The Ariel Helwani Show - Ariel x Ade, episode 37: Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua 'dangerous?' Ryan Garcia trolls Oscar De La Hoya? Plus, Skye Nicolson and Xander Zayas join the show

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Ariel Helwani and Ade Oladipo begin the show with a reaction to talks of Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua heating up (02:54), with Ade expressing strong reservations.The duo is joined by Skye Nicolson to discuss her drop to 122 pounds, respond to comments by Most Valuable Promotions’ Nakisa Bidarian, talk about targeting a fight against Ellie Scotney and lessons learned from her loss (13:08).Xander Zayas, the youngest active world champion, comes on to recap the title win and celebration with Bad Bunny in Puerto Rico, and to discuss possible fights against Vergil Ortiz, Sebastian Fundora, and Jason ‘Boots’ Ennis (31:18).Attention then turns to a big win by Oscar Duarte and a Fight of the Year contender between Regis Prograis and JoJo Diaz (48:29).Next, Ariel and Ade break down Ryan Garcia’s latest shot at Oscar De La Hoya and the peaks and valleys of their relationship (50:04).After touching on Joshua Buatsi leaving BOXXER (54:53), they mention Terri Harper signing with Most Valuable Promotions (59:37).Finally, they review DAZN’s fall schedule (1:01:05), before delivering the Parting Shot (1:06:57).

Hello and welcome to a brand new edition of Ariel and Aday right here on the undisputed global home of boxing. That's D-A-ZN. DeZone. I'm Ariel Hawani Insider, New York City Studio. Our beautiful uncrowned New York City studio, of course uncrowned the number one unbiased combat sports platform in the universe and it's not just me i don't fly solo on this program i have my partner in crime my tag team partner hailing from all the way across the pond in beautiful london town england i'm happy that you uh you nod your head like that because i have noticed the last few weeks you're wearing this b hat what is this b hat what are we rocking here what we're representing i don't know i don't even know you don't even know i just went into a store in manchester i liked it

I tried it on and I thought, okay, I'm just going to grab it. I don't know. Is this the story that you went to with me when we were doing the Misfit show? Yes, yes, we were together. We were together. This is it. This is it. So, by the way, that was two years ago.

All of a sudden, I'm seeing you wearing it everywhere last couple weeks. I don't know. You know, I've got so many hats and all of a sudden. It just somehow made its way to the front of the queue, but I'm happy you were with me. You were. Yeah, that was a great time. You spent a couple of quid as well. You spent a lot of money as well.

Yeah, we had a good time. We had a good time. Okay. So you have no idea what you're representing, what you're rocking. It just looks good. And now you haven't taken it off. Pretty much. I wish there was some lovely story, some background story about the history of this hat and what the B stands for.

I was going to make something up, but I'm scared of making something up with you because you might know the truth and might embarrass me. And I don't want that. No, no, no. So I'm just going to be honest with you. I just saw it. I like the color. I like the style. And I thought, okay, it fits well.

Why do you think I'm going to embarrass you? Because Ariel, you have a tendency to try and set me. up sometimes. You have a tendency to try and set me up sometimes. Not at all. Not at all. And I've got receipts. No, not at all. I would never do that. You're my guy. We have each other's back. Here we go. See, see what you're doing right now? You're building tighting up for something. Nothing. You're building something up. By the way, I do want to let you know that Sky Nicholson is going to be joining us in about 10 minutes time coming off her big win. She has changed way classes. She went from 126 to 122. Her last fight wasn't technically at 122. We'll get into that. She

already has her next assignment, always love talking to Sky, the pride of Australia, she'll join us, the Olympian, and then after that, Ade, a superstar in the making. Or is it even fair to say in the making? He might just be a superstar already. I just saw him hanging out with the great bad bunny, Xander Zayas of Puerto Rico, 22 years young. We talked about him last week. Youngest male champion in the game today, an unbelievable win just a couple of weeks ago right here in New York City. Two great fighters joining us back to back, a lot to get to after another busy week in the world of the sweet science, but we have to start here out there.

And we have to play a game of a factor fiction, if you will, because I'll be honest, when I first started to hear about Jake Paul versus Anthony Joshua, I thought, all right, this is just some fodder, this is just some talk. And then all of a sudden, you know, I saw Jake at the Usik Dubois fight. He was in the ring and he was squaring off with Usik,

but he was also doing interviews with the likes of talk sport and BBC and talking about this being a real thing, We're here in London and we're going to talk. And then I saw Nikisa Badarian, co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, aka Jake Paul's business manager on Sky Sports about a few days ago, Thursday to be exact, and this is what he said about those talks. I think the fight can absolutely happen. I'm looking at it as Jake versus Joshua, which is quite biblical and it's quite impactful in many ways.

If you look at Anthony Joshua, I think he is 28 and 4. if I'm not mistaken, and two of his losses are against Alexander Usik. Usik weighed in at 220 pounds for those fights. Jake is not Usik. A lot more years of experience needed to get to that level. But Jake walks around between 208 and 210, and he fought Mike Tyson at 228 pounds. So I think size-wise, we can get comfortable with it. And I think experience-wise, Jake is learning very fast and growing, and Joshua is a little long in the tooth.

So it could be a very interesting matchup. And we're actively discussing it with Matrum. Actively discussing. And if that's not enough for you, here's Eddie Hearn responding to that on IFL TV a couple of days ago. There aren't really any major barriers to make this fight. I want to make it clear. I'm not sitting here telling you I'm calling this, I'm calling for this fight. You know, we've been targeting this fight.

I think the fight's a mismatch. I think AJ destroys him but if Jake wants this fight and he's serious

the fight will happen okay so clearly fact fiction these two men I don't think are lying to us fact fiction you're into this idea Jake Paul versus Anthony Joshua

I'm into it as though you mean am I giving it You've got to say, it's a fact that I'm into it. It's fiction. I'm not into it. Stick with me here, kid, all right? We're trying to play a game.

It's a fact that it could happen if the powers that be, I, Nikisha and Eddie, you know, not pooping it and shooting it down. Yep, yep. It's a fiction if I want to see it. I don't want to see AJ versus Joe. No interest. No interest. I mean, no, no, no.

No, let me not. Of course, I want to see it. I want to see AJ do what I think he will do. but it shouldn't really happen. I mean, let's be honest, AJ shouldn't be fighting Jake Ball. I mean, what are we doing here? Anthony Joshua is a former Unified Heavyweight Champion of the world

who not so long ago was the top of the tree. I mean, he hasn't fallen too far from the tree to the point where him versus Jake Boy is even why not a lot of competitive. I've said this and look, I like Jake, I like Nikisa. I actually reached out Nikisa last week. I was trying to get him on talk sport

when I realized he was in the country doing that Sky interview. We just couldn't make it happen. I love what they're doing. But if AJ is the AJ that I still think he is, he could end this fight in 30 seconds. So I think at this point, there are a lot of people who will give Jake credit

and say, like, look, man, you're making the walk, you're stepping through the ropes, you're putting your livelihood, your health, your safety out there. Is this a bridge too far? Like, I... Yeah. Here's my opinion on the matter. My opinion is he really wants to fight.

Anthony Joshua. I don't think this is blessed. I think he would have fought Canello as well. And some might say, hey, it was a blessing in disguise that he didn't get the Canel fight because Connell would have hurt him. And some might say he will get hurt against Anthony Joshua. And so there have to be people around him who say, hey, this isn't a good idea. But clearly the people around him think it is a good idea. I think the world would watch this. I think it would be a huge deal. The question is, would this be a huge mistake from a health and safety standpoint for Jake Paul to fight someone like Anthony Joshua? I think it's all very real. I think Eddie's telling the truth. I think Nikis is telling the truth. I think everyone's telling the truth. I think that it's

probably, right now, other than Tyson Fury, the fight that gets AJ the most money and the most eyeballs, right? Yeah, no, no, no. It's very real, but it's also, as you quite simply put there, it's very dangerous as well. I think I saw Eddie kind of post something on his Instagram stories saying careful what you wish for, and it's showing AJ knockout in Garnu. And that's a 265-pound former UFC heavyweight champion in Garnu. AJ's just, AJ's still got so much. This isn't an AJ that's like,

I almost feel like they're taking the mic out of my guy AJ here. Like he's 45 and he's done and he's sort of punched drunk and he can't take a shot anymore. AJ's still very live. Like I can't name you five heavyweights that be AJ. That's how good I still think AJ is. So the idea of Jake wanting to fight AJ, someone has to pull Jake away from this.

I mean, look, Jake's his own guy. I think Nekisa has said this for many occasions. Like he kind of will do what Jake wants him to do, so to speak. A bit like what Eddie says of AJ. But someone needs to say to Jake, this is now dangerous. This isn't Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. This isn't how old's Mike, 56, 57-year-old Mike Tyson. This isn't Anderson Silver.

This is a live 260-pound behemoth who has detonators in both hands who can seriously hurt you. I've been ringside for about, I don't know, 15 of AJ's fights. When he lands that right hand, it's a problem. It's a big, big problem. Just ask Francis Ngano. Just as Francis Inganu. That was a scary knockout.

You were right there. I was right there. He didn't get up. And this is a guy who had never been knocked down before, never been knocked out. It's frightening. It's frightening. Like, AJ's powers, for real. I mean, AJ will have aspirations of still becoming an heavyweight world champion.

I mean, whether or not those will be fulfilled. I mean, that's a whole different discussion, but that's where he is. So, look, I respect the callouts. I mean, again, he was, you know, going to fight Canello. But even that, there's Kenello who's, you know, and there's AJ in terms of power. Like, the jump from Canelo to AJ is astronomical. So, look, I don't think it's a good idea, but, you know, pounds and pence and dollars and cents make sense. And there's a lot of dollars and cents and pounds and pence in this one.

So, you know, it could happen. but I don't think it should happen. I was just going to ask you about the difference between the two options, Canello and AJ, and you sort of answered it there, but I think most would agree as far as skills concerned, Canello, the tougher fight. But would you say the bigger risk is to fight

AJ just because of his size and his power? Like the crazier idea? I think AJ's the tougher fight by some distance. Yeah. I mean, Kenello could have outboxed him, but in terms of like the pain that can be inflicted upon him, it would be AJ, right? Yeah. And look, as much as Jake's made tremendous strides in what's been, what, a five or six year boxing career, AJ's an Olympic gold medalist.

AJ's a world championship silver medalist. Like, AJ's boxing skill is very, very high and maybe underrated. But he would easily, easily outboxed Jake Paul. We need to stop this. He would easily outbox Jake Paul. And then he would easily hurt him. Like, easily hurt him. I mean, this is. Would this be a big deal? in the UK. I know AJ's still a big deal despite the fact that his last fight ended in him losing via knockout, but could this fill up, Wembley, could this fill up, Hotspur Stadium? Yeah.

Yeah. You know what Jake Paul's done, which I think is really smart, is you tune in to watch him get knocked out, or you tune in to watch him win? Yeah. You don't sit in, there is no gray area. You either like him or you hate him, which is quite smart, right? I mean, there's so many boxes in that gray area and people don't tune in.

So people will tune in, and people will pay the hard-earned cash. just to see AJ knock him out but if you're AJ I mean look as much as I say I don't want AJ to do if you're AJ you're thinking one second this is the easiest money I would ever have made

and maybe the largest check so for AJ I mean this is just I mean stealing candy from a baby well what's interesting about it is remember when the Francis talks first start when Francis went in there to fight Tyson Fury AJ was pooing it Eddie Herman was pooing it

and then Francis loses by this much and then all of a sudden they're like eh and then they get the fight and now this is like a bridge even further away so it is interesting that you know if it does come to fruition two of his last three fights will be very non-traditional when originally he was one of the loudest dissenters of francis versus tyson fury yeah and it's a great point and eddie's got to answer that point as well because you're right eddie was one of those people that pooed on the idea of ingarnu versus fury a 270 pound ingarnu who you used to rip people's limbs off in the UFC.

I mean, Jake isn't that. So when we saw that AJ versus Ngarnu match up, people were like, this could be competitive because of A, what Inganu did to Tyson Fury, but B, just because of how he looked. I mean, Jake Paul is a 210-pound guy. He's a cruiserweight. A.J. is a very, very, very big heavyweight.

So look, I mean, again, money talks, and I could be saying all this, and then eventually I could be working on it. But I, A, don't think it should happen because I think A.J. should be on the course where he's trying to fight for another heavyweight world title. But B, I don't think it should happen because of the dangers of it. And this could be very, very dangerous. AJ could really hurt Jake Paul. And we don't want to see that in a sport of boxing.

All right. Well, let's keep this conversation going and bring in our first guest of the day, a fellow Olympian, of course, from a different part of the world, but a fellow Commonwealth Olympian member, if you will, if that even makes sense. Not the Commonwealth games, but you know, Australia, UK, all part of the Commonwealth. Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. You got what I'm saying. I'm a Canadian. I'm part of the Commonwealth as well. Do we have our first guest?

Yes, there she is. The great Sky Nicholson is here who figured out how to use Zoom. Hello, Sky. How are you? Ariel Aday. Nice to meet you. Hello, hey guys. It's great to have you on the program.

You dabble sometimes. You moonlight sometimes as a pundit on the matchroom broadcast. What do you think of this discussion, AJ versus Jake Paul? Do you like it? Do you hate it? I don't hate it. I don't love it. I heard just, I caught the end of what you guys were saying about the AJ Inganu match up. I just feel like, oh, I've had a blackout. Oh my dear. Oh dear. Look at that. That's crazy. I'm used to this. This happens in Nigeria where I used to live all the time. I didn't think it happened in Australia. Wow. Wait, now the lights are back. And by the way, I don't think she's in Australia. Was it an actual blackout? No, my light just went off. It's fine.

Not as exciting. The only thing I will say is Jake Paul has been ranked in sanctioning bodies. And I feel like you can't really compare that to a debutante in Inganu who hadn't boxed before. I, for one, I personally don't love the matchup and I don't love it for boxing.

But when you look at it, AJ fought someone who'd never had a boxing fight at all. Jake has. Jake is ranked in the top 15 in the world with sanctioning bodies. So I just feel like when you look at it like that,

you know what I mean? Like it's not that bad. Okay. All right. So not maybe as much of a hater towards the fight but not necessarily signing up

for it to be AJ's next fight. We'll see what it turns into. It does seem like it's a real thing. Let us talk about your career. You just fought in early July and now you've got your next assignment and that's perhaps why Adde thought you were in Australia. You're not in Australia just yet even though your next fight is August 23rd in Brisbane, right? Yeah, I fly to Australia this weekend. Okay, so why the quick turnaround? Because I only got like three minutes of ring time. So I had to get out

again. I only got to show a glimpse of the new and improved version of me. Oh. Oh. So yeah. I want to show you guys a little bit more of that in a couple of weeks time. You know, you look right now as lean as I've seen. Like, it's almost like you've decided to do some weights as well. I'm just going on the shape I'm seeing, Sky. Are you in the weights from them? Because I can see from me, I'm seeing traps. I'm seeing delts as well.

There you go. There you go. Whoa. Oh, my God. Oh, Kogan. New and improved. Is that something you decided to add to the training regime, or is that always been a thing? It's always been there.

It's just been under like a cuddly layer when I was boxing up a weight division without even realizing it. So this will be my first fight at 122. I obviously dabbled in it a little bit in that last fight. That fight was at 124 just to kind of see if 122 was something that I wanted to seriously consider. And it definitely is. So this is going to be my first title fight at 122. I feel great at the weight. I feel in the best shape of my life.

The S&C training was always there, but maybe just less discipline with the nutrition and maybe just not actually knowing that I was probably boxing up a weight division from where I'm probably naturally best fitted. But I've definitely found that I'm performing my best in the gym and in the ring at this weight. Would that have been something you would have done regardless of the Tiara Brown fight or was that because of that? I mean, was there ever a discussion? Okay, you know, we could actually maybe go down a one-weight class or was that only going to happen because of what happened with Tiara?

I feel like when you lose, you do learn a lot more about yourself and it does open your eyes to see what was working, what wasn't working, why it happened. It kind of forces you to dig deeper and have a little deeper delve into maybe. what went wrong. So I think during that deep delve, it probably became more apparent to me that maybe I was boxing up a weight division. I've never had to do a hard weight cut or struggle to make the weight at 126.

And even making 124, I did it very comfortably. So I am excited for the move to 122. I don't think the fight with Tiara forced me down to 122. I'm definitely obviously still very open to 126. I've been very vocal about that. I just feel like if I can make the weight and I can perform well at the weight, then why not have opportunities at that weight division as well?

But obviously, for me, I want to win my belt back at 126 as well. And this is just opening other opportunities up for me at 122. Well, I for one think this is great. And, you know, it's interesting that we're having you on this program, Sky, because just a couple of weeks ago, Aday, True to Forum, was trying to stir the pot with Nikisipadarian of Most Valibati, of most valuable promotions asking you out a potential fight between you and L.E. Scottney

in case you missed the clip, do you mind if I played for you real quick and then have you respond? Wait, wait, wait. What about what I mind? No, that doesn't matter. Here it is. Here's Nikisa a couple weeks ago. I got a text from Sky Nicholson who said, tell her I want her next. Let's make this fight. I didn't get to ask for

that question. Sky Nicholson. Sky Nicholson, who's under the match. Where did she fight at? Well, she's now moved down. She's now, I believe, 124.2 a weight class if you're a fighter who wants to compete at 122 pounds number one

demonstrate that you can make 122 pounds don't put your head up high and say I got a knockout against a fighter when you totally disregarded the weight embarrassing number two show that you can actually sell some tickets headline a card show some viewership

do something social media is awesome it's great. You do well on social media. Love it. Well, thank you. But Ellie Scott, he's the champ. She calls the shots. Okay, look, our production team actually cut out all the Adé part.

They protected you there, Adda. They protected you and made me look like the bad guy. You see that? Anyhow, most importantly, what is your response to what Nekisa had to say? The fight was agreed at 124. It wasn't a title fight. It happens very often. You box a pound or two above championship weight,

when it's not a championship fight. I actually weighed in at 123.9, I think. So I don't know where he got 124.2 from. But I did make weight comfortably, and I will prove that I can make the weight in this next one. This fight is agreed at 122, so I'm very excited for that. I love the early fight. I know she's going for undisputed right now,

so I don't blame her for that being her main focus, but I'm always going to be open to that fight and chasing that fight. I'm going to be chasing the champions. and the belt holders at 122 and 126. When you were both under the matchroom umbrella, were there talks of you guys fighting? She has expressed in the past maybe some frustration of not getting these big opportunities.

I know that was at 126, but were there any talks of you guys actually fighting when you were both matron fighters? The only talk I ever heard of it was Ellie calling me out after one of her most recent fights, obviously not just the one she just had, but before that, which I positively responded to. I have asked about that fight as well.

We think it's a huge fight for the UK. And I was fighting Tiara Brown at that time. So I was basically told, wait till this fight's out the way, and we can have a look at that option because obviously Ellie was talking about moving up to 126. So I don't know where Nekisa got the idea from that my team didn't want that fight or that fight was rejected or anything like that. My team's always been very rip into that fight and we still are.

Is that the fight for you at 122? Is that the one that you want the most eventually? I think, of course, she's got all the belts bar one now at 122. So she's naturally going to be my target at 122. At 126, I'm obviously still got my eye on Tiara Brown. I want to win my belt back. So that fight is still a fight that I'm openly chasing. But for me right now, all focus on August 23rd.

Nikisa also said he wants me to show viewership and selling tickets. I'm co-main event for this homecoming in Brisbane in a couple of weeks' time. So I'm really excited about that. Tickets are selling really, really well. I think it's going to be a great event. Good answer. Well, they're professionally well articulated answer. On the Tiara Brown one, Sky, what did happen?

Because I remember when I found out you was moving down, I was like, well, the Tara Brown fight was competitive. Like, why isn't Sky trying to get a belt back immediately? Why didn't you run it back immediately? I was told that Tiara had no interest in a rematch. There was no rematch clause being a mandatory defence. I was told that there was not going to be a mandatory clause, a rematch clause either way for whoever won the fight. So for me, I wasn't going to sit and wait until Tiara felt ready.

I wanted to get back in the gym. I wanted to get back in the ring. and for me I came back to the gym naturally weighing a little bit lighter than I did previously after fights I think there was less celebratory meals in my downtime after the Tiara Brown fight obviously, naturally, less celebrations when you lose

but yeah and for me it just became a conversation with the nutritionist, with my strength and conditioning coach with my boxing coaches um about how i would go making 122 um and when we got the all clear and the all good um green light to go on that i just thought why not have something new to to focus on while tiara realizes that i'm the biggest and best fight out there for her yeah we would want to see it again you know what nekisa said there about ticket sales um is that harder for you because you've fought all over the world. I mean, Matcham of kind of positioned you all over.

You've had fights in America, you fight, fights in the UK, fights, obviously, in Australia. I think it's harder then to be a big ticket seller because you don't have that base. Is there now a decision to say, okay, this is Sky's base, this is the hometown, and we're going to build her from here? Yeah, I think it's definitely fair to say

that my fan base is very spread out globally. If you look at my social media audience, there's a very even divide between the U.S., the UK and Australia. So obviously it does make it a little bit harder with ticket sales. But I think where I will probably maybe lack in ticket sales in each area, I'll also make up for a viewership because my fans are very loyal and they tune in around the world no matter what time of whatever crazy time it is with the time zone differences. So I don't think it was a very fair comment from Nikki. to say that. I appreciate the compliment about how good my social media is. Thank you. I work hard on that. And it's nice to know you're watching because you don't follow. So you can press

the little follow button if you do enjoy my social media. But I'm only joking. I feel like my viewership and ticket sales are very good for someone who doesn't really have that home base and hasn't had that hometown build and has been boxing all around the world right from the start my career. Are you seeing what's going on with Nikisa MVP, Jake Paul? You must have watched the all-female card. Are you seeing it? Are you liking what they're doing the push for female boxing they're giving right now? Of course. I'm loving it. And I've always been a big advocate and supporter of women's boxing. I want to see women's boxing doing well. I want to see women in the spotlight and getting those opportunities. So of course I love what they're doing. I didn't like

the kind of animosity that I kind of felt from his interview with you guys a couple weeks ago. It felt a little bit personal, if anything, but it's all part of the game. I know. I got the message from you. I know. What was that idea? What did you say? I said, I know. I got the message from Sky. I know she didn't really like it. Why? I didn't say anything. Why did he get the message? Well, because we had Sky and friends on those Sky. I didn't, I interviewed Sky the first time she came to the UK. So there's a loyalty that Sky expects from me. That's why. I get it. I get it.

So are you saying you messed up? Is this your apology? I laughed a little bit in the background. Sky, I'm sorry, Sky. Thank you for apologizing out there. I appreciate that very much. Well, I'm happy to say I didn't get any message. So it sounds like I was a good, unbiased neutral journalist in that regard.

For the first time ever. I'm happy to hear that. Can I ask you, Sky, this is the first time that we speak since the Brown fight. And of course, you've gotten back on track. And now you have this quick turnaround. That was the first time that you suffered a lot. lost in quite some time. And I remember talking about the very public and infamous loss in the Olympics and how emotional you were afterwards. Obviously, I'm not going to compare, you know,

the Olympics to a fight on your journey as a pro fighter, but it was a big deal for you. How did you deal with it differently this time around the loss? It's actually crazy. I never ever thought that I would feel a pain like the loss in the Olympics. and I actually think this one hurt me worse, which I never, ever, I never believed or thought was possible or could happen. But it does just show to me how much it really does mean to me and how much being world champion meant to me. But in hindsight now, looking back on the Olympic loss as well,

but on this experience and what happened in March, I'm actually so grateful for that, for that whole experience, everything that happened. I feel like it's changed me so much as an athlete and as a person. I've learned so much about myself. I've learned so much about the sport. And I feel like it has forced me to grow and be better. And yeah, as much as it obviously hurt and sucked really badly, I am grateful that I went through that. And I've come out the other side so much stronger and so much better for it.

Why do you think it hurt you potentially more? I think in the Olympics, it was a fight where I gave everything, and it was so close. It could have gone either way. And unfortunately, it was the closest of margins, and it just, it wasn't to be, and it didn't go my way that day. The fight with Tiara, I wasn't myself. the best version of me in the ring. And I think that made it a lot harder to accept.

I think when you've given the best version of yourself and it just wasn't good enough on the day and it just wasn't enough, you can kind of accept that a little bit easier than not being, not giving your best version of yourself and not, I guess, performing to your full potential, especially when I had such a great camp in such a good lead-up, and I just felt like everything had aligned perfectly for that fight.

It just wasn't meant to be that day, and I didn't perform the way I had planned to or the way I had prepared for. So it was a big learning experience for me, but I think that's what made it so much harder to accept. Yeah, hearing that emotion from you makes me feel that there's now fire lit under you as well, and I almost feel like we're now going to see the best Sky Nookerson, right? I mean, setbacks are only there because of the great comebacks, and I feel like there's going to be an incredible comeback. And I think you've got so much to aim for as well.

You mentioned that you can still do 126. I always felt you had the frame to even put in a bit more and go to 1.30. And right now, boxing's in such a healthy space when it comes to females. So look, all I will say is good luck. I think you're going to become a world champion again. We had a pound for pound top 10 ranking, and you can't be too far away from that. with a couple more wins. So, I mean, I wish you the best of luck. And I'm sure you'll be watching again, Sky. This is very nice. I like this. See, this is what I'm all about. You keep coming

together, being friends again. It's great. It warms the heart. I did want to ask right before we let you go, a greater chance of happening. Jake Paul knocking out Anthony Joshua or Derek Chazora going out for dinner with you, which one has a better chance? Oh, the odds are so low for both Oh, God I don't even want to answer that Okay, fair enough Thank you, Sky

Good luck to you That was a great clip I was referencing a viral clip That happened a few weeks ago All the best, thank you for coming on Appreciate it very much We'll be watching August 23rd Thanks, Sky

Thank you guys There she is, the great Sky Nicholson returning to Brisbane In just 18 days after fighting on July 5th Let's keep this train rolling along, Mr. Adiola Depot. We have one of the best and brightest young stars in the sport today. Actually, it's important to note the youngest male champion in boxing right now, the pride of Puerto Rico, the brand new WBO junior middleweight champion,

the one and only Xander Zayas. Look at that belt. Kind enough to join us. What's up, man? Well time coming. I had the NABO before. Now he's the world title. So, you know, just little by little, keep upgrading the little office we got going on.

I love it. I absolutely love it. And look at the smile on your face. Has it just been sort of like painted on since you won the belt a couple weeks ago? Less than a couple weeks ago. No, man, I feel like it's been painted out for my whole life, my whole career. Everybody sometimes tells me, hey, you need to stop smiling. And I feel like when I smile, I'm my best.

And I enjoy smiling. I enjoy being happy and doing what I love. What has life been like for you since that win? Like I said, just about 10 or so days ago here in New York. Can you even describe what life has been like? Insane. Insane. I think I haven't gotten 10 hours of sleep in total.

It's been crazy after the fight, obviously, became a world champion. Did not go to sleep that night. I had a early flight the next morning to back to Florida, to home. Then I had to pack to go to Puerto Rico because I have media. I've been doing media throughout the whole week on Saturday I went to Bad Bunny's concert flew back Sunday

so I mean now I'm finally getting some rest Yeah I was just going to mention I mean your life seems like a dream right now But seeing you up there on the stage With Bad Bunny in front of your people Crazy Like what is this like for a young man from Puerto Rico Man it's insane

It's insane I have a good connection With Bad Bunny's team and production team and, you know, I'm a video game guy and I play video games with them, a lot of 2K with them. So I spend a lot of time with his team and obviously being there and being a part of what he's doing

in Puerto Rico and in the world is amazing. You know, I met Xander. It must be about three years ago, and I want to credit my guy, Ack, you know, Akeem Reyes, who loves you. And he said, future world champion. And everyone says that. I'm like, okay, I can.

And I remember, message in me as soon as you became world champion to say, I told you so. So you've almost delivered on his promise as well. I mean, what you've done, not just for yourself, but for Puerto Rican boxing as well, obviously they've been searching for that new star. Edgar Belanger's come and done some good stuff, but everyone's kind of put that pressure on you, Zander, to be the next guy. So you know there's a lot of pressure right now on your shoulders, Zander, and you're in a hot

division as well. Do you like that pressure? Yeah, I feel like it brings the best out of me. I wouldn't say it's necessarily pressure. Obviously, there's a responsibility there. I know what I have to do inside that ring. I know what people is suspecting from me every time I go in there. And they've shown me nothing but love.

So I can't do anything but to show them respect, love, and let them know that I'm ready every time I step into the ring. So overall, I'm excited. I'm excited to bring glory to Puerto Rico. So I'm excited to keep winning and to keep putting Puerto Rico where it belongs at the top. You know, I think 154 pound division is the deepest division in boxing right now. I mean, from 1 to 15, it's stacked full of names. Forget the champions.

I mean, even the non-champions are sharks and killers. You've been calling out one guy for a long time. That guy is Virgil Ortiz. Is that the fight, the super fight you've been chasing? Like, if someone were to offer you a chance to fight Fendura or Ortiz, which way you're going? Sixth round with one, six round with the other. To be honest,

it's the fight that I've been calling since they, since they were looking for opponents and they call me to be one of the opponents. I said yes. But overall, I feel like Virgil Ortiz is a great fighter. I mean, he's shown it throughout his whole career. I've been nothing but respectful to him and his team. And he seems like, you know,

he wanted to throw shots. outside me and there's only one fact and one fact only. I'm a champion and he's not. Ooh! You have the distinction at least for now and for the foreseeable future of being the last top rank fight on ESPN. You

headlined that show and as of right now Zander, we don't know where top rank is going and I understand this is a question for the likes of Todd DeBuff and Bob Aram, but do you have any sort of idea when we might hear when we could fight, excuse me, when we could see you fight again and where we could see you fight again? Well,

After the fight, Bob Aram told me that I was going to fight my first title of defense in Puerto Rico. So I'm looking forward to that because I've been wanting to fight in my island for a long time. My first fight was my third or fourth fight as a professional. So I can wait to be back. I know that people want me to be back in an island. And after he said that a lot of people were hyped up back in Puerto Rico, so hopefully we can make that happen in December. Okay, that would be this year.

December is what you're hoping for. That'll be this year, yes, for sure. But again, I haven't heard anything. We haven't sat down and actually discuss what's the plan. We wanted, obviously, to take the first couple weeks to relax a little bit, and now we go into business more and start, you know, conversation with the company. And what about your relationship with Bob and Top Rank? I believe they signed you when you were about 16 years old, right?

Yes, yes. Obviously, you're 22, so you're not an old man, but it's amazing for them to sign you at such a young age. I think you might have been the youngest fighter that they've ever signed. And so I would imagine you're happy with them and you have some kind of loyalty towards them as they go through this transition period. No, for sure. For sure. I feel like they build my career from the ground up literally as a professional. And there's loyalty to be at to that. I feel like both ways. I owe them loyalty the same way. They owe me loyalty. And I'm more than welcome to obviously see what transpire and what's next for for top rank,

being patient, but obviously wanting to stay active because now I'm a champion and I want to stay as active as I was when I was a prospect and when I was a contender. Ariel mentioned when he introduced you, the youngest male champion fighting right now, which, again, it's crazy. Look at a smile. This guy's smile.

I love it. I mean, does that mean something as well, not just being a world champion, but the youngest world champion? I mean, 22 is a baby involved. Yeah, 22 is a baby and crazy enough. Like, I thought about it the other day. We used to sit down as a team and tell each other that by year, five, year six, I will be fighting for a world title.

Back then, it was more like a dream than anything else. Now that it's actually a reality and I'm a world champion at 22, it's crazy to think about. It's crazy to think about. And I'm going to hold that title not for too long because, you know, Abdul is coming and he might be. he might be the youngest after, you know, after November. But for now, I'll hold it and I'll be happy with it. Do you know, do you look at things like unifications and jumping up weights and undisputed? I mean, I almost remember the day where just becoming a world champion was the biggest thing, right?

You become a world champion. Nowadays, it seems like so much pressure on winning more belts and becoming undisputed and jumping through the weight classes. Is that mean a lot to you? Yes, for sure. It's always, it's always meant everything to me to win multiple belts, to win multiple divisions, to be crowned in multiple weight classes. I feel like that's the goal in boxing. You know, you want to prove to yourself that you're the best in every division that you

touch. You know, back in the day, like you said, winning one was kind of like the end of the world for fighters. But nowadays, now DNAs, you know, you want to prove yourself. You want to be able to showcase that you are who you say you are every time you you go in there. And I got the first one. And yes, I am looking to unified and to jumping weight classes and keep winning belts. So Adé asked you earlier about Fondora. He asked you about

Ortiz. I'm going to throw boots into that mix as well. And I'd like to ask you to rank them for us in terms of who you want to fight. Boots, Fondora, Ortiz, one, two, three, one being the most. One being the most, man, that's a hard question now. I feel like Virgil Ortiz won. Sebastian Fondara boot tennis. Okay, why? So Virgil Ortiz, I feel like it's going to be a huge fight here in the East Coast

for Puerto Rico and Mexico, him being from Texas, me being from Puerto Rico, fighting a lot in New York City. I feel like that in the East Coast will be a crazy fight. Same thing with boots here in the East Coast. him being a former world champion moving up in weight class. I feel like him being, you know, I got to see him at 54 first. 47 is a whole different story. That's why I picked him at third. And second one for Sebastian Fondora, I picked him because I wasn't mandatory

and I thought that fight was going to happen. And so I still want to, you know, showcase that I can beat him. Okay, fair enough. I love that. I also love the relationship that, you seem to have with Amanda Serrano. She, of course, is nearing, nearing, not quite at the end, but nearing the end of her incredible Hall of Fame career.

I saw her in attendance at your fight, giving you a big hug afterwards as well. Can you talk about the support that she has given you? Jordan Maldonado there as well. Yeah. It was beautiful to see. Man, Amanda Serrano is my big sister. It's always somebody that I look up to in the sport, and she's a great human being outside of it. So, you know, just her being there, her showing me the support that she's

always shown me since day one, she's always said that I was going to be a world champion. And you could look back four years ago, five years ago, when I was just turning pro, she was always supporting me. So having her a legend, like Amanda Serrano in my corner, it means the world to me. So again, she's like my best sister, and I admire her. You know, me growing up, I used to always, everyone knows that one of my favorite fighters, with Miguel Gokoto. And before that was Tito Trinidad. And they filled our MSG.

Big MSG was filled because everyone used to turn up and watch those two fight. You fought a smaller MSG. The dream now must be to have one of those big fights. I mean, Virgil, you and Virgil could fill big MSG. That must be a dream.

Easily. Easily. For sure. No, for sure. I feel like, you know, you go through the stages and you go through the steps necessary to be in those positions.

and little by little, I know I will accomplish all of them. And like you said, I feel like a huge fight in MSG, the big MSG will fill out that arena for sure. No, no questions asked. Any of those, any of those three names we just mentioned, maybe not Sebastian Fondora so much, but Virgil Ortiz and Boots Ennis, definitely we can fill that arena easily.

Final one for me, Zanda. You know, like the dream, was always to become world champion, right? As soon as you lace those gloves up as a pro, it's to become world champion, when they announce your name and they say, and they say Xander Zayas, the new world,

what's that feeling like? The emotion that runs through you, what's it like? Man, I feel like there's only, like, I always said it. There's always three things that you will never forget in your life as a professional fighter.

When you sign your first professional contract, when you make your pro debut and when you win your first world title obviously after they raised my hand and they announced me all those years of waking up early

all those years of hard work all the dedication all the cutting the distractions of not going to not going out with your friends not being able to do certain things I feel like all of that actually comes reality and you see why

it was necessary to cut all those things off and to make all those sacrifices because this behind me was the dream. This behind me was the whole reason why I was doing it and now it's here

so it's easy to... No, I wouldn't say easy, but it's easier to be here than actually stay here. So now I have to be even more focused to keep that belt. Has all the success exceeded your expectations or did you think this would happen?

and so young in your career. Did you think you would be one of the youngest champions, if not the youngest champion? Like, are all these great things happening to you a little earlier than you thought? Well, obviously, it's a surprise in a way because I am young and I always dream of all of this. But in another way, I kind of knew it was going to happen. I put the work in. They're like, there's nobody that can sit next to me and tell me, oh, I gave you this.

I gave you that. I worked for it. I earned it. Every single bit of it. I mean, I worked my behind off to be in this position. So I knew it was going to happen. Maybe not so early, but I knew that we're hard work with the dedication that I put into it. It was just a matter of time.

Love the fight. Loved everything you were about on the night representing Puerto Rico, Amanda Serrano, bad bunny. But my favorite thing of all, from one mama's boy to another, loved how you gave your mom props in front of everyone in the middle of the ring. And so could I ask you before we let you go about your relationship with your mother and the sacrifices that she made to get you to this point? My mother is my hero. My mother is my hero. She turned everything upside down for me to be in this position. She did whatever it was necessary for me to be where I am today.

And for that, I got to thank her every single time that I can because without her, without her, none of this would have been real. It would have been, you know, just how it is. So my mom is everything to me, and that was something that I needed to do after winning my first world title because out of everybody that is part of this and has been part of this, my mom has the one that is the one that has earned it and it's the one that deserved all that credit. Incredible. Well, so happy for both you, her, your entire family.

Puerto Rico has another incredible champion to root on for the next 10, 50, 20 years. Congratulations on the win, all your success by man. Long may continue and can't wait to see you back in there, hopefully by the end of the year. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you guys for your time. There he is.

The great, Zander Zaya is just 22 years young. I have to say two like postscripts if you will, first of all, the smile is unbelievable, lights up a room. That might be the greatest looking shot that we've ever had. We do a lot of these Zoom interviews. The way he framed up the whole thing. Like this guy gets it, the quality. I was just thinking the same thing. And then the XZ

on the shirt. Like he just like, that guy has it all. Everything. Yeah. Everything. Can someone just watch the way like the belt, the whole lot. Framing. See, that everything. Yeah. Someone done this for him. Like just as professional as they come, the way in which he speaks, he's a good looking kid, the way in which he talks on the mic, even the callouts of the professional. He's not being rude. There's no profanity. Like, he's just perfect. He's a marketer's, like, dream. And I think Puerto Rico have been waiting. They have been waiting, and this isn't a shout-out,

or, you know, Fern sticks at Edgar Belanga, but they've been waiting for someone and something after Tito and Cotto. And I know Amanda's been there, and she's done it as well, but they're desperate to get behind a male fighter. Here you go. Well, they've got someone, top rank has someone. Hopefully they get him that fight in Puerto Rico. That would be an incredible scene.

And to your point, hopefully he gets the fight in that big MSG. MSG arena, the big one, the world's most famous arena. Which one, by the way, before we move on, which one do you think happens first? Boots, Fondora, Ortiz. Fondora. Yeah. Fondora. They've been in the ring together.

Yeah, they, they, you know, I think Fondora was, he wanted to fight him, but I think maybe that the money on offer for Tim Zoo was just a bit too, too much to turn down. He's beat Tim Zoo. Why not do it again? I think Virgil's almost the super fight, which takes longer. to happen um and boots obviously wants to test the waters at 154 pounds before you jump straight in there against one of the big dogs but i think virgil's the biggest one out of the lot i think those mexican porto rican wars at msg i mean that that that will fill that place out in minutes

those two wow those two unbeaten yeah be incredible that would be incredible um all right let's move on let's talk about what was a really big and interesting week for Golden Boy promotions. Remember when we said goodbye last week, we talked about that card early morning in Japan, Ricardo Sandoval, getting a win away. I want to give a shout out to a writer on uncrown.com, Jake Donovan, who did a story on Oscar Delahoy saying, like, look, we don't mind going to enemy territory and we match people up correctly in order to set us up for these moments. And then you get to Saturday, and it's Oscar Duarte getting the big win over Sims in a great fight, also had a great fight underneath that one in the co-main between

Jojo Diaz and Regis Progray, which is a frontrunner, I was going to say early, but we're already in August, for goodness sakes, a frontrunner for fight of the year. All-action stuff, Golden Boy is having a great year. They're having a moment. I feel like a couple of years ago it was kind of cool to say that they had nothing in their stable. They've got fighters and they've got fights. This card on Saturday in Chicago, another example of that. Indeed, indeed. And look, these are two guys that, let's be very franker, are coming to the end. But they're coming to end at the same time, which makes for a good fight. And that's why it was so intriguing. And these are two fighters that are desperate for a win, because it's

almost a winner stays on situation. And as for that, man, Oscar Duarte. Oscar Duarte, I've covered a few of these fights. I covered his fight against Ahmadinev and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He's a nightmare. Honestly, he's, this was amazing. He won't like me saying this, but he's almost the perfect gatekeeper for 140 pounds. That you think your world level, elite world level, come through me and he's on the cusp of a world's title shot and it was a close fight I scored it to Oscar Duarte just I can understand how Kenneth Sim's team

think they won it but I thought Oscar Duarte did enough to nick it just on activity but he's a problem honestly I mean you have to be you have to be very good to beat him he's only lost twice once early and obviously the other one to Ryan Garcia anyone else beating him has to make sure they come

correct because this guy fights like he's fighting like he's fighting for food like he has to feed his family like he's a problem and he's running for mayor isn't he or some state in Mexico so you know he's a killer and also

a nice guy outside the ring there was a great I don't know if great is the right word but we showed it there in the highlight package in the Jojo Diaz Regis pro great fight when they were asking when the doctor asked Jojo Diaz how many fingers he was holding up did you see that and he kept getting it wrong and then they were like

all right yeah go ahead I'm like well wait a second he kept getting the answers wrong they were doing the two one two one he was getting them wrong each and every time and they still let it go but this was it right here this is it he's like one two yeah yeah he was getting the answers wrong and they let him go out there and fight it was an incredible fight and regis gets back on track so good on him for that but like i say a good week but also an interesting week because there's ryan garcia coming up now oscar del hoi did say i'm not interested in rebooking that fight against roly romero if only because

it wasn't a good fight all right yeah i'm cool with that let's get him into a good fight let's get him into an exciting fight. Of course, at some point, we'd love to see the Devin Haney rematch. But here's, here's Ryan Garcia, I don't know what it was. It was some party, some stream, something, allegedly speaking to Oscar Delahoy on the phone. No confirmation of this just yet, but here's what he had to say in the conversation. Don't ever hit me up unless you have a $20 million deal for me. Okay, Oscar? Don't ever call me if you don't have a $20 million fight. You understand? Get off. my fucking phone, Oscar.

Don't call me unless you got that $20 million deals. Oscar Deloie. Just called me. Right up. Okay, wait. Okay, wait. Here's the thing. This on the heels of Ryan Garcia

saying he has one fight left and he wants to leave. Now, this has been a saga for the last few years. What did you make of that? I don't know, I don't know if it's a real conversation or not.

Let's just pretend for this conversation that it was real, a real telephone call. What'd you make of that? Don't like it. I don't like it. I don't know the idea of filming it. I don't know the idea of then filming it and then putting it up.

But there has to be a point where you're like, okay, I filmed it. Should I put it up? I'm going to put it up. I think it might have been live, to be honest. Yeah. Even worse. Honestly, look, they've had a crazy relationship. Yeah.

But ultimately, Oscar's Ryan's promoter and Oscar's done a good job in terms of making Ryan quite a lot of money during his time as promoting him. I wouldn't even want to know what the sums are. But he's done, I think, a pretty good job. I mean, I like Oscar. I think Oscar can be a bit crazy sometimes, but I think at the job of promoting fighters and promoting fights, even with his clapback Thursday thing,

I think he's a good guy. I think he's a fun guy and I think he's a good promoter. And I agree with what he said in terms of, why would we want to see Ryan versus Roley? Let's get Ryan versus Tio, or Ryan versus the winner of Devon versus Brian Norman. I mean, I would never understand the situation between Ryan and Oscar, and one day hopefully it can be unpacked.

It isn't just Ryan versus Oscars. Ryan versus Golden Boy, because he attacks Bernard sometimes as well. But look, I'm not a fan of it. I feel like these things should be behind closed doors. Ryan isn't the 21-year-old kid anymore. He's a grown man, and I feel like he should sometimes behave like so.

He's got one fight left. I think it might be best for both parties if they go their separate ways after that fight, but sometimes they seem to get on great and sometimes they seem to be at odds. It was very awkward. Actually, prior to that Oscar D'Arte fight, remember that press conference,

how awkward it was when he was standing up there and Delahoya was standing behind him and then the stuff with Bernard Hopkins so let's see that's what I'm referencing yeah yeah yeah yeah said he had issues and look if you're Oscar

I know you say maybe it's best they part ways and I agree sometimes but they make up and then they break up yeah make up and if you're asking I don't want to lose that asset yeah yeah because when it's all said and done when Ryan's on it Ryan could be the face of boxing in America

so why would you want to lose that So I just hope whatever issue they're dealing with right now Doesn't keep them away for too long Like we've seen fighters have to sit on the sidelines Because of issues with promoters Very famously Andre Ward with top rank Like we've seen this before right Floyd Mayweather as well

I don't want to see this I'm not suggesting that we're close to that point Because this has been going on for a couple of years But hopefully they figure it out He gets his last fight And then they figure out if they want to be in business with each other Speaking of people leaving promotions I want to give a shout out to my guy

Darshan of uncrown dog who first reported that Joshua Boatsi was close to leaving Boxer to sign with Frank Warren's Queensberry promotions, and then it was officially confirmed. Now, earlier today, I also saw on his Twitter feed, Darshan's Twitter feed, Everything Boxing, shout out to him, Frank Smith talking about Ben Whitaker and his future. It feels like the vultures are circling around Boxer right now, and I did see our good friend Gareth Davies on Talk Sports speaking with Sam Jones about this as well, managers talking about it. Boxer as of right now doesn't have a TV deal. Ben Shalom has been kind of MIA. He promised an

announcement. There hasn't been an announcement. And you're starting to see some names either leave or people starting to talk about other names wanting to leave. Gareth even saying in that talk sport show that I saw that there are some, actually I think it was Sam Jones, excuse me, who said it to Gareth. You probably know the conversation that I'm talking about, that there are some fighters who are tied to fighting on sky, meaning if the fight isn't on sky, they could leave Boxer. And so what is going on with Boxer right now?

What is going on with Ben Shalom? And are you surprised by Wadsdie left? No, not really. His contract expired after the Kadam-Smith fight, and why would you re-up with an organization that doesn't have a broadcaster? So it kind of makes sense for Joshua Boatsey to go to Frank Warren.

Obviously, Frank Scott connections with Read season. All the light heavyweights seem to be fighting as part of Riyadhs and Soviet Boatsi, it just, it seems to be a case of follow the dotted lines. If Ben Shalom has signed these fighters to not just a boxer door, but a Sky Sports deal, then obviously he has a big problem. And that would be very, very silly to do. Unless Sky were like, we are going to be with you for eternity,

that would be silly to do. So I don't know. I think we might have to fact check Sam on that. But if Sam is correct, then yeah, all the fighters are going to leave. And there's nothing Ben can do about it because he's very, for Boxer. I mean, it's a huge, huge problem. It's a massive problem. And these fighters, and I've spoken to a few of them,

and they're all there kind of like, okay, what are we doing? Adam Azim, I was with a couple of weekends ago in Bournemouth, and obviously he made the joke about going to Frank Warren. So these fighters are now like, okay, we've got itchy feet. We want to fight. All these other people are making money. They're fighting. What's going on with us?

There's been a lot of talk in the UK about Boxer potentially doing something with BBCI player. Obviously, Amazon are there, Netflix are there. So there are options there, and it does have big names on the stable, but if these big names are leaving, then Boxer has a problem. So, look, if it's not sorted in the next couple of months, then I can imagine a lot of these fighters will be speaking to their managers and saying, okay, let's jump ship. And these fighters will be wanted. Like seeing Frank Smith talk about Ben Whitaker, like that's very calculated.

He's not doing that just to talk about Ben Whitaker. I mean, that's one of their biggest fish, right? They've got some names, as you mentioned, Caroline Dubois as well on the women's side of things. And they were, you know, they were the prized possession of Sky once Matrum left to DeZone. There was a huge hole. He figured it out. He got the deal. They had some big nights.

But I don't think this is good for the sport, especially in the UK, where boxing, I would say, is number two. Like to lose this option for the fighters. And, you know, for the longest time, you had Matrum and Queensbury teaming together. with Saudi Arabia, with Sala, with Riyadh season, and he was kind of on the outside looking in and then slowly but surely he made his way into the arrangement, which only made the cards better, in my opinion, which only made them deeper

and more interesting. And so I hate to see this potentially happening, but I thought that that was very significant news. Yeah, and I don't think it's a good thing. And look, I say this as someone that works for the zone. I don't think it's a good thing that Sky Sports say, okay, no more boxing. That can't be good. As you say, I think boxing's the number two sport in this country. And I didn't mind the competition. Yes, it's nice to see Frank and Eddie

have a working relationship now that all on the zone. But I didn't mind the competition between Queensbury and Matrim and Boxer, all on different platforms, all trying to, you know, up one another by putting on great shows and big shows. And Ben got in there with Sky. As you mentioned, I mean, he had really good fighters on his stable. Ben Whitaker, massive, Chris Eubain Jr., massive. Callum Simpson, Fraser Clark, Caroline Dubois, Adam Azim. So I like the idea of competition. I think. it makes for a better market. So it's a shame what's going on with boxer. And I hope this is someone I speak to Ben Shalom quite a bit. I hope that he can find a platform. I hope he can keep a lot of his fighters because I think he actually did a good job. And a lot of people like to push back on that

with me. But I actually think he put on some good shows. Maybe not enough shows, but the shows he did put on, I thought were pretty good. One more signing to mention Terry Harper signing with MVP. We talked to Sky Nicholson about their growing stable as far as the females are concerned. Here she is. 135 pound champion what do you think like it for her yeah it's good opportunity for terry um you know she she is a world champion is the world champion in a couple of weight classes i think she's almost found her weight class now she's almost been up and down with the weight classes i think she did fight a hundred and even 147 or 154 at one stage and she's clearly not that 135 pounds is perfect for her and what it does it puts her right in the middle as to where all the

girls are. So potentially she could go to 130, potentially she could go to 140 but there is so much around her in terms of big names. So she'll get fights. She'll get fights. And let's see if she does try and run to the rematch that a lot of people are saying that she maybe she should run to. I don't think she should

Alicia Baumgartner. Remember that was a very difficult night for her. If you're a Lisa you're like you're welcoming it but one thing Terry does have with MVP as options. So look good luck to anyone going to that stable right now because they're clearly just hoovering up all the female talent and a lot of

UK based fighters like I wonder if they'll just put on one of these shows in the UK with you know, Chantelle Cameron and Ellie Scottney, Terry Harper as well this is a nice little collection of talent. I'm probably forgetting Ramla Ali as well like you've got you've got some names you can put together a nice little

card in the UK featuring all these women DeZone our good friends at DeZone right here on the network that we're broadcasting on announced their fall schedule out a whole slew of fights which one sticks out like it you know it is the top one McCormack versus para not because of the the actual fight itself but McCormack McCormack's now 30 um Olympic silver medalist everyone talks about him everyone's been talking about him for years

they need to get a move on very quickly with him so hopefully he starts the fast trip but the one that stands out without a doubt it's Crocker versus Donovan I mean that's going to be just something special in Ireland you've been over there with myself We've done fights over there. That's going to be incredible. It's for a world title as well. The IBF title that Bootsen is vacated. So that's incredible.

Aslin Beckmoodov versus Dave Allen. I love this one. It's a fight that, yeah. Who would have, like, what? I love this one. It's ridiculous. I love it.

I love it. Yeah, it's ridiculous. That's exactly what it is. I love it. I love the way Eddie even talks about. I love his relationship with Dave Allen at this point. Like they're frenemies at this point, but it's so great. Like Dave fighting, obviously I know he was talking about the Deonté Wollett

Alder fight and throwing his name into the Joseph Parker, you know, had as well. But like, I feel like this, I feel like the faceoffs are going to be ridiculous between these two. I think it's going to be a sight to see. I love it. Yeah. Ask him about Mademadov is the scariest looking heavyweight. He's straight out of like a comic book movie or something, like a marble.

Yeah, like the villain. Yeah. The villain. Yeah. You don't even know if the comic book his face, that he just looks like that, doesn't he? But look, if Dave Allen beats him, I mean, it's very quite, it's quite similar to the Adelae Hergovich fight. where it's a bit of a risky fight for Adelaide,

but if you beat Ergavich, you're on the top table. I'm not saying Dave's on the top table, but he's very, very close to it if he beat Assel and Beck McMudov. So this could be like a massive Indian summer for Dave Allen. He picked Arsenal Beck-McMood of as well. So they'll look at him and think he can be bullied. They'll see what happened with Cabayal

and the way Cabell just chopped him down. Dave Allen's style is not too dissimilar to Cabell. Hopefully he loses a bit of weight, bit of timber around that's what makes him endearing at this point like he's the every man does right yeah it is it is you're on his youtube channel his youtube channel is a riot his he's like he's half asleep he's in his bed like this like it's it's framed like half his head is cut off and he's just riffing on all the things happening in the world of boxing he's great you know what it is though a aerial i think there's more of a talent there and i want him to show yeah i get

I don't want Dave Allen to be in two years' time say I could have and I should have and I would have and all that nonsense. I want him to really go for it because there's so much money to be made in the heavyweight division right now. You don't have to be a top five guy. Top 15 guys are making crazy money.

Dave Allen could cataport himself into the top 15 with a win. So I want him to take this as seriously as possible because I think we saw a little bit against Johnny Fisher and he looked incredible and I think there's more. I speak to Jamie Moore quite a bit. Nigel Traffes, his trainers.

There's more. And hopefully if he can knuckle down, he could somehow cataport himself into a crazy top 10 fight. It could happen if he beats MacMudoff. No, I couldn't agree. That's the one, that's like the, that's like the vice fight. That's the fun one, but I agree. Crocker Donovan, September 13th is going to be a great day for boxing. I'd love you to be there. That one first, and then the one over in Las Vegas. I would love it as well. I would love it as well. By the way, you're going to read next week for Dillion White. I am. I go on Sunday. Yeah, I go on Sunday. I call it. I called

I called it the Dillian White fight. Not for long. Not for long. You're forgetting like the main guy. I know. Not for long. But no, this is going to be an incredible one.

It's funny because when the fight was first announced, I think a lot of people like, all of a sudden. Really? People are like that. I think it's fascinating. I think it's really excited by it. Yeah.

Everyone's now like, oh, one second. Experience versus youth. Dillion back against the wall. Moses, all this pressure. First time headlining, that comes with its own pressure as well.

only 20. Dillian been sent like a lamb to the slaughter. I like it. I like the card as well. I think it's a really good card. I'm doing the face off on Monday. And Dillian, if you're watching this, I think Dillian should try and put it on Moses.

I think the war should start straight away. I think this, he has to go back to old school Dillion. Get in his head. Immediately. Dillian used to walk around with Dean White, and it was almost the scariest thing you've ever seen, these two.

And I almost feel like Dillian needs to. to bring that back again. I like that. Kid hasn't been here before. He's new to the game. 20, like you said, first time headlining. This to me is a little bit of, it's a little bit of UFC matchmaking, if you will, you know? Like, let's see if we could kill off the guy a little bit quicker than some thought initially. I don't think anyone thought a year ago that Moses would be fighting the likes of Dillion White. Love the fight. Very intrigued by it. But yeah, I'm curious to see that. I do agree with you. He should try to play some mind games. Not sure if it's going to work, to be honest.

No. But probably should be able to try to do anything he can. Anything you can, because if this is a boxing match, then there's only one winner. Yeah. But ultimately, the fight starts as soon as the fight's announced, and you try and ramp up any psychological advantage you can in the lead up to it. And I think Dylan's got a great, like Dylan used to scare me. I used to be frightened of Dylan.

I used to look at him think this man's kind of uncontrollable, very much like Derek Chazora. And as he's got older, he's kind of matured a bit, and we don't see crazy. anymore, I think we need to see it being rolled out one more time. Because ultimately, Moses would have been 10-11 watching Dillian do crazy stuff. Like, Moses would have been just in school watching Dillian thinking this guy's crazy. And I think Dillian needs to remind him of that. All right.

Well, that's next week. We'll have plenty of time to talk about that. Time now, though, for our favorite segment of the week. It is time for our parting shot. Any guesses as to what might be our parting shot this week, I know. Any guesses? No. No.

No. Well, this one I think everyone was talking about on Saturday. This is a young man named Tristan Kalkruhe. Did you see this? Knocking down Devonte Williams? Look at this. A blistering knockout. Sorry, one second.

Okay, not quite. But this is mid-fight. And he says, you know what? I'm going to celebrate this moment. And I'm going to hit. a backflare. Oh. But the fight didn't end.

The fight didn't end it? No. Oh, wait, one second. That was the second round. He ended up winning in the third round, but he hit a backflip mid-fight. He thought it was over. Yeah, I'm not a fine of that.

Yeah, I'm not a fine of that batch flip. I mean, he thought he was done. He thought he had just picked up. Yeah, well, turn around, turn around and then find out first. By the way, the worst thing possible, could you imagine you hit that guy comes up

and off the mat and then knocks you out in the next round, that's that's hard to yeah yeah yeah wait one second is that the point in shot though i mean i thought it was bkFC knockout or anything you know what it's actually a mistake on our part bkFC had an incredible show in sturges had their biggest crowd ever and i actually have nothing i have nothing on bkFC i actually i'm actually embarrassed egg on my face they had an incredible how do we not i feel bad i feel bad but we do have this you got we do have this you got the owner I did I oh 2000 24 Olympian

Joshua Edwards improving to 4 and 0 first round TKO win over Cayman Adi look at this just absolutely mauling him yeah that's just yeah yeah hands are too low for me but I get it yeah I like that there you go oh

big boy look at the arrogance yeah yeah he's hands are yeah no he's good he's good he's good let's just fast forward yeah I don't mind it I mean early in his career was he FaceTime these fighters nowadays

I'm gonna hate myself for not having something You know there's gonna be You know what Sturgis is You know what Sturgis is It's like this massive motorcycle rally Where they all come All in their leather outfits

It's a huge huge thing And they had a fight in the middle of it It was some You know what I actually want to give them a shout out Their guy sent me a thing He knows that we I love them.

I find it. Attendance record. Set a promotional attendance record. 22,512. Last year's event at Sturgis for BKFC, 15,600. It's growing. It's growing. Get on the bandwet.

I'm on board. That's why I was waiting for a BKFC. Oh, yeah, no. And I'm going to the one that they've got coming up. Oh, yes. Okay, James the girl. Yes, Manchester, right? I haven't forgotten that.

Have they reached out about tickets or maybe have you worked on it? Imagine you hosting that. Welcome, everyone. I've been watching, I've been watching PKFC since it's deception. If it's on the zone, it doesn't make sense, right, to have the face of the zone do it. All right. We'll put in the word. We'll put in the word.

Thank you. That will be next month. Looking forward to next week to talk about the Dillion White, Moses at Toma Fight. For now, though, we say goodbye. Another fun show in the book. What's going on with Dylan Dennis? Is he fighting Wade? Oh, I don't know about that.

I've been locked in here. You tell me. What do you got? Oh, no. I don't know. Work or shoot, work or shoot. Well, they had an interview. Yeah, is it a work or a shoot?

You know the jargon or not? I think it's, I think it's work. A work meaning what? What do you think a work means? A work means it's all made up. You think it's K-Fabe or you think it's breaking K-Fave? K-fabe. You think it's all part of the show.

Yeah, you got it. It's all part of the show. Yeah, you nailed it. This is WWI Lingo, right? This is all WWLACA. Absolutely. Well, if he is in fact hurt, And I haven't seen too much about it.

We do wish Wade Well, who I did see at SummerSlam on Saturday, interviewing people while holding a microphone in the shape of a drumstick, like the ice cream. Okay. So he's a man of many towns that Wade Club. Shout out to him. Shout out to Sky Nicholson. Shout out to Zandar Zayas.

Shout out to you. Shout out to the team. Shout out to our friends watching around the world. Thank you so much for the support. Enjoy the fights. We'll talk to you next week. Oh, no.