I love it. Well, you're playing with the words. You're playing with the opponents in the ring as well. You're doing tremendous stuff. Congratulations on the win a couple of weeks ago. Looking forward to seeing if Ade's prediction comes to fruition. I have a feeling it will. It's been a lot of fun to watch you climb up the ranks in Britain and now, of course, in the world. So thank you so much for staying up late with us. We appreciate it very much and again, congrats on the big win. Thanks, Fidel.

Ariel, shout out to you always, man. I'm always looking at what you're doing. For years I've looked at what you're doing, so it's good to be on your show. And Adi, of course, brother, I see you in person and you've always been respectful to me and now you've seen that I can deliver my word. Yeah man, keep pushing the narrative my guy. I love it. You know it already.

Thank you so much my man, appreciate it. Thank you bro. There he is, the British Cruiserweight Champion. Love that guy, first time I had a chance to speak to him Adé, I get it, I'm on board. Can I jump on the bandwagon with you? Is there a spot for me? No, no, no, no, no spot. No spot too late. Yeah. Too late.

He's still pretty young. He's just a domestic. Yeah. Great energy. What a star. I get it. I absolutely get it. Okay.

Let's keep this train rolling along here in a matter of seconds. We, Ooh, look at this. Yeah. They're telling me he has, uh, he has over. Okay. Yeah. He has over a million subs on YouTube. He has over me he has, uh, he has over, okay. Yeah. He has over a million subs on YouTube. He's got the album. He's got the mixtapes.

Yeah. He's got it all. He's got it all. We're talking about the gold plaque. I saw the gold plaque behind him. That's, that's big league stuff. That's big league stuff. Yeah. That's big league stuff. In a matter of moments, uh, we will be joined by the man who broke everyone in Nottingham's heart over the weekend. He went in there, enemy territory, he got the job done, a brilliant performance, ninth round TKO, and how did he continue to level up? First it's, you know, first it's a Fyra Usik card, the big win over Joe Cordina, then it's Wembley, and now it's in Nottingham, beating the Nottingham guy, who by the way, I think off the top of my head was 11-1 in Nottingham when he fought there, Lee Wood.

So that's a gigantic win for Anthony Kakache. If you aren't a believer, you better be a believer now. He's kind enough to join us. He's the super featherweight champion who is staying up late with us here on the program. Hello, Anthony, how are you? Thank you for doing this. Look at that beard, look at that beard as well. Isn't that beard just fantastic? Look at that. That's took away, that's took away

the look. I'm great how you're using it. Doing great and I too enjoy your beard very much. It's a beautiful looking beard. You're doing big things my man and another big night for you. By the way, is it possible to rank those three? I feel like those were the three seminal moments of your career so far. May in Riyadh, September Wembley this past weekend in Nottingham, how would you rank those moments for you in your life? Well, nothing can beat Joe Cordina and Saturday.

That was an unbelievable experience. Everything to do with that experience was just top class. Saturday, first time being there, blew my mind. It was treated unbelievable experience. Everything to do with that experience was just top class. Saturday, first time being there, blew my mind. It was treated very well. And then to go out there and win the ABF title was just unreal. Yeah. What a moment. What a performance.

Yeah, that was number one, definitely. What was it like being like, you know, in Riyadh, yeah, maybe Cordina was the more established fighter, but it was sort of neutral territory. Wembley, I understand, okay, maybe not, but it was so big, it was hard to really get a gauge of the crowd and the atmosphere. But on Saturday, you were very much in enemy territory. What was that experience like for you?

To be honest, that was the first time I've kind of experienced anything like it. I think there was like 10,000 people in attendance and I'd say a good 8,000 were against me. But to be honest, I loved it. I fed off the booze and again, it's another experience, ticked off, but I always wanted to go into the Lines then and to fight a good fighter and I've done that Lee Wood, you know, three on the track. I feel like I've dusted off the UK scene, so I want big fights from here.

What's it like Anthony? All this coming to you late in your career, like Frank has spoken about you for years, right, as being the guy. But it's all coming now. You're 36, although it's funny, I was talking to Karl Frampton, he says you fight like you're 26. So yes, you think she's still got so much more left in the tank. But what's it like, all the success now coming towards the back end of your career, if you like? It's dead on. It's dead on.

I'm just very, very grateful and lucky to be in this position, thank God. I suppose I've still got a lot of mags on the clock. I haven't had the toughest of fights. I've been in these wars with the types like Lee Wu would be in or Warrington have been in over the years. I feel like I'm a fresh 36, so I'm just going to keep going until I can't really. I'm putting off these performances.

Everyone thinks I'm going to get beaten. I'm going to do the job and they're in their hometowns and I mean and abroad so let's keep doing them. You said that the Joe Cordina one was the best out of the three and I agree right I remember your reaction and I interviewed you in the ring after your emotion was was incredible but in terms of performance was Saturday gone the best performance? Because the way you were switching in, and Lee we know has got the power, you showed that you got the power as well. Was that the better performance of the three? It was a good performance. I mean, I still feel like I've got a lot better to give. My

problem is, I feel is I probably give too much respect. My opponents were is, I feel is, I probably give too much respect to all my opponents when really, I believe I'm the top dog at this weight. There's nobody hits hard as hard as me. I mean, everyone I'm hitting, I don't know why, but they're all getting hurt. So there's a reason why I'm sitting in this position and I believe that I'm ticking all the boxes, even at this age. Were you surprised that his corner threw in the towel, Ben Davison throwing in the towel in the ninth,

were you surprised when they did that? No, not really. I mean, I heard Lee saying in previous interviews, you know, about his health and, you know, the damage he'd taken, which is very true. So I knew he was very aware, and the corner would have been very aware. He's 36, six months older than me.

So I thought the corner was bang on that it was the correct decision. Was on the ball and, and, you know, if it were to kept going on, they could have good badly hurt. What about when you came to the realization, I believe one of the judges had him up going into the night. Crazy. What did you think when you saw that? I could, I actually thought it was a joke to be honest. I can't even remember his name, Steve Gray.

It just really shows you that there's some stinking moves happening in boxing. It's just not nice because at the end of the day we're the athletes and we're we're slaving away 12 weeks and whatnot and training camp you know wrecking our bodies and putting ourselves through mental freaking torture so it's like they try and do that on the night to somebody and their dreams i think it's just disgusting. After you know after the fight there's there's been some talk about his future and I know that's obviously not for you to determine, but before the fight, he was sort of hinting at the fact that he maybe has 12 or so months left.

After being there, in the ring with him, do you think we see Lee Wood fight again? To be honest, listen, he's a great fighter. He's done great things. I'm sure that he's financially secure. So I feel, you know, obviously it's his great things. I'm sure that he's financially secure. Obviously it's his personal decision, it's not really for me to say, but if I was to give him a bit of advice I'd say why not just hang him up and move on. He's had his best days, he moved up and had a crack,

didn't work out for him, but for a play. Enjoy your kids and your family. I think you're one of the biggest super featherweights I've seen. I think you're massive. It's your shoulders. Your shoulders look really big every time I see you. At the weigh-in I'm like, oh my God, he looks like he's about to die. Then when I see you on fight night, you rehydrate. Can you still keep making super feather? Is there a talk, maybe of going to lightweight and getting one of those big Americans to Belfast? Or do you still think you can hang around at Superfeather? Listen, I'm up for moving up to Lightweight, no problem. I'm still making Superfeatherweight handy enough.

I've been doing it for years, so it's time to professionalism and discipline and the hard work that I put in that I can do it still. But if I could get one of these big fights at lightweight, you know, with Shakur Stevenson, I mean, who else is there? Tank Davis, like, you know, these are all big fights that I would love to entertain and they're the fights that I've got in the boxing for. So to be in something like that in America, Las Vegas or something like that, it would just be unbelievable. That would be the proper Cinderella story to your story, right? Again, considering the ups and downs, all the negative and now all this, I think you going to America and the

Belfast lot would travel, I think you know that. As much as there was 10,000 in there, your lot, and they stayed until after the fight, that little pocket of about 500 sounded like about 5,000 in there, so they would love a night out on Vegas. More likely though is a fight in Belfast, right? O'Shaq's name has been mentioned. I think it's a fight that can be made. Is that where we're looking to head to really the WBC champion. I Mean oh shaggy. He's a great champion but

He's not really a massive massive draw, you know I mean he's not getting big fights out in America the belts kind of still sitting there not doing too much So it would be great to have him over to Belfast I genuinely believe that I'd have beat him and I'd have beaten him in the same fight that I'd have beat Cordina and I would. So it would be a great opportunity for me in front of my home crowd but again as I say, I would also love a bigger way to Vegas or a Marrakech or something like that. One of these things that most fighters have

dreamt of is to go over to America and finish off a couple of the last big fights with these big names. I feel like I really have taken out every big name in the UK and featherweight and super featherweight. I think that's kind of the least I deserve at this stage in my career. One thing you did do after the fight, as much as I was deserve at this stage in my career, you know. One thing you did do after the fight, as much as I was giving you all the plaudits, you turned around and you kind of pointed at every single one of your team members and you're like, no, he does this and he does this. It's a fantastic team you've got as well, isn't it?

I mean, we look at boxing as just one on one battle, but it really is a whole army behind you. Speak about your team quickly. Yeah, listen, I've got the great, great, great people around me. I've got Mickey Hawkins senior, you know, who's very well respected and, um, he came in a big coach, you know, everyone in Ireland knows the name. I have him in my corner. I have a son, young Michael Jr. I have Rory Dalton. He does the S&C and you know basically anything that I need he does it, then borrowing him does the pad work and you know I've just got an amazing team,

everyone's selfless, anything I need it's always covered. I mean it's all like you know I know it is it's a lonely sport and I have to do the fighting but outside of that everything's kind of sorted and set out for me so I lock's a lot down to them as well, you know, so that's why I like to give them all a wee shout out and let everyone know exactly who they are for what they do. Okay. Can I ask why is your nickname the Apache? I got that a long, I got that a long time ago, basically at the

start of my career when I was in McGuigan's gym, uh, Brian McGuigan gave me that. Any particular reason? Ran with Kikashi. Okay, I didn't know if there was some sort of like historical lineage or you come from an Apache tribe. No, no, no, I'm not like that, you know. Okay, well it rhymes and it sounds good.

By the way, I know you were busy on Saturday, but speaking of Northern Ireland and Belfast and the SSC Arena, did you happen to see Paul Hughes and his performance on Saturday? The arena was electric for his win. Yeah, he sold it out to you. I mean, Paul's an absolute gentleman, a man, sorry, and an absolute beast as well. So he's pretty local and he trains up straight from where I'm living. So, I mean, we're all behind Paul beast as well. So he's pretty local, he trains up straight from where I'm living. So, I mean, we're all behind Paul's use as well.

And hopefully he can get that big fight again with, I can't actually pronounce his name. Ramaga Madoff. Ramaga Madoff, I'd say. There it is. So hopefully he can get that done. And look, the Irish are taking over. Yeah, in every sport, we're the men to beat.

So, yep. Well, I hope you get a scene like that back home as well. I know you say you want an away game, if you will, but you deserve that as well, that kind of scene. Congratulations on the big win. As a Forrest supporter, I was sad that the locals went home unhappy, but it's amazing to see what you've been doing, especially as somewhat of an underdog, unheralded, you weren't supposed to do what you did to Joe Cordina and you continue to level up. So it's a beautiful story to watch. Congratulations and enjoy it. Thank you for joining us, Anthony. I appreciate it.

Cheers, Anthony. Cheers. There he is. Anthony, the Apache, Kakachi. I love it. Why are you known as the Apache? Because it rhymes with Kakachi, I love it. Why are you known as the Apache? Because it rhymes with Kakachi. All right, cool. Simple. Yeah, simple. You know, some people have all these fantastic

sort of nicknames and gimmicks, and that one's not, it just rhymes. But that dude can fight. What was it like there at the Motorpoint? What was it like? What was the scene like when he went in there and broke everyone's heart? Incredible.

Like, the noise. You know, I tried to be professional, but the fan in me just starts laughing at the noise when Lee would came out. I was like, this is just insane. But to be fair, as I said to Anthony there, like he had, I think a pocket of like 500 sort of fans that flew over from Belfast and they were making a racket as well. So it wasn't Lee would Michael Condon like, you know I mean you could hear Kakatchi's fans but then he silenced the Forrest fans so quick and they're smart fans they know

their boxing I think they could see that Lee Wood was in over his head a little bit here because Kakatchi just looked too big, too strong, too fresh and too powerful. His knockout record is quite deceiving. That was his ninth knockout in nearly 30 fights. And you can tell that he punches harder than that. Carl Frampton, he used to spy him and says, like, I catch him harder than anyone sparring all real fights. So he's got a lot to offer and I'm with him. I'd like to see him go over to America and have a go at one of the big names. But I think the plan is for a fight in Belfast. So either way, he's winning.

By the way, shout out to Carl Frampton. I love that he joined the zone. Another great Northern Irishman. It was a great scene. It was a great card. I do believe that there have been, you know, there have been a lot of great nights in that arena. And I think that was, you said your fifth, fourth? Me? Yeah. How many times have you been there? Nights in that arena and I think that was you said your fifth fourth Well, how many yeah, how many times have you been there? Oh I'm gonna say the fifth. I think that's my fifth time. I think yeah, all of them have been for they would and Is that the first time you see him you see him lose there? No, he lost to Mauricio Lara. Okay, you were there too

Okay, yeah, I was there for that one and there was also there for the rematch way one. So I was there for that. I was there for Josh Warranton I was there for Michael Conlon and obviously common Saturday nuts. Colin fights one of the best fights I've ever seen dude crazy Fight and I think that was a problem for Lee He's almost had to go to the world too many times and there is a time you're going to go to the well when it's dry, there's nothing there. And unfortunately that was the case on Saturday, but he has got the kind of built in excuse that I was out the ring for 19 months and that's fair. And that's why I feel like as much as I want him to call it quits, I think he might have one more just to really see, okay, let me have one more in six or seven months time

and then I will know. No one wants to go out like that the way he did on Saturday. So I feel like there's gonna be one more knock for him. Okay, so I was just gonna ask you that. And so it sounds like perhaps you bill it as the retirement fight. Could you imagine? I'm like, it would be nice.

Hate to see him get beat up like that, but if the retirement fight could be at the city ground, that would be the perfect one. I don't know if it will happen at this point, but maybe you bill it as the retirement fight, not against a champion, you know, not a winnable fight, but you go, you go Josh warrenton again. Oh yeah. I mean, that fight was up and down.

It was all over the place. And if they're going to go to the city ground, you need someone that can help you sell it. I mean, these got a big fan base, but the city ground, you're talking 30,000. You get Josh warrenton in there with these leads fans And all of a sudden you feel that place out and it will almost be a final fight for both of them So I feel that if you're gonna do one you do Josh versus Lee at the city ground and it's their Retirement fight for both and I think that could work anyone else. I just feel like There isn't a big enough one or a big enough pool for it to go to the city ground.

Josh Warrington, you can go there. By the way, didn't Warrington tell you at Wembley that he was done after the Kakashi loss? Pretty much, yeah. Not only did he tell me he was done, he took his gloves off and put him down on the canvas. Yeah, so now you're trying to bring him back? No, no, he had a fight after. He's had a fight. He had a fight four or five weeks ago. That's right. That's right. So he's back't want I don't want to see Josh fight again as well It's another fight that's entertained me for so many years. But again, I get it I understand it kind of goes back to on a different scale than Manny Pacquiao talk fighters won't retire

The sport has to retire them because fighters will always think there's one more There's one more and I feel like Lee might think that as well after Saturday. Yes, Asad Asif Khan. How can I forget? How can I forget? That's my bad. What about the rest of the card? Anyone stick out to you as far as performances, big names coming up, prospects, wants to

look out for from that card? Ezra Taylor is definitely one to look out for in the light heavyweight division, now trained by Malik Scott. And when you think of sort of that passing the baton for Lee Wood to another Nottingham boy and Nottingham born and bred boy, Ezra Taylor is that guy. He came out chief support, so he got a really good reception from the Nottingham fans as well. He fought a guy called Troy Jones who was unbeaten and Ezra looked good, got the job

done. He struggled, I think, in the early rounds, but then just seemed to adapt and find a way and in the end maybe unlucky not to force a stoppage in the final round. But he's got everything, he's got the look, he speaks well, he's a good looking kid as well and the light heavyweight division in the UK is stacked from like 1 to 15. So there's so many good fights out there for him and I don't know if you know this but they're already trying to build a Ben Whitaker versus Ezra Taylor down the line. So that's probably one to look out for next year. I have a feeling those guys could

look horns, but he is, um, he's got all the star quality. Plus he's got a trainer that we know and it's obviously got Frank Warren behind him as well. So as retainers want to look out for the next sort of 12 to 18 months, I believe. All right. Let's move along Ade and let's stick with the, the British boxing theme and, and let's focus on most valuable promotions. You know, we've been talking about this for the last few weeks. They have really gone all in on women's boxing.

It's very clear. And at first maybe they were, you know, going down the influencer route. They are not that they are not misfits. They are not an influencer promotion. They are really going all in on the women's game. And I think it's brilliant because how do you try to differentiate yourself from everyone else? Okay, there's this push.

There's a dearth of talent. Try to scoop everyone up. And they had an announcement a few weeks back where they signed the likes of Ellie Scottney and they've got this big card here in New York on July 11th. Well, just yesterday we find out they've added two pretty big names, Chantelle Cameron who has the win over Katie Taylor, and Savannah Marshall who's one of the best fighters in the world pound for pound.

What do you think of what MVP is doing as far as trying to sign all the biggest names in women's boxing? I think it's fantastic. I almost feel like female boxing and you know, a lot of people are giving me stick for saying this, but I do feel like there was a massive high three, four years ago when we got Alicia Belham-Garner versus Michaela Meyer and we got obviously Clarissa versus Savannah and the first fight between Amanda and Katie. I feel like it dipped a little bit. I feel like promoters almost either lost interest or didn't know what to do. And so you've got so many fantastic female fighters

just out there waiting. Savannah's a great example. Savannah Marshall, like what's she doing? She hasn't done anything. And she's an incredible talent. Cameron too. Exactly, Cameron too. So you've got two pound for pounders

who literally just been sitting on their hands waiting for the call for a big fight. All of a sudden you've got someone like MVP that are going to put everything behind them. And that's what Jake and Nikesha are really good at. Obviously Amanda Serrano helps as well. So I think it's really, really good. And they will give it the push that it needs. And just the excitement on their voices.

I look at both of their social media pages and they're ready to go. They're rich and to go. So hopefully, I'd almost say give all the females to MVP so we can make all the fights Honestly, let's see Sandy Ryan McKayla Maya everyone so we can really make the fights because I just want to see these girls fight Because they're entertaining fights these 10 two-minute rounds are fantastic Honestly thoroughly entertaining and we need to see more of them. I feel like everyone has just slipped a little bit. I mean, Clarissa Shields would be the biggest draw. She's gone back and forth with Baumgartner, with Serrano,

but if they can somehow do business with her, that would be tremendous. Serrano, Baumgartner, Marshall, Scotney, Cameron, Dina Thorsland, who's going to be competing on that July 11th card. Shadaysh Green, Ramla Ali, Tamara Thibault, the Olympian, Shredda Metcalf. Like they've got, they've got a stable here in addition to, you know, everything else that they're doing, you know, they've got their prospects and whatnot. Like at this point, anyone who says that Jake and Akisa are bad for boxing, if you're still holding onto that, if that's still your mission statement, you're missing the whole point.

This is great. And by the way, if you're one of those women on the outside looking in, I would have to imagine like even the things that they do with their social media, the posters, the videos, the announced videos, like it's really high level stuff. You'd have to say to yourself, can I get that? You'd be waiting for that phone call. You'd literally be waiting for the phone call. You'd be speaking to your management team like,

okay, look, I mean, can we just shake on it and let me move on because I'm not getting anything. I'm not getting any dates. And you mentioned Clarissa there and look, I think Clarissa sort of pound for pound is the best female fighter there is. I'd argue Katie's the goat because of Katie's resume. but in terms of just ability, I think Clarissa's incredible. She's got a fight planned. She's got a fight coming up. And I don't mean to be disrespectful to her opponent

but these are not the fights that Clarissa wants to be in. I mean, if we're brutally honest, she wants to be in a high level fights, big name fights. They've just signed Savannah Marshall. Can we get this on again, please? Can we put all the politics to the side about, you know, this and Savannah's there. And I want to see Savannah versus Clarissa. The first fight was competitive. Yeah, Clarissa won it by a couple of rounds, but it was a good fight. Let's get that on again. Again, we, we don't want to see the fights that she's having at the moment. We just don't if we're being honest I mean the lady she fought the heavyweight fight Wait with the lady only had five fights or something. I don't want to see that I want to see competitive fights for Clarissa because I think Clarissa again is incredible

She was so can you imagine the link up with Clarissa and the keys her and Jake? Yeah, what that would do in terms of in terms of the pro the promotion Keiser and Jake. Yeah. What that would do in terms of in terms of the promotion, it'll be through the roof. And I desperately want to see it for Clarissa because she deserves to be in big fights on big platforms and just really just doing what she does and at the moment it's kind of it's still for her. Couldn't agree more in case you're wondering it's Lanny Daniels July 25th at Little Seasons. IBF light heavyweight champion. In Detroit she's 11, two and two. So it's not exactly like earth shattering stuff.

Yeah. She deserves that kind of push. She deserves that kind of stage, that kind of promotion. Uh, and it feels like they're gobbling up all the names. Obviously Katie is still with Matt room and, and she'll never leave Matt room. Uh, she probably doesn't have a lot of fights left, but other than that, like that they're gobbling up the entire top 10. And I think it's a really interesting strategy on their part.

And I'm excited to see where they go from here. Let's turn our attention to this weekend, May 17th, another big one on Dazon and the headliner, the one on the marquee is the big rematch between the Rumford Bull himself, the leader of the Bosch army, Johnny Fischer, going up against Dave Allen. They had that controversial bout back in Riyadh end of the year.

A lot of people thought Allen won the fight. You were there. Fisher gets the nod. They had to run it back. This time not in Riyadh. It's at the Copper Bosch, AKA the Copper Box Arena. And the scene is going to be unbelievable. And I do have to give props once again to Matchroom, to their marketing team over there.

They did a great face to face with the two of them. Did you happen to see this while they're playing cards? Of course I did. There's a wonderful exchange here between the two of them. When you watch it, you're like, this is brilliant. And credit to the both of them, in addition to the marketing team for putting it together. In case you missed it, here's a fun little taste.

The body shots were good. I thought you did some amazing things for experience. I thought this is great. I thought, yeah. It was a good fight. I was talking you through the fight all the way through. I was talking you through it. Is the man in front of me any good at boxing?

I think you're okay, to be honest. I think we are British title level around that. That's more than okay for me, fuck you know. No, that's okay. Okay, no, I say okay because we're talking boxing. You're a great athlete, phenomenal athlete, like I say you're playing, you're a good athlete, good fast, strong, powerful, good,

no, I would say a great athlete, okay boxer. I'm a good athlete, very good boxer. Very good. I would say. So I'm not gonna dig it here. I know. You've had 12 amateur fights and how many pro fights? You can't be any good. You can't be any good. It's just impossible. And I'm not even digging

people are watching and looking and digging away. It's impossible to be any good. But for me a British title is an unbelievable achievement. No but what I'm saying is if you were to win a British title tomorrow it wouldn't be from your boxing ability. It would be from being a good athlete and a good puncher. But I'd still be the British champion. You'd still be the fun to be boxing, it'd be fun being a good athlete and a good puncher. But I'd still be the British everywhere. You'd still be the British champion, yeah. But that question was are you a good boxer?

Question is, okay. Adé, I don't need to tell you this, but the people at home need to understand this. A, the way that was shot was brilliant, the lighting, the look, everything. But for the two of them to sit there and engage like that and have that kind of discussion without a moderator in the middle,

you've been there, I've been there, others have been there as well, that was brilliant stuff. a moderator in the middle. You've been there, I've been there, others have been there as well. That was brilliant stuff. Like Dave Allen was amazing. And Johnny as well, I found that to be riveting. I loved everything. Everything about that was brilliant. A plus.

Yeah, no, honestly, fantastic. Like I just say, we've both been in the middle doing those face-offs. And I've always said some fights don't need a face-off or some fights don't need a moderator. This is clearly one that didn't need a moderator. These guys have known each other for a while. Um, they were never going to throw chairs at each other or swing. They were going to have a discussion.

Uh, and Dave Allen was fantastic. Dave Allen's almost taken off, taking on the role of the bad guy in here. Um, and it was almost, that little clip was almost like bullying Johnny Fisher and it felt like Johnny Fisher was sinking in the chair. Um, but I can't wait for it. It's going to be like, I've done a few fights of Johnny, um, at the copper box. I've done his last one against Alan Babich, which was just insane. The noise that those Romford fans just bring is crazy. Um, and I can't wait for it. There was a lot of talk about it going to the O2 arena, a bigger arena.

I think this is perfect. It's more intimate. I think you get about eight or 9,000 in there. I believe it's nearly sold out. So I think this is gonna be an incredible atmosphere. It's gonna be an incredible fight as well. The first fight was really good. Both of them were shattered at the end.

I think this time round, both will be a bit fitter. And I'm expecting this one not to go the distance. Would you agree all the pressure is on Fisher's shoulders here? He has to win emphatically, right? Decisively. Yeah, he has to win. He's just got to win. Um, and look, you know, to be fair, John, a close decision almost isn't enough,

right? I don't know. Like Dave Vallon's a type of fighter where on his day and again if you go and watch that full clip and he kind of says a few things there on his day he's very very good he's just not really been committed to the sport it's almost been one foot in one foot out when he's committed he's a bit of a problem for a lot of heavyweights and this is what was always a risk taking this I think they took this fight initially hoping that maybe Dave Allen isn't committed but yet he got up for it so I don't think it's a foregone conclusion at this stage if I'm team

Fisher I take any win I was with you I was like okay Johnny's got to knock him out now I'm like if I'm Johnny just win just win move on and people forget about it he might go life and death. I think he's going to have another gut check in this one because Dave Allen's big, he's strong, he's a better boxer, he can punch as well. I think this is going to be very, very tight again. I'm edging to Johnny just because of the home fans and the home base. And to be clear, I believe we spoke about it when it went down, but you thought Allen

won the first fight, right? I did. Yeah. Yeah. I believe we spoke about it when it went down, but you thought Alan won the first fight, right? I did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's such an, I actually think it's such an easy fight to score.

I know team Fisher, not too happy with others saying that they fought, Dave won, but I think it's an easy fight to score. I think Dave Allen won it. I think Johnny started well. What Johnny has done in the past is touch people and they've fallen over that powerful, right? Because you're fighting journeyman. He can just destroy it.

I think he was surprised about how Dave Allen was able to kind of soak up the punches. Um, and let's not forget as well, Dave Allen put him down in that fight too. So Johnny Fisher showed a lot of heart to get up and continue and sort of find something about himself. I think this is going to be a much better Johnny Fisher, but it's going to be tough, man. I'm telling you I think this is going to be a much better Johnny Fischer, but it's going to be tough, man. I'm telling you now, this is going to be tough. Dave Allen still has, and I'm shocked, but he still has something left to offer.

Well, that's on, on Saturday on Dazon. On Friday on Dazon, we have the one that everyone's been waiting for. We have the return of Darren Till going up against Darren Stewart. It's the battle of the Darons. In one of the all time great posters, if I do say so myself, do you think they were all wearing suits or do you think there's Photoshop involved here?

It's blinders and brawls. Yeah, I think it's better to say their heads. Yeah, I think their heads have just been put on people's suits. No, who cares? Who cares, right? Blinders and brawls. Idris Virgo on the bill as well. So perhaps, you know, every time I go on X, it feels like he's trying to pick a fight with someone. So, you know, I'm sure he's delighted that he's got an assignment.

He's another one, by the way. I mean, not too dissimilar to Rydell Riley. Where I almost feel like, and I don't want to share, I don't want to pick him out here, but he shouldn't be fighting on misfits. He, I think he's good enough to actually go for it. I mean, he's unbeaten in his pro career prior to misfits. And I almost feel like I get it why he's doing misfits. I can understand the money's there and it makes sense you get a big push, right? You're fighting on the care site, etc. Etc. But I must feel like he could now Remove himself and let's see what he's got And maybe the light heavyweight division or super middleweight division I think he can make 168 but I'd like to see him actually go for it Because sometimes I watch him in these misfits events and I think it'll be a bit different this fight because he's fighting someone that can Actually fight it back

But I do sometimes feel like he's far too above a lot of the people misfits Look, I think one of the stories to watch if you're interested in in this path in the sport of boxing is the future of misfits in that KSI banged up. He hasn't been able to fight, you know has has has the influencer well dried up You know Darren till isn't your typical influencer, Stuart coming out of retirement, the names aren't quite the same. And so I'm curious to see.

You know what happened, Ariel? Obviously, I covered the first 10. And I think the influencers started thinking they were boxers rather than still be influencers. So it's almost like they got all these people from the YouTube world and Instagram world, these people, you know, prior to boxing, putting out so much content and hence why they became the stars to go on misfits. All of a sudden they start boxing and they now have turned into like pro boxers with camps and teams. I'm

like, Oh no, you're still supposed to influence. You're supposed to do your YouTube content like KSI does and everything else. And they seems have forgotten that. So, I mean, look, there are still content creators out there that want to box and influencers so to speak that want to box, but they've got to realize what they were first. And I think a lot of them have forgotten about that. I agree. Amen. I mean, the biggest one we haven't gotten, right? The biggest one of them all isn't anywhere near happening. And that's Jake Paul versus KSI. All right, Adé, time now for your favorite segment

of the week presented by, once again, our good friends over at Final Destination Bloodlines. Look at us, look at us, Adé. Any guesses? Still no tickets, still no tickets. Any guesses, any guesses as to what our parting shot is? Come on. I am gonna, well it's gotta be

Kakache Wood no? Yeah one would say, one would say. It's gotta be that, it's gotta be that way. The stumbling onto the ropes. Oh yeah. I mean it was something else. Of course it is not Kakache defeating Lee Wood. It's BKFC Salt Lake City. Look at this. What is this? It's always, how many? What's he doing? What's he doing? Look at this, look at this One knockdown one knockdown Jordan Smith knocking down Jose Nando Silva to knockdowns. This is in round two Now we go to round three another knockdown So we're on route to a knockout win right for Joe. No he gets knocked out. Oh, he gets knocked out Jordan Smith knocked out by Jose Nando Silva. Look at that punch clean.

On the button. Does he have a history of doing this? Normally if a guy goes down three times, the referee calls it. Okay, you're asking me like I'm some sort of connoisseur as to who these guys are. I mean, I know who Jose Aldo is. You keep talking about BKFC every week. You talk about BKFC every single week. Because they give us knockouts every week. They're the ones giving us the clean crazy knockouts.

Did I read that Andre Alovski is back in BKFC? BKFC yeah. See, see, see this is my problem. Why why why? This is my problem. Because I said to you I'm on board when it's young fighters I said this to you like. I know. When it's young fighters I'm on board.

Andre Alovski must be like 46 years old. Listen, Aliyah once said, age ain't nothing but a number. It is in fighting sports. It is, I mean. It is in fighting sports. To go back to the beginning of the show. Manny Pacquiao. Yeah.

Yeah, that's a concerning one. I mean, there was a period maybe like, legit 14, 13 years ago, where Alofsky was getting knocked out in consecutive fights and I thought he'd be done then. I'm talking like Strike Force days, 2011. And now here he is. Remember when he was the best heavyweight?

Remember when he had his long hair and the fangs? Oh yeah. He was fantastic. Yeah, he won't be coming back. Anyway, I like the BKFC knockouts because they are the true definition of a parting shot. I mean, you can't beat that. You can't beat that kind of action. And you can watch it exclusively right here on the Undisputed Global Home of not just boxing,

but bare knuckle fighting as well. And, and, and, and club world cup club world cup coming up in 14th of June. Yes. In a month. Can't wait. So a lot to be excited about. Well done. Well done. Shell aday company man. Pay me the big bucks. I will say whatever you want me to say people.

Pay me the money and I will say, are you working the club? I am working it. I am coming over to the States. I am. Yes. Breaking news. Hit the music. Yeah. Are you going to be doing the show in studio then? Um, yeah, I guess because obviously the quarterfinals, semi-final and final were in New York. So of course. Thanks for telling us. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Something to look out for. Okay. Can I get some tickets myself? Yeah, so I can final at MetLife. I'll be there. I've been asking for final destination tickets for like three weeks now and you've been coming from New York. Alright, I'll make you a deal.

We'll get you final destination tickets. You get us Club World Cup final tickets, alright? Deal? Deal. Deal, Ariel. Alright, great stuff, my man. Great fun, as always. That does it for us, my friends. Thank you very much to our two guests today. Tremendous stuff from Anthony, the Apache, Kakachi, and Vidal Riley. Spinning some bars for us. Put them on the spot. But I thought he came through just like he did a couple of weeks ago at Spurs Stadium.

So well done to them. Thank you to all of you. If you missed the beginning due to the audio issues, we'll sort it out. No problem. Go to the app right now. It's all up there. Show them some love as well. Give us a thumbs up, subscribe, download the audio,

all the things that they say help us out, I'm told to say to you as well. So thank you very much to Final Destination Bloodlines in theaters this weekend. Go check them out, support them because they support us and we'll be back next week. Enjoy the fights, my friends. Talk to you next week.